Spin to Knit: Mitts

For the first time since I began spinning this last summer, I am finally making yarn for a project. Usually, I spin the yarn and then set it aside, just in case I find a good project to knit later with my handspun yarn. Frankly I would hate to go through all that work just to find that I really did not like the pattern after all. It would feel really wasteful.

However, when I found this fun little kit for spinning and then knitting a pair of fingerless mitts at the Sunset Fibers booth at the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival, I just couldn't resist! And I loved the colors as well.

When I got home, I grabbed my little Drop Spindle, spread the directions out on my work table, and ran into a snag. The directions called for me to spin the wool at 20 WPI. But what does WPI mean? Is that fingering weight, sport, worsted, or lace? How do you measure that and do you need a special tool for that? I Googled the term and found that there is more than one meaning for that term, and none of them seemed to be related to handspinning. So I contacted a person through Ravelry who could do amazing things with wool and wheel and asked her what WPI meant and how to measure this. I was a bit supried to learn that it was not that complicated of a concept at all.

WPI meansWraps Per Inch, and this is measured by wrapping the yarn around a standard ruler (See above) and then counting how many times, within one inch, the yarn can be wrapped around the ruler (Note: I did not spin the yarn in the photo, I just needed a yarn that would stand out on the blue ruler). A very cool way to measure the weight of your handspun yarn, especially if you are spinning for a paticular project.

Armed with this information, I began by spinning a test strip of yarn and found I was right on for the weight. I continued to spin the yarn, and noticed that one ounce of wool spins up pretty quick! I am now, more than half way through the wool, and beginning to get a bit sceptical that I have enough yarn for both mitts.

I will just have to wait and see.