| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
hopetoknit
Warming Up
58 Posts |
 Posted - 05/06/2008 : 04:43:59 AM
|
I was curious as to whether any of you succumb to purchasing
non-spinner-produced yarns once you are prolific at spinning; the I-have-to-have-it dilemma! I'm new at spinning, so I haven't reached that stage, if ever. |
|
|
Jane
SustaYning Member
USA
4299 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2008 : 05:04:41 AM
|
All the time -- I think if I were to try to spin all my knitting yarn, I'd never have time to knit!
Jane
The knitter formerly known as jcc28
Blog: Not Plain Jane
Photos: My Flickr Album
|
 |
|
|
fiberlicious
Permanent Resident
1637 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2008 : 05:09:00 AM
|
| This spinner certainly does! I'd say my stash is still more on the commercial side. |
|
|
|
BessH
Permanent Resident
3095 Posts |
|
|
Kade1301
Permanent Resident
France
1429 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2008 : 05:37:18 AM
|
Hardly ever. I have some cotton from the local supermarket's sale and it will probably stay in my stash forever. Oh yes, I bought 2 balls of cream wool/acrylic at the thrift store for trying out new pattern stitches or how to integrate decreases into a pattern. But for projects I use handspun (by me) yarn. And, even more horribly, I'm not even attracted by commercial fibre preparation any more... I still have that Alpaca-Merino-Roving from Ashford that I bought over a year ago, and that white Merino top from over two years ago. Used up gets the raw fibre. And very soon I'll try to work only with the fibre from my own animals, and then I'll be in serious trouble....
Of course, the selection of commercial yarns in most stores is non-existant to lousy, so there's not much temptation. And I'm spending a lot of time, but very little money on my textile work!
Happy spinning! Klara
http://www.lahottee.info |
|
|
|
Shelia
Permanent Resident
USA
2317 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2008 : 05:45:17 AM
|
Hmmm - does the Tilli Tomas merino/cashmere/silk count as buying? After all, since the Tilli booth was right across from Jen's at MDSW, I didn't really buy it, it just kind of jumped the aisle!
Seriously, I don't buy nearly as much yarn as I used to before I was a spinner, though it's getting harder and harder to remember back then. A good sale or a really special yarn is tough to resist, though.
Shelia
www.letstalkstash.blogspot.com
ravelry name - sheliaknits |
|
|
|
Lanea
Permanent Resident
USA
5159 Posts |
|
|
Kade1301
Permanent Resident
France
1429 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2008 : 07:38:09 AM
|
I think for weaving you may be right - at least with a floorloom, and if you don't count time for warping. For knitting I'm pretty sure there's way to spin fastern than to knit: I'm working on BW's Learn to knit Afghan which demands something like 5 pounds or 3 miles of wool, so for the first time in my life I'm doing production work. I'm spinning a singles yarn and I can do a 3 to 4 oz ball in about two hours (carding included). Which is about as much time as I took for the garter stitch square yesterday evening, which took only about 2 oz of wool.
Of course, as soon as you want multi-ply, spinning time increases dramatically. On the other hand, that's why it's so economical to knit only your handspun: You pay less for the raw fibre, AND you don't need so much yarn because you don't have so much time to knit ;-)
Klara
http://www.lahottee.info |
|
|
|
Clara
queen bee
USA
4364 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2008 : 08:11:39 AM
|
Yup, me too. If anything, I'd say that I'm more likely to buy yarns that I know, from experience, I'm not interested in spinning. But I totally am an equal opportunity yarn acquirer.
Clara
Your friendly Knitter's Review publisher
|
|
|
|
Lanea
Permanent Resident
USA
5159 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2008 : 08:41:39 AM
|
quote:
Originally posted by Kade1301
I think for weaving you may be right - at least with a floorloom, and if you don't count time for warping. For knitting I'm pretty sure there's way to spin faster than to knit
A square foot of knitting uses significantly more yarn than a square foot of weaving if you use the same yarn. It's part of the reason that, historically, people knit only things for which the qualities of knitting like stretch were really required. So, while you may be able to spin singles quickly, you need significantly more yarn to produce knitting, and thus knitters need more spun yarn for the same amount of fabric produced. Crocheters would need even more. Now, weaving is generally faster than knitting, so speed of spinning would allow a weaver to work faster. For my use, at least, I want at least two plies of yarn for both knitting and weaving projects, so that adds time too.
It's hard to make accurate comparisons, though, since few of us will ever reach the speed and experience levels of our fiber-arts forbears. They worked faster and finer than most of us can ever dream of working because their daily lives and days were so very different.
See proof of insanity: http://www.crazylanea.com/
Join the KR Webring: http://www.crazylanea.com/fiberarts/2006/07/the_knitters_re.html
Buy handmade sock knitting bags: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5031570 |
|
|
|
gryffin2007
Warming Up
USA
66 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2008 : 11:47:58 AM
|
| Yep, and me too. Why? Because my friends and family seem to be having babies faster than I can spin yarn to knit they baby gifts! Thank goodness for commercial yarns! |
|
|
|
Kade1301
Permanent Resident
France
1429 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2008 : 11:53:12 AM
|
Can you really generalize about how much yarn knitting needs? I'd have thought that depends too much on the stitch pattern. And Alden Amos writes: "... the activity that consumes the greatest amount of yarn, bar none: the weaving of cloth." (page 249, the Alden Amos Big Book of Handspinning"). No idea whether he is right - one day I might try it out...
I used to always ply, but I'm not willing to spin 6 miles of yarn for my afghan. Besides, I find that a single almost knits up nicer than a two-ply. Weaving used to be done very often with singles, anyway - at the moment I'm still using plied yarn for the warp, though. Definitely with angora!
Happy spinning! Klara
http://www.lahottee.info |
|
|
|
KathyR
Permanent Resident
New Zealand
2969 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2008 : 5:38:51 PM
|
For a number of years I hardly ever bought any commercial yarn...then I found KR! 
KathyR
If you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got.
My Blog
http://www.flickr.com/groups/kr_members/ (Roselea Fibres) |
|
|
|
noramcd
Chatty Knitter
105 Posts |
Posted - 05/07/2008 : 04:54:23 AM
|
My handspun stash is beginning to pile up (3 sweaters and innumerable socks and scarves worth, and counting), but still doesn't rival my stash of commercial yarn. The unspun fiber buries all the yarn though Apparently I don't knit *or* spin fast enough.[:00] |
|
|
|
RobA
Permanent Resident
2373 Posts |
Posted - 05/07/2008 : 06:58:22 AM
|
For me, knitting is knitting, and spinning is spinning. Ergo, there are two separate stashes ;> I am a relatively new spinner, and spin for the pleasure of it. So far, I have only spun small batches of yarn, and so yes, I buy yarn to knit. I wouldn't like the feeling of HAVING to spin enough yarn to knit.
Rob http://roberta.typepad.com/robknits/ |
|
|
|
KS
Seriously Hooked
862 Posts |
Posted - 05/07/2008 : 07:10:13 AM
|
Weaving has the loom waste factor. Interestingly enough, my large floor loom has less loom waste than my small one. There are variables, but weavers do use more yardage than knitters. Most of my weaving uses yarns that are thinner than what most consider to be lace weight.
I guess knitting might use more weight of wool, but weaving will use more yardage.
I buy a lot of yarn. I don't have enough time to do everything I'd like to do. There are some beautiful yarns out there too.
KS |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
do spinners buy "commercially prepared yarn"?
