Today I'm starting a new shawl (knitted lace). TheI'm moving this from 'chat' to 'lace' as it's technical, and thus just about lace related.
pattern calls for "Fingering Weight" yarn. I'm using my own handspun, so
finding this weight yarn isn't the issue. I've been knitting for over 40
years and have run across this term from time to time. What is it??? Since
there is a yarn weight with this name, is there a craft with this name? How
do you do "fingering"?
Fingering isn't really a weight so much as a type of yarn. I have a few old knitting patterns which call for fingering yarn:
3 ply fingering required a tension of 8 sts & 10 rows per inch (old size 11 needles) on stocking stitch.
4 ply fingering was 7 sts & 8 rows (old size 10 needles) or 6 stitches & 7 rows (old size 8 needles)
I've found two definitions of fingering for you.
Tessa Lorrent - Yarns for the Knitter: 1980
'Fingerings is the name given to yarns manufactured for the hand knitter. They're spun on the worsted principle, so they're relatively smooth, and are plied to give them strength without hardness.'
George E Linton - The Modern Textile and Apparel Dictionary 1973 (1954)
'Fingering yarn; a worsted knitting yarn in which the lower qualities are not combed, the noil being allowed to remain so as to give fullness to the thread. In many world centres for hand knitting the term fingering is considered synonymous with worsted yarn. A knitter, however, uses the term to mean a firm yarn for knitting socks. The origin of the term may be derived from the hand-spinning days to imply a process of passing the yarn through the fingers to obtain a straighter run of the fibers.'
Brenda http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/paternoster/
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