<<>>The knitting lady says, it is 12 *stitches* to an inch for one ply wool and 8 *stitches* to an inch for 2ply wool.<<
On second thought, 12 sts per inch is a very thin yarn. Eight per inch is 'way more than I want to think about.>> In the grand scheme of early (pre 20c, say) knitting, 12 stitches per inch is pretty coarse. Everyday stockings were routinely knit at 16 - 20 stitches/inch. Helen Bennett, a Scots historian, wrote her dissertation on handknitting in Scotland. About lace shawl knitting, she says, "Fine knitting required the finest yarn, with great care taken at every stage of its making. Wool for the best-quality pieces was taken from the softest part of the fleece, on the throat of the sheep, by rooing (plucking) rather than clipping. Instead of being prepared by carding, the delicate fibers wsere straightened with a fine comb or teased out with the fingers, before being spun up with a spindle or spinning wheel into the typical two-ply yarn.....In her Sketches and Tales of the Shetland Islands [1856] Mrs. Edmondson noted that whereas a shawl generally requited four to five ounces (110 - 140 gm) of yarn in the hands of the most expert spinners 6,000 yards of thread, or enough for a good-sized shawl, could be spun from a little as two ounces [56 gm] of wool." (that's 48,000 yards per pound.) Deborah To stop mail temporarily mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: set nomail To restore send: set mail
