Calculating Grist

I have been honing in my spinning skills and decided I would play with grist.  For those of you who do not know what grist is, it is the the number of yards per pound in a given fiber.  I have always been good at duplicating yarns.  This time, I wanted to spin a yarn to specifications without having a control yarn.  That took understanding grist.  Since I love math, I decided to give it a shot.

In my experimentation, I realized there are a lot of variables.  The major one being twist.  The more twist a yarn has, the shorter it becomes.   The other variable I found was the drafting rate.  The more fibers you have in a given length, the larger the diameter of the yarn which in turn effects the wraps per inch (WPI).  I also figured out that doubling the fiber amount does not double the yarn's diameter.  All of this effects grist. 

I had 8 ounces of merino wool.  I wanted to weave a small wrap with this wool.  I knew I would not have enough to ply the merino with itself but I thought I could ply it with a lace weight silk yarn to "stretch" it out.  To further set myself up for failure, I decided to spin my default yarn.  My default yarn is not thick, I just never calculated its WPI.  So I was going into this blind.  Plus, I knew I could always find something to do with this yarn if it was a complete failure. Which it was!

This is a WPI Gauge.  Many people use a ruler but the gauge is your most accurate way of measuring.  You want to pack the wraps as tight as possible.  The notch gives the yarn something to pack against.  But, if all you have is a ruler, by all means use it.

I used a WPI gauge and calculated my default yarn.  The single was 28 WPI.  So far so good, so I thought.  Using the formula in The Alden Amos Big Book of Handspinning my single had a grist of 693.  The formula I used was grist = yarn diameter squared X factor number.  Factor number is a number assigned to the yarn based on its characteristics.  My factor number is .884 for  a soft woolen yarn.  The problem my scientific mind has with the factor number is this is too subjective.  I may call a yarn "medium-firm" and you may say it's "firm" and most handspinners spin semi-worsted not a true woolen or worsted.  Sorry I digressed.  This told me my yarn had a grist of 693 yards per pound (YPP).  I had to divide 693 by 16 to find out how many yards per ounce (16 ounces in a pound).  I had 43.3 yards per ounce times 8 ounces gave me 346.5 yards (or divide by 2).  Even if I plied my single with another yarn, I would not have enough to make a wrap.

What did I learn from all of this?  I can't make a wrap out of 8 ounces of fiber.  If I would have spun the single thinner, I may have gotten a few more yards out of it.  But I wanted to see what my natural, default yarn measured and IF it worked great.  Since it take about 300 yards to make a pair of socks for me, that's what this yarn will be when it grows up.

Alpaca & Beet Experiment

After many attempts, we could not get a dye with the beets.  We were able to obtain a stain but once the wool was rinsed, it turned yellow.  Okay let me reword that.  We could not get at red dye from the beets.  We used iron as our mortant.  If you would like, try different mortant with the beets.  You will achieve various shades of yellows and greens.  The beet consentrate we used was Dr. Schoenenberger Red Beet Crystals. 

The manufacturer makes health claims that I neither agree nor deny but for our purpose of dying red, it was a bust.  We also used fresh beets with the same results.  So save yourself some bucks if you want to try this experiment and use fresh beets.

Madder is traditionally used to make red.  As you know from our previous episodes, my madder is too young to use right now.  I will have to search for a "sacrifical" plant, in order to conduct the experiment.

I am trying to get a good picture of the felt so you can see how soft the alpaca felts.  Just in case there are some listeners who have never seen an alpaca, this is what they look like.

If you want to play along, contact us to receive your free 1/2 ounce kit.

Our intro to the show is Arabia by Briareus and our post show music is Africana by 1000psi from the Pod Safe Music Network.

Podcast Format Side Bar

Happy 2010!  I know it's been a while since we posted a podcast.  I have been trying to improve the format.  I also want to make them available on a regular schedule. Plus, I want share the cool stuff I hear about in between episodes.  So, what I was able to come up with is this:

The podcast will be posted  on the 3rd Friday of the month.  In between episodes I will post "A Side Bar" which will include projects, photos and things I find that I think you may be interested in knowing.  You can also subscribe on iTunes.  Since they changed their format we a little difficult to find.  You have to do a search for VonStrohm and then you'll find us. 

I look forward to sharing a fiber filled 2010 with all of you!

