Posts tagged #Basenji

Weight For It: Yarn Weights Explained

A number of people have recently inquired about yarn weights and associated meanings, so I decided it was time to dive deep into the topic and explain some things. There are a number of things that are added on to yarn tags that don’t always provide useful information, such as icons from the Standard Yarn Weight System, gauge ranges, and recommended needle sizes. I believe they are arbitrary pieces of information, and I will explain why below.

Standard Yarn Weight System

The Craft Yarn Council of America defined the Standard Yarn Weight System with 7 different size designations. Each size (or weight) is assigned a name and a number:

0 Lace
1 Superfine
2 Fine
3 Light
4 Medium
5 Bulky
6 Super Bulky

Although most yarns from big box stores (Hobby Lobby or Michaels) have this notation on them, the fact that they have “standard” in their name is a bit of a misnomer. Sadly, there is no agreed standard with anything regarding yarn, and the only truly useful piece of information for yarn weights is called wraps per inch, or WPI. To measure WPI, you can wrap the yarn around a ruler (or similar measuring device) and depending on how many times it can comfortably wrap around the ruler in the space of an inch determines which category of weight it falls into. In the spirit of loose standards, the restrictions of the categories can be subjective depending on the source.

Recommended Needle Size

Another thing that is commonly listed on yarn is the recommended needle size. I’ve been asked by a beginning knitter a few times this week if she should buy a certain needle to go with the yarn she purchased. I advised her to buy needles for patterns, not for what is recommended on the yarn. Why is this? Because a lovely ball of worsted weight yarn could recommend a size 8 needle, yet the pattern you’ve chosen asks you to use a size 6 needle. I’m certainly not against collecting knitting needles, but it’s nice to be frugal when possible. On top of the recommended needle size for the pattern, there is the issue of personal gauge with the yarn to keep in mind, which is a topic that will be discussed in a future blog post.

Yarn Weight & Ply Relationship

A third piece of information that can be often listed that can be a little confusing is the listing of a weight and then a number of plies. An example from Ravelry’s search option shows exactly this.

Screen Shot 2013-12-01 at 9.10.32 PM.png

This references back to when factories were only able to spin one thickness of singles, but it could be plied together as many times as needed to get the appropriate thickness.

"3/2"?!?

A final piece of information that is more often seen on cones of yarn is a designation similar to the format “3/2” in regards to weight. These are usually on yarns that are meant for weaving, and in the US 3/2 would mean size then plies, and to further confuse things, it’s the opposite in Great Britain.

Now, we will go through all of the different weights from thinnest to thickest that Fiber Hound carries, with some brief mentions of others.

Lace
WPI: 18+
Ply: 1-2
Other Names: cobweb, crochet thread

Lace is the category in which very fine yarns are stuck in, which means there’s a fair amount of wiggle room for what could be considered a lace yarn. Cobweb is the term used for extremely fine yarns that, much like their namesake, could be as thin as a spider’s silk. The word “lace” is heavily derived from terms meaning net or snare, which brings to my mind lacey shawls. Fiber Hound’s Basenji is on the relatively heavier side of lace, achieving a 22 WPI, while Saluki is a finer 24 WPI.

Sock/Fingering
WPI: 14-22
Ply: 3-4
Other Names: baby

Many people use the terms “sock” yarn and “fingering” yarn interchangeably, but there can be a minor difference. In regards to thickness, fingering weight yarns are a little thinner than sock yarns. As well, when the term “sock” is associated with a yarn, it could be assumed that the yarn would be a good choice for socks; this is not always the case, and can be misleading. The origin of the term “fingering” is derived from fingram, from the French fin grain, which means “fine grain”. In relation to yarn, this could imply that it is a more fine weight of a yarn. Fiber Hound's Italian Greyhound is the thinnest of the three fingering weight yarns at 20 WPI, Dachshund is 18 WPI, and the luscious Borzoi is 16 WPI.

Sport
WPI: 12-18
Ply: 5
Other Names: baby

The name of this weight confused me when I first saw it as I couldn’t understand what sports had anything to do with knitting. While the name is not actually related to athletics, the yarn weight is preferred for “sportwear” and associated clothing. Fiber Hound's Bluetick Coonhound is 14 WPI.

DK
WPI: 11-14
Ply: 8
Other Names: light worsted

DK stands for double knitting (or double knit), which is a reference to having two thinner yarns being plied together to make a thicker yarn. There appears to be a few different anecdotes floating around in regards to the origins. The first story is the yarn weight’s use in WWII, where factories in Great Britain frugally created size between sport and worsted that could “double” for either in the final product. The second origin cites the weight being doubled up from fingering weight. Fiber Hound's Afghan Hound is 14 WPI.

