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Spinning for knitting
Claire Crompton, Online Guild
I started spinning about eight years ago
and became completely inspired by the
possibilities for yarn innovation, in
particular colour design and
corespinning,1 and by the intentional, yet
unpredictable nature of handspun yarns.
Experimenting with fibres, textures,
colours and twists is the excitement, the
drive; it is the chance to create something
unique which then goes on to inform the
yarns that follow.
I am an intuitive rather than a technical
spinner and my passion is for producing
yarns for hand and machine knitting that
reflect the origin of the fibres from which
they are made. Consequently I produce
underspun, overspun, textured or multicoloured yarns and experiment with
knitted and crocheted structures that
exploit these characteristics.
Using a pattern
As a knitwear designer, I’m interested in
using handspun yarn for garments and
accessories, which I approach from two
directions. First, I can spin a yarn type or
thickness that suits an existing knitting or
crochet pattern. The second approach is
to create a handspun yarn, working out
its thickness and finding a pattern in that
yarn thickness.
how many stitches are cast on, how the
garment is shaped, etc. Creating a tension
square is particularly important for
handspun yarn, which may not fit a
standard yarn definition when measured
in wpi, but could match the required
stitches and rows if needle/hook sizes are
changed or if you are a loose or tight
knitter/crocheter.
Making a tension square allows you to
see how the yarn reacts and how your
chosen stitch pattern looks in your yarn.
If you are using an existing knitting
pattern, you must match the tension
stated on the pattern; too many stitches
per 10 cm (4 in) and the item will be too
small, not enough stitches per 10 cm
(4 in) and the item will be too big. Adjust
your needle size (up or down) and make
further tension squares until you have the
correct tension. Stitch tension (stitches
per 10 cm) is more important than row
tension (rows per 10 cm); you can always
add or reduce the number of rows to get
the correct length.
Yarn amounts
Commercially spun (machine spun) yarns
are made to standard thicknesses (or
weights), e.g. laceweight, 4-ply, etc.
Handspun yarn can be measured in wraps
per inch (wpi) which will allow a rough
comparison to standard yarn thicknesses.
So any knitting pattern written for that
yarn thickness can be used for the
handspun yarn. Online tables are
available which also list the needle size
suitable for the yarn and the average
tension (US: gauge) the yarn should knit
to. However, relying just on the wpi is not
enough; swatches or samples must be
worked.
Yarns are substituted by length rather
than weight; a 50 g skein of handspun
may not have the same metreage
(yardage) as a 50 g ball of machine spun
yarn. Therefore you need to use some
simple maths to calculate the total length
of yarn needed for the garment using the
original yarn stated on the pattern. Look
on the ball band for the length in one
ball; if the length is not given or you don’t
have access to the yarn, look on the
manufacturer’s website for this
information. Multiply the number of balls
by the length per ball and the result is the
total metreage for the garment in the size
you want to make. Then measure the
length of yarn in your 50 g handspun
skein. Divide the total metreage by this
skein length and you will get the number
of skeins required. Remember, if you are
using a different fibre from the original
yarn, the difference can be considerable.
Swatches or samples
Designing yarn for garments
A tension square determines the number
of stitches and rows per 10 cm (4 in) and
is the foundation on which the
knitted/crocheted item is based. It dictates
Use of fibre
Thickness or weight
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Producing a wearable garment is
important. If you spend months spinning
and knitting, you want the garment to
Journal for Weavers, Spinners and Dyers 246, Summer 2013
become a favourite, not one that is
uncomfortable to wear; so consider the
end user/use of the garment. For children,
use a fibre that can withstand frequent
washing and doesn’t irritate the skin.
Different fleece is suitable for different
projects. Herdwick and Scottish Blackface
produce distinctive, characterful yarns;
I’ve used them extensively to make yarns
showing the wide range of colours and
textures in British sheep breeds. But as a
garment, no matter how many layers are
worn underneath, they can still be prickly
to wear. Exploit the hardwearing
characteristics and beautiful natural
shades of fleeces like the Herdwick for
home accessories such as chair covers,
rugs and sturdy bags. Use softer fleeces for
garments and more expensive fibres for
small, luxury accessories.
