A customer recently wrote to ask me how much handspun yarn she could expect get from a braid of my hand-dyed fiber and, to be honest, I was at a bit of a loss. How much yarn you’ll get varies from spinning style to spinning style …and from spinner to spinner. The thicker the yarn, the less yardage; the thinner it’s spun, the more yardage. Beyond that, it’s a very hard question to answer.
And especially for me, because I hardly ever calculate the yardage on my handspun. I have no idea why — I just never do!
So I turned to my friend Natalie who is a more experienced (and excellent) handspinner and posed my customer’s question to her. She replied, “It’s usually 20 – 30 % less yardage than you’d get from the same amount (grams/ounces) of commercially spun yarn of the same weight (worsted, dk, fingering etc) because handspun tends to be denser. From 4oz, I’d expect 300-400 yards fingering; probably 200-300 of a dk/worsted range.” A much more technical and useful answer than mine!
And then she added, “Hard to judge though… It’s all very variable.” Which made me feel a bit better!
You friends handspun is glorious! Even though it is the same color as my handyed fingering weight in the same color I purchased from you the plying gives it such a wonderful look. I cannot wait to learn to spin!!!
I agree — I was floored when I saw it! Would it blow your mind a little bit if I told you it is 100% spindle-spun? 😀
Stop! Y’all are making me blush!
well, very informative!! i would like to learn spinning and that’s rather helpful to know 🙂
I’m so pleased that the info is useful to you! Good luck learning to spin — you’ll love it. 🙂