Friday, June 30, 2017

Reasonable productivity of hand spinners.

Spinning for knitting, I spun "firm" yarns.  Mostly, I spun 5,600 ypp worsted, at a rate of ~ 560 yards per hour.  Allowing just over an hour for blocking and plying, I produce an 8 oz -  500 yard hank of  5-ply,worsted spun "gansy" yarn in ~6 hours.

For weaving, I want a firmer yarn, so I am spinning  5.600 ypp worsted  singles at 12 tpi rather than at the 9 tpi I use for knitting singles, so my production rate is slower. A hank of 12 tpi worsted spun takes about 1.5 golden hours for me to spin. For weaving, my 5,600 woolen singles get ~17 tpi, and take more than 2 golden hours/hank to spin.

I steam block my singles for knitting out of handling convenience and because they ply better.  The  high twist weaving singles really need steam blocking before they can be reasonably handled.

The need for extra twist for weaving singles has occasioned my going back and practicing my  "scales" again. Production for scales runs:

Remounting the AA #0, and replace all drive bands.
Wash, dry, card, oil, and make a couple of nice rolags (2 grams each).

Spin long draw woolen, at spin count, and 24 tpi =  ~800 m/ 4.5 gram in 3 days  =  ~ 36,000 ypp  (http://www.annagotwool.com/  , Rambouillet )

Too soft for weaving.  More than a week's work just to get to "Too soft for weaving."  Weaving singles at 36,000 ypp take the twist and effort of 44,000 ypp knitting yarns.  Or, am I missing something?  Anyway there are blanks for new high twist #1 spinning bobbin/whorl assembly drying on the workbench.

And, I find that all weaving singles work better when woven in the spinning oil - it is better than J&J's "No More Tears" that many weavers use.  Not sure what I will do when I need to dye yarn between spinning and weaving.

By spinning soft yarns for knitting, I had over estimated the productivity of traditional spinners.  If they were using weaving yarns for knitting, then I have also been underestimating the durability of the handspun yarns.


the Old Dye

3,000-year-old textiles are earliest evidence of chemical dyeing in the Levant

Discovery provides insight into society and copper production in the Timna region at the time of David and Solomon, researchers say

Date:
June 28, 2017
Source:
American Friends of Tel Aviv University
Summary:
Archaeologists have revealed that cloth samples found in the Israeli desert present the earliest evidence of plant-based textile dyeing in the region. They are estimated to date from the 13th-10th centuries BCE, the era of David and Solomon.
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FULL STORY:  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170628144843.htm