Stitch patterns knitted in cotton are
crisp; the same stitches worked in wool
can sometimes be softer and less distinct.
When making a garment with a
distinctive stitch pattern, always make a
tension square in that pattern to see how
the stitches look in your yarn.
Also consider the style of a garment;
is it fluid with drape or structured and
fitted? Your handspun yarn needs to react
in the same way. Structure and fit require
a harder, tighter spun yarn that can
become a pleat, a stand-up collar or retain
buttons in a line. Drape needs softer spun
yarns that will fold around and move
with the body.
Designing colours
Most of my yarns experiment with colour
effects; I prefer to work with dyed fibre
rather than dyeing a finished yarn. Using
dyed fibres means I can combine light
and dark shades within one colour, mix
colours during carding, or include small
knots of undyed fibre for texture. Making
up small rolags in several colours, I spin
a single, changing the order of the colours
at random. How I ply the spun singles
depends on what knitting technique I’m
going to use; I often use one of the forms
of patchwork knitting, such as entrelac or
modular (domino) knitting.
Entrelac is made up of right and left
leaning blocks, each worked individually
but joined together as the fabric is created.
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The entrelac sample shown uses colourful
yarn produced in two ways (right). The
first yarn was created by Navajo plying the
single to preserve the individual colours
but with a short length of marling2
between each colour. Knitting with this
produced blocks of pure colour with
sudden changes into another colour. The
second yarn was created by conventionally
plying two singles to make a marled yarn.
The sample shows crisp blocks of colour at
the bottom merging into the softer looking
marled yarn at the top.
Entrelac samples
Samples of modular knitting
Modular (domino) knitting is similar to
entrelac. Squares, shells, triangles and
rectangles can be made in stocking stitch,
garter stitch and moss (US: seed) stitch or
combinations of these. For this sample I
made two yarns using the same spinning
techniques as those for the entrelac, but
used shorter lengths of each colour to have
more changes of colour within a smaller
shape (see right). The Navajo plied yarn
produced stripes within the squares. The
marled yarn produced a softer and less
crisp effect of merged colours which
sometimes hid the edges of the individual
shapes (far right).
Fair Isle technique
Photos: Claire Crompton
I also use these methods of producing yarn
to work in Fair Isle (or stranded knitting);
using a multi-coloured yarn does away
with the need to change yarns to create a
pattern. The first sample uses two
handspun yarns. The background is plied
from two singles in shades of indigo,
creating light and dark areas and stripes
(right). The pattern yarn is Navajo plied to
preserve the pure colours of mauve, yellow
and green. It produces a fabric of
unplanned colour changes; patterns
merging, emerging from and then
contrasting with the background. The
second sample shows the same pattern
yarn but used with a background of a
machine spun yarn; the contrast of the soft
shading of the handspun with the
consistent dark inky blue, highlights the
handspun (far right).
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Stocking stitch, reverse stocking stitch,
garter stitch and moss stitch are simple
knit structures that are often overlooked
in favour of complicated stitch patterns,
many of which don’t show up in colour
change or textured yarns. Samples (right)
show a 2-ply yarn, created from a single
spun from a hand painted roving and
a single spun from a solid colour. The
stocking stitch produced stripes of jewellike colour, while the reverse side has the
same stripes but more diffused.
Yarns can be created intuitively or in a
managed way. Unexpected collisions and
harmonies in the fabric can be created
across a garment by changing colour
lengths, placing colours together, shading
light into dark and dark into light.
Alternatively, planning the patterning
first, using long lengths of colours for the
body and shorter ones for the sleeves,
means that the number of stitches will
dictate how wide the stripes of each
colour will be.
Stocking stitch
(below) and reverse
stocking stitch
(below right)
Twist
Loosely spun yarns, especially those
containing short fibres, are not
hardwearing and this is an important
consideration when designing a yarn for
a garment. Singles need enough twist to
give them strength and to keep the fibres
enclosed.
Overtwisting (or overspinning) can have
exciting possibilities for knitted or
crocheted structures. Overspun yarn
creates an imbalance in the knit structure
and the fabric will lie on the bias.
