This is the place for our November Virtual Guild discussions.

Hi Llyn,

I meant to ask my question in the November forum, but you must have been making the November forum as I was writing in the October. ANYHOOO....

I really haven't figured out how to weigh or measure the yardage in the samples I make.

Nikki

Hi Nikki,

There was a slight delay in opening the November discussion - we had a brief power outage here.

To answer your question about figuring out the yardage in your sample, yes - you can rip it out and measure the yarn, but then you don't have a sample swatch and you have kinky yarn to measure.

So, make the swatch in the same pattern as the the pattern calls for. A larger swatch is best for accurate measurements.

Finish the swatch before measuring it. You need measurements for the length and the width.
Let's say the finished swatch measures 12 x 12 inches.
Length x width = the area of the swatch which, in this case is 144 inches.

Now, to find the length of the yarn in the swatch, weigh the swatch and multiply the weight times the number of yards in an ounce of the yarn. The results is the yardage of the yarn in the swatch.

Say the swatch weighs 3 ounces and the yarn has 60 yards per ounce. 3 x 60 = 180 yards of yarn.

Then figure how many 12 x 12 squares you would have to knit to equal the area of the item you're making. Say you need 10 12" squares to cover the area. Each square takes 180 yards so then 180 (the yardage for each square) X 10 (the total number of squares needed to cover the area) = 1,800 yards of yarn needed for the entire project.

Hello Lyn,

I have just tried spinning Himalayan Cat hair for the first time and it wasn't really too bad. It feels like Alpaca. If I could spin better I'm sure it would be more consistent. I'm also going to try to blend it with Romney white wool to give it a heather look or tweed or variegated etc. I didn't wash it, because I thought it would turn into hair balls like a couple were on the cat. It's surprisingly clean conpared to unwashed wool. What do ya think! A beginner spinner with access to a beautiful Himalayan. a birder Helen Goforth

I think it would be best to give it a good washing after it's spun into yarn. While I have little experience with cat hair, I think washing may cause it to mat. When blending it with wool, check to see that staple length of the wool and the staple length of the cat hair is a fairly close match. It's hard to blend shorter fibers with longer ones though it can be done if necessary. If the fiber lengths vary greatly, blend by carding (it will take several passes). Combing will just separate the shorter fibers from the longer ones.