This is the thread for our February Virtual Guild discussion.
This month, the discussion turns to using handspun yarns for knitting. While our primary focus remains on spinning, the main purpose of yarn is to use that yarn for making something else....which makes it logical to consider how handspun yarn behaves when it is used in knitting, especially since the goal of our Virtual Guild is planning and executing a project from start to finish.

Consider: Twist, though it may go dormant for a time, is always active. Since twist is always active, manipulating yarn causes changes in twist. Changes in twist can affect the way the yarn behaves when it's used for knitting. The whys and hows are here: [url=http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art42499.asp[url]

For more information on knitting in general and answers to specific knitting questions, please visit Bellaonline's knitting site at:
[url=http://www.bellaonline.com/site/Knitting[url]

Thanks Llyn,

I knew that the direction of the twist affected a knitted garment, but not which direction had what affect on the knitting. Thanks for writing this information for us.

Nikki

Ok, I can't make the UBB coding work.
I have tried:

[link]www.the url[/link] the coding shows in the message but it does not make a live link.

[link]http://www.the url [/link] which gets me an error message

and
[url=http://www.theurl[/url] which also shows the coding but does not create a live link

So, what am I doing wrong? Anyone?

Until I can get how to make the links work sorted out, please copy and paste the links given above.

Well, dran - why would it partially work in my message asking for help but not in the original message? Interesting.....
let's try it again and hope I can get my mouth held right this time.....

My article on Knitting with Hand Spun is here:
[linkBellaOnline ALERT: Raw URLs are not allowed in these forums for security reasons. Please use UBB code. If you don't know how to do UBB code just post here for help - we will help out!

Ok, one more attempt:

The article on knitting with handspun is here:


And Bellaonline's knitting site is here:
[url=http://www.bellaonline.com/site/knitting

If this doesn't work, I'm giving it up in favor of spinning.

That only partially worked - The link for the knitting site take you to the main page, not the site. From the main page, click on "hobbies & crafts" and then on "knitting to get to the knitting site.

I do not know why the link to the article did not even appear. The coding seems very straight forward, yet I simply can not make it work. I apologize to all of our forum readers for this diversion into coding woes, but I have no where else to go to test whether I have it working or not.

Here is a working link to the article on knitting with handspun yarns:

bellaonline/site/spinning

And here is a link to Bellaonline's knitting site:
http://www.bellaonline.com/site/Knitting knitting

Where do you recommend getting wool for spinning. I'm having some trouble finding some.

I did practice using yarn and now I know it was me not spinning correctly.

I would recommend CopperMoose. They have many different types of rovings and until you have a bit more experience you might feel more comfortable with a well know seller. ..Nikki

Woodland Woolworks is another reputable dealer.

Llyn,

I have created a new drive band using Mason Line for my Ashford SD traditional. The square knot I made actually slips...(I didn't know a square knot would slip.) Other than sewing the drive band ends together, what kind of knot do you use when you make a new drive band. Or do you sew yours?

Nikki

Hi Nikki,

Yup, square knots slip.
Try this adaptation of a surgeon's knot:

First, do the basic surgeon's knot - left over right and under twice. At this point, the typical surgeon's knot ends by pulling the knot tight but this doesn't work when you're tying the knot in a drive band...
so, to make it work, the next step is to go right over left and under once. Now it will pull tight and stay put.

Or, in other words, it's the basic square knot with an extra "left over right and under" on the first step.

Llyn

Thank you very much Llyn,

That knot works great!

Nikki

It also makes a nice, snug knot for tying leaders onto bobbins.
Tie one on one side of the shaft, turn the saft halfway and tie another. Never had one slip yet

I finished plying my yarn for this guild project last night.. I've been looking at it today, thinking I really don't want to abuse it. So I'm just going to look at it awhile before I finish washing it. I got 160 yards from the 1 oz of angora and I'm feeling pretty good about that. Next I need to get my pattern out and get ready to knit.

Nikki

You might want to wait and wash it after knitting. Angora halos.
It's easier to spot mistakes ad rip back if the angora yarn is not haloed (is that a word?).

I'm finally making some serious progress on my project. One of the colors of the roving had so much VM contamination that even flicking did not clean it well enough. And the loss of fleece from trying to clean it was so great that I would not have had enough left. So I had to get busy and track down some new roving.
That finally came and I spun up 400 yards of 2ply sport weight today. It's washing now so I can start knitting while spinning the rest. That's the only way I can hope to finish this thing on time.

Here's the code for UBB from Bella's FAQ

[url= link ] title [/url] = Makes the given title into a hyperlink pointing to link.

No spaces tho.

I had to get the code from another site to create my sig and now I just recopy it each time.

Thanks, Joan