Garment shapes or accessories should be
designed to make full use of these
characteristics of overspinning. Sculptural
and dynamic fabrics can be created
through simple knitted structures of knit
and purl checkerboard squares that create
contorted swirls, and diagonal knit and
purl stripes that make ripples across the
fabric (right).
Garments or accessories using these
yarns don’t need complicated shaping.
Rectangles and squares for garments or
long rectangles for scarves or wraps are
ideal basic shapes.
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Journal for Weavers, Spinners and Dyers 246, Summer 2013
Overspun yarn knitted to
show the different effects
that can be obtained
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Modular knitted chair
cover using handspun
and machine spun yarns
Texture
I like to add texture to all my handspun
yarns – allowing slubs of fibre into the
yarn or using uneven drafting to create a
thick and thin yarn. I am creating my
own yarns and I want them to be
different from the uniform, predictable
machine spun yarns that I use every day,
and to have some connection to the fibre
from which they were made.
In 2011, I knitted a chair cover
(exhibited in Fleece First at the Devon
Guild of Craftsmen) which used yarn
produced from Bluefaced Leicester fleece
in two ways: as a handspun yarn and as a
machine spun yarn (see above).
I handspun the yarn from woad-dyed
fleece so that it combined light and dark
shades and some undyed fibres. It was full
of uncombed slubs of fibre and varied in
thickness, though not excessively. I used a
modular knitting technique, this time
with circles, knitting the handspun in
stripes with the commercial yarn.
The handspun stood out against the
predictability of the machine spun yarn.
Handspun with machine spun
I often combine handspun yarn with
machine spun yarn. Highly textured
handspun may not be suitable for a whole
garment and you may not have enough
fibre to produce more than a skein or
two. These unique yarns can be used in
finishing details. For example, a classic
fitted jacket with a handspun collar or
edging, a yoked sweater with the
patterning on the yoke worked in
handspun, or a contrasting stripe in
Feather and Fan stitch. This showcases the
handspun without making the garment
unwearable because it is too thick, too
sturdy or too unstable.
Garment design
A rule that I always work to when I’m
designing is to have one idea per design
and exclude everything that diffuses that
idea. If you’ve spun a yarn full of texture
or colour you don’t need to add an extra
layer of stitch patterns to enhance it.
Working in a simple knit or crochet
structure also allows you to concentrate
on making a well-fitted, shaped garment
in a beautiful yarn.
Footnotes
1 Corespun yarn: The process of spinning a single
around a core yarn which generates a lot of
overtwist; the core is twisted as is the single. This
overtwist is often seen as a negative result, but
produces some exciting dynamic yarns.
2 Marling: A mottled yarn made from two or more
differently coloured threads twisted together.
Further reading
Abrahams, D. (2008) Design Your Own
Handknits. London: Hamlyn
Boeger, L. (2008) Intertwined. Beverly,
Massachusetts: Quarry Books
Cobey, K. (2010) Diagonal Knitting. Pittsville:
Schoolhouse Press
Daykin, A. & Deane, J. (2007) Creative
Spinning. London: Gaia
Ellen, A. (2011) Knitting: Colour, structure and
design. Marlborough: Crowood Press
Fassett, K. (1985) Glorious Knitting. London:
Ebury Press
Høxbro, V. (2002) Domino Knitting. Loveland,
Colorado: Interweave Press
Vogel, L. (2007) The Twisted Sisters Knit
Sweaters. Loveland, Colorado: Interweave Press
Online resources
Free knitting and crochet patterns:
www.ravelry.com
www.garnstudio.com
WPI and yarn weights:
www.craftyarncouncil.com/weight.html
www.ravelry.com/help/yarn/weights
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yarn_weight
About the author
Claire Crompton is a knitwear designer, tutor
and author; her books include The Knitter's
Bible. She publishes a range of creative knitting
and crochet patterns designed to inspire and
challenge. Claire designs for yarn producers and
publishers, and also works as a technical editor
for knit and crochet patterns. For details of her
patterns, books and workshops visit her website
www.clairecrompton.co.uk
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