Worsted
WPI: 9-11
Ply: 10
Other Names: afghan, aran

The term worsted finds its origins from “worstead”, the name of a village in Norfolk in which yarn and cloth were crafted. The term often causes confusion because of the spinning term worsted (in contrast to woolen). Worsted in regards to spinning means that the yarn is smoothly spun with the fibers prepared in a method that makes them parallel to each other. Woolen can mean anything that does not fit into the worsted category, and the resulting yarns are often much more lofty and fluffy. Neither of these things matters when referencing yarn weight, but they’re important to know for context. Aron (pronounced Aaron) yarns are often considered being thicker than worsted weight yarns. Fiber Hound's Norwegian Elkhound is 13 WPI.

You may have noticed that a couple of the yarns are also known as “baby”. I have not yet discovered the origins of this, but I suspect the designation is an attempt to point customers into the idea of “this is good for baby garments”.

I find the differences in yarn weights to be highly arbitrary and subjective, and if I had a say in anything, I would remove all the names of the yarns and go entirely by WPI, but I do not see that happening in the near future. Each yarn company and mill has their own ideas of which yarns fit into what category which can cause more confusion for our customers.

If you had to choose one option to go by to sort the weights of yarn, what would you choose? Do you have a better solution?

Sources:
http://www.craftyarncouncil.com/weight.html
http://www.knittersreview.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=88945
http://knitting.about.com/od/yarn/f/Does-Ply-Have-Anything-To-Do-With-Yarn-Weight.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yarn_weight
http://www.ravelry.com/help/yarn/weights
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=fingering&allowed_in_frame=0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worsted
http://www.kathys-kreations.com/tips/page95.html
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=lace
http://kws.atlantia.sca.org/Woolen_vs_Worsted_Explained.pdf

Posted on December 4, 2013 by Caitlyn Faust and filed under Yarn Theory and tagged Yarn Weights Basenji Saluki Italian Greyhound Dachshund Borzoi Bluetick Coonhound Afghan Hound Norwegian Elkhound.

Basenji & Echo Flower Shawl

Because of Reverie Yarn, Décor & Gifts’ Puppy Love Party, I wanted to create a sample out of one of the yarns they were planning on stocking, Basenji. I decided to knit the Echo Flower Shawl because of its versatility; the shawl can be knit in various sizes with one skein of Basenji. The pattern was a fantastic challenge, encouraging me to try out new techniques and stitches. It comes with two sizes, shoulderette and shawl, but can easily be adapted to any desired size. I decided to knit the shoulderette in Running Dog Nebula.

Echo Flower Shawl was designed by Jenny Johnson Johnen, who is a yarn dyer and designer from Sweden. It was her first design, and she did a brilliant job.

“This shawl was inspired by Estonian lace and especially the beautiful shawl, Laminaria, by Elizabeth Freeman. This shawl also shares the blossom stitch with that shawl. The border is inspired by various designs but mostly I had a mental picture of how I wanted it to look so I tried to transfer that mental image to a chart – and yes, it came out exactly the way I wanted.”

The pattern begins by casting on with a small crocheted cast on, and quickly goes into chart work. The first chart sets out to increase the stitch count by using “2 into 9”, which is a stitch used throughout the pattern. The premise is to knit 2 (or later, 3) stitches together, and without dropping the stitches after knitting, yarn over and knit the stitches again, repeating until 9 stitches are created. This stitch creates what appears to be a blossoming near-half circle flower design, which, when repeated throughout the shawl, is mesmerizing. The second chart continues on with this pattern, growing the shawl as it goes.

The border charts are set up oddly, but after a bit of consideration they make sense; it has one chart that is split up into 3 pieces for the sake of space. The edging goes tremendously faster than the body of the shawl does, but comes with one potential setback: nupps. This was the first time I had encountered this technique, and I’m happy I learned it. Nupps are similar to the “2 into 9” stitches as they are 7 or 9 stitches knit into one stitch, but in the next row, they are all purled together, creating a tight little ball. Many people, including I, have difficulty purling them together without losing any of the stitches. I tried a few different techniques: one with using only the knitting needles, and another using a beading crochet hook to grab the yarn to pull through the stitches. I found using the crochet hook method to be easier, and overall, more successful than using just the needles. What’s pleasant is that if one does not like to create nupps in their shawls, the nupps can easily be replaced with beads for a similar (and more shiny) effect.

