Hello Sue
http://www.colourmart.com/eng/knowledge_base/knitting_properties";
The only challenge on the aside, is this chart reverses the weights of
4 ply and fingering, as Richard of Colourmart engaged a relatively
"novice knitter" when he started his business to help him set up the
chart, and she was unfamiliar with fingering. 4 ply typically tends
to be thicker than fingering, thought the lines have blurred in all
descriptions as knitting becomes more international.
If the Nm sizes are correct and the 4 ply is Nm2/14 and the fingering
is Nm 3/14 then the chart is correct with 4 ply finer than fingering.
Originally, fingering was 2 ply, and 4 ply was as stated. The old
rule was that sport was doubled fingering, and worsted was doubled
sport, and the UK double knitting falls between sport and worsted (5
sts per inch in stockinette/stocking stitch).
In UK it used to be 2 ply, 3 ply and 4 ply which were just that,
getting thicker with each additional ply, double knitting which was
thicker but still with 4 plies and occasionally Aran which was very
thick. Everyone knew what the names meant and although manufacturers
didn't like to say so, one brand of 4 ply was very much like any other
brand of 4 ply. Fingering meant a quality worsted which had been
carded and combed whilst 'ordinary' wools were just combed.
Then synthetics (acrylic mainly) were introduced and they started
making all sorts of different yarns and also used fewer but thicker
plies (less spinning so cheaper to make!) Added to that the internet
meant that lots of American yarns and patterns became available. Not
only were the Americans using a different numbering system for their
needles, but they also used different descriptions for their yarns. No
wonder people got confused!
The needle sizing is getting better now with metric sizes becoming the
norm in most places. It would be nice if the manufacturers would start
putting a 'proper' size onto their yarns, probably Nm (indirect) or Tex
(direct). With the exception of someone who is hand-spinning I'm
pretty sure that all the yarn manufacturers do know how much fibre goes
into each metre of yarn and/or how many Km they get from a Kg of
fibres, and thus they do know the Nm/Tex. They can keep the fancy
brand names, just add a proper size!
The very finest laceweight is called cobweb, but unfortunately I do
not remember the wraps per inch (wpi) which is more definitive in
thread, and less so with yarn (because of the stretchiness, thus
varying thickness of it).
I have a sample of TM Hunter's 1 ply which measures 15 w/cm (37
w/inch). I also have some Jamieson & Smith 1 ply on a UFO somewhere
but I can't find it!
As mentioned weights cannon amply apply here since some fibers are
much heavier than others so cannot directly indicate thickness nor
yardage.
Cotton and linen have specific gravities of 1.54
Wool is 1.32 and silk 1.3
Synthetics are usually 1.11 - 1.15
Thus you can compare cotton and linen, you can compare wool and silk
and you can more or less compare synthetics.
Brenda in Allhallows, Kent
http://paternoster.orpheusweb.co.uk/index.html
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