Question about yarn thickness

On Fri, 20 Jan 2006 22:08:02 -0500, suzee spewed forth :

The first number is plies, the second number is standard hanks per pound in standard conditions. A standard hank varies based on the type of yarn. Unless you're working with metric counts, which is pretty standardized.

I have no idea why my fellow Merkins can't wrap their poor puny brains around metric. Probably something to do with that New Math that got popular toward the end of the 1970s...

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Okay, I thought it might have something to do with wraps per inch or something.

I took math long before then when there was no metric system in the US though I can usually figure and translate well enough.

The yarn I'm thinking about (Knitpick's Shimmer) is listed at 2/16, their hanks are 50 grams of 440 yards. Talk about mixing systems...

Thanks, Wooly.

sue

On Fri, 20 Jan 2006 23:40:23 -0500, suzee spewed forth :

I finished elementary school the year before my state introduced New Math, so I was given my lessons in Old Math until I graduated high school. Kids as little as two years younger than me couldn't hack it in high school algebra by all accounts, because they had been taught too many "shortcuts" in arithmetic, or something. I'm old enough that Imperial is my primary language of measures, as it were, but I can get along well enough in metric.

Oh, that's nice stuff. I swapped a buddy for three hanks of it, they're thinking about what they'd like to be when they grow up. Shimmer is 2-ply, rather loosely plied so not a firm yarn. On quick inspection I'd say that it is approximately 1/2 to 1/3 the thickness of a "standard" sock yarn like Opal. The fact that it has no wool content - and thus no stretch/memory - means it ought to be knitted pretty loosely for lace and then blocked moderately.

HTH

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heh, heh - there isn't a metric system in the US is there? Your gas is in gallons, your distance is measured in miles, weight is in pounds, not kilos, your temperatures are in Farenheit... etc etc.

Canada switched to metric years ago, and I've pretty much switched too, except I still measure my knitting in inches, not cm's. :>)

Shelagh

All you ever wanted to know about yarn counts is at

luck!!!!!

Roger.

I'm thinking of it for another Clapotis. People who've used it, knit two strands together. When the rows are dropped, it becomes lacy and it's advised not to block it. Don't need to really for a scarf/wrap anyway.

Yes, thanks.

And speaking of blocking....

I just said you don't need to block for a scarf, but I think I might on another one and as I've always used acrylic before, I never have and don't know what to do. I made a scarf from Debbie Bliss' Alpaca and Silk. It turned out nicely, but stretched a bit, leaving it less than 4 inches wide and I wanted it about 6ish. Soooooo, I reknit it wider, but this yarn isn't as forgiving as acrylic and the stitches look uneven. Would they `reset' so to speak, if I swished it gently in coolish water and then laid it to dry? I hope I haven't messed it up by redoing it.

sue

Uhhh, I guess I meant before we `knew' about metric here. Before Canada and the UK switched over, that is. ;)

sue

Thanks.

sue

The US has officially and legally switched over. It's just that most of us refuse to use it. Both systems are taught in school.

=Tamar

The Metric Act of 1866 made the metric system legal for use in the United States. I hope your not really 140 years old!!

Roger.

No. And may have made been legal for use, but didn't really catch on in popular language or usage until the 70s.

sue

after spending a lot of time in sweden, i have become ambidextrous for measurements,,, my volvo here displays temp in C and our indoor-outdoor thermometer also in C but the furnace/ac displays in F because it doesn't do decimal points and therefore F is a finer adjustment [so that's what F stands for?]

and after driving 110 in sweden, i had to think when i came back to usa.

on the other hand, sweden measures highway and automobile service times by miles. well, actually på svenska, mil .... which is 10 km] and my first trip to sweden and we were going from stockholm to Gothenburg and my [now] swedish wife tells me it is 35 miles. ha! i could look at the map and know it was more than 35 miles.

klh in VA

[and the insides of my kitchen cabinet has long conversion lists to-from metric. but i still have to pay attention to deciliters. not so easy but our new stove from sears has the option to display in F or C so guess which min svenska fru wanted? wrong... it displays F]

On Sun, 22 Jan 2006 07:32:55 -0500, Yarn Forward spewed forth :

"Legal" and "mandatory" aren't the same thing. Metric was presented to me in elementary school as an "alternative" - it seems to me that Mrs. Raube spent maybe one day on metric, out of the 220 or so school days we had in 5th grade.

Until the metric system is the mandatory and only system of measures used in the U.S., and Imperial is no longer taught in schools, metric will never catch on as the common system of measures. My son has known how to use a ruler since he was 4yo or so - I gave him a metric ruler and a metric yardstick; I also gave him metric measuring cups to play with in the bathtub. And of course his elementary school is teaching the kids Imperial. I can only keep reinforcing metric at home and hope he'll be fluent in both systems.

*sigh*

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