Crimp and stretch
Last week, I finished two different yarns. The way they were
spun were similar, my go-to short forward draft method. The preparation for
both was equal too, prepared from raw fleece, scoured, washed, carded in the
drum carder and rolled into rolags. Spun and plied into a 2-ply yarn, skeined
on my thrifted Swedish skein winder (paraply haspel) into skeins 150 cm in
circumference. The only difference was the sheep breed. One was Romney, with
long, rather shiny fibers with a wavy kind of crimp, not very fine fibers I
would say. The other was Flevolander, with shorter, also a bit shiny but less
than the Romney, rather crimpy fibers. Very fine wool, lambs wool from the
first shearing.
After being spun, both were washed, even in the same bath
and rinse cycles and here the interesting difference happened. During drying it
became clear that the length of the skeins differs hugely. They have both been
lying flat when drying, next to each other. And still one skein is much shorter
than the other. This difference is to be attributed to the crimp. The Flevolander
has much more crimp which causes the yarn to ‘shrink’. But not really shrink as in felting, because it is still
possible to stretch it to the original length of the skein.
This elasticity
influences your knitting. My experience is that the project that you knit will
be more elastic. That is a nice thing in hats and mittens, shawls and sweaters.
Maybe not so in weaving projects for e.g. blankets or a woven shawl (especially
when the warp material differs from the weft). Knitting with rigid yarns (I
call my un-shrinking Romney yarn like that), as opposed to elastic yarns, can
be a bit tough for the joints and muscles in your hands and arms. It gives you
a final product where the individual stitches remain more visible as they do
not shrink and spread themselves nicely in the open spaces. The rigid yarn has its
advantages. Weaving with rigid yarns is more pleasant and the size of the final
product is more predictable.
I wonder
what difference it makes when crocheting. Classic borders, doilies etc. that
are crocheted, were mostly made with cotton or linen, no stretch there at all. So
a woollen substitute would best be an unstretchy yarn. However, a big croched
shawl that is a bit stretchy seems nice. So maybe both types of yarn can be
used, depending on the project being made.
Below are
the two skeins, Romney to the left and Flevolander to the right.
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| This is what crimp does to the length of your skein, or to the elasticity in your yarn. Amazing isn't it? |