Finally, the edge chart is a satisfying conclusion to the shawl: it limits the amount of nupps and mimics the body chart in the floral design. The bind off uses 2 strands of yarn which creates the illusion of a thicker edge.

The pattern is very well written, but a small word of warning: it only comes in chart form, not written form as well. I found that adding extra stitch markers in between the pattern repeats helped to keep me in check, rather than relying only on sight and stitch count. Despite the challenges of this pattern, I absolutely treasure the result; the shawl is delightfully light and squishy, and I’ll be happy for it to cover my shoulders when the weather gets cooler.

Also, the best part of this pattern: It's free on Ravelry.

When dealing with nupps, do you prefer to create them, ignore them, or replace them with beads?

Posted on July 31, 2013 by Caitlyn Faust and filed under Pattern Review and tagged Basenji Running Dog Nebula.

Yarn Bases of Fiber Hound

Within the past week, I launched the Bases page after finishing the samples made from each type of yarn. Just as I did with the Colorways page, I made individual knit, crocheted, and woven samples of each yarn base in order to show customers how the different yarns look and behave. Now that it's live, I'm excited to tell you more about each of the different yarns Fiber Hound has to offer.

Basenji

Basenji is a lace weight yarn made out of 100% superwash merino. This yarn is a 2-ply yarn which is loosely piled, creating the opportunity for gently draping fabric. Although the fabric it creates appears delicate, it’s actually quite sturdy, and is a perfect choice for shawls, sweaters, or other lacy projects.

Saluki

Saluki is made from 55% superwash BFL and 45% Silk, and is lace weight. BFL stands for Bluefaced Leicester (pronounced Lester), and is a British wool that is remarkably different than Merino. Raw Merino wool is extremely crimpy, while raw BFL is a straight, curly lock. Light reflects better off of straighter wool, therefore when combined with the sheen of silk, Saluki is the shiniest of all the yarns Fiber Hound currently carries. The ply structure is similar to Basenji, having two plies and a luxurious drape. Saluki is great for both extra special projects as well as everyday items, like lace garments and shawls.

Italian Greyhound

Italian Greyhound is a fingering weight singles yarn that is 100% superwash merino. It is gently spun, creating a soft fabric that has fantastic stitch definition. Because it has only one ply, it’s not a good choice for more heavy wearing objects such as socks or sweaters, as it will easily pill. It’s a great yarn for cabled projects, shawls, and hats, where its special characteristics will be most effective.

Dachshund

Dachshund is a tightly 2-ply fingering weight yarn, featuring a sturdy mix of 80% superwash Merino and 20% nylon. It makes an incredible choice for socks, as the nylon content and tighter ply makes the fabric very strong against the aggressive wear of feet. Because this yarn is a 2-ply, there is a lot of texture in the final fabric. This yarn is great for socks, shawls, sweaters, and pretty much everything else!

Borzoi

Borzoi is a very special yarn, featuring 80% superwash BFL and 20% Bamboo. The combination of these two fibers creates a magical yarn, which has a sheen similar to silk. Because bamboo is a plant fiber, it does not absorb the dye in the same way that animal fibers do, and if you look closely, you can see a whitish haze surrounding the yarn. Because bamboo is a renewable resource, it also makes this yarn more eco-friendly. Borzoi has four plies, which makes it great for cables, socks, sweaters, and shawls!

Bluetick Coonhound

Bluetick Coonhound is a uniquely constructed sport weight yarn, created from eight plies that were chain-plied together. To chain ply a yarn, previously plied yarns are then plied together; in this yarn, four 2-ply yarns were plied together to create a super round, springy yarn. It’s made of 100% superwash Merino, and is fantastic for cables, sweaters, and socks.

Afghan Hound

Afghan Hound is a 4-ply yarn that is 50% superwash Merino, and 50% silk, creating a DK weight yarn that creates a very smooshy and luxurious fabric. While this yarn doesn’t have a sheen as bright as Saluki, it will be very obvious you’re working with something special. It’s a great yarn for sweaters, hats, and mittens.

Norwegian Elkhound

Norwegian Elkhound is a 4-ply 100% superwash Merino yarn that is very hard wearing, but still soft and squishy! It’s tough enough to be great for outerwear sweaters, but soft enough that it can be worn against sensitive skin for scarves, mittens and hats. The stitch definition makes it great for patterns with cables and texture!

Making all of the different swatches took a lot of time, but I think all of this effort for the swatches has really paid off. I feel it gives visitors to this website a special look at how the yarns can react in different formats, as well as a better way to see which yarn is the best fit for any project.