Episode 3- The Ohio State Fair

In this episode we are at the Ohio State Fair. If you ever wanted to know what it takes to raise sheep you'll want to listen. We interview 2 of the many wool breeders that were showing their animals at the fair. We went to the Corriedale stalls and spoke to 5 H Farms from Attica, Ohio http://freewebs.com/5hfarms. We then saunter over to the Romney stalls were we interviewed M H & J Romneys from New Concord, Ohio.

In the next episode we will be discussing dyeing with beets and alpacas. We will also tell you how to win your copy of Alchemy Lost & Found.

Our music is from the Mevio's Music Alley http://music.mevio.com. If you like the music, check out the artist Dan Elson by clicking on the link.

http://www.musicalley.com/music/listeners/artistdetails.php?BandHash=93693fd61b402f8928d3acf3495cdcb5

What's Hot In The World Of Fiber

In this episode, we discuss the new products we saw at TNNA. We also get a Male's viewpoint on knitting fashions and the fashion show.

What's on my needles? Well take a look. This the brim of my winter hat and fingerless mitts. I think I may also make a scarf to match the hat and mitts. It is made out of yak we purchased from Bijou Basin Ranch.

We decided to try an experiment with rice paper. Here are the results of that experiment.

Lightweight Pink Lacy Rice Paper

Medium Weight Beige Rice Paper Heavyweight White Rice Paper

Here is the free book Lady D received from Unicorn. We are working on a contest to give away this book. Stay tuned next episode to find out how you can win this great book.

Our music is Seduction Garden by Objecks from the Podsafe Music Network.

New Podcast

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to get the next podcast out. I have been having technical difficulties. As soon as I figure out why I cannot change it to MP3 format, it will be ready to publish. Please have patience with me and my learning curve.

Columbia Sheep & Walnut Dye

The long awaited podcast is finally up. It took longer than I expected. I had to get the hang of the new software that came with the mic. It made editing sooo slow since I had to constantly refer to the manual, which did not come with it. I hope you enjoy it.

Your feedback is always welcome. If you have a specific fiber or process you would like us to discuss, please feel free to drop us a line. We also have a forum on Ravery its VonStrohm Quilting & Fiber Studio.

Show Notes:

Columbia Sheep Study Kit

The study kit for this lesson comes in 8 oz or 2 oz.

The 8 oz kit includes:

8 oz of raw Columbia wool

Information about the breed

Lavender sachet

Walnut for dyeing

Dye bath instructions

Mordant recipes

Soapwort & instructions

Acid reactive dye & instructions

Sample wool wash

Spinning suggestions

The 2 oz kit includes:

2 oz of raw Columbia wool

Information about the breed

Choice of either commercial or natural dye stuff

Commercial or natural wool wash

Kits can be purchased at http://www.vonstrohmquiltingfiber.com/, click on "Play Along."

This is the black Columbia wool. Notice the sun damage to the tips. It's difficult to see in this photo but the fuzzy look of the wool is the crimp.

The mordant I use is an Alum-Tartar. I add the mordant to the dye bath prior to adding the wool. You can also pre-mordant your wool as we spoke about. After cleaning your wool place it in a mordant bath, allow it to air dry then store it in a breathable container. This is my favorite mordant bath.

Alum-Tarter Mordant

3 oz Potassium Alum

1 oz Cream of Tarter

4-6 Gallons of Water

Lavender Cookies

1 stick unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

1/4 C superfine sugar plus extra for dusting

1 tsp chopped lavender leaves

rine of 1 lemon

1 C all-purpose flour

• Preheat the oven to 300*F (150*C), grease a large cookie sheet. Place the superfine sugar and lavender leaves in a food processor. Process until the lavender is very finely chopped. Add butter and lemon rind and continue to process until light and fluffy. Transfer to a large bowl. Sift in the flour and mix until the mixture forms a stiff dough.


• Place dough on a sheet of parchment paper. Put another sheet on top. Roll out to 1/4 inch (5 mm). Remove top sheet and stamp 2 1/2 inch (6 1/2 cm) circles. Re-knead and re-roll trimmings and stamp out more cookies.


• Transfer the cookies to greased cookie sheet. Prick them with a fork and back for 12 minutes or until brown. Cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Note: You can mix the dough by hand if you don't have a food processor. Knead it into a ball before rolling out the dough.