---- Brenda Paternoster <[email protected]> wrote: Julie, itâs not clear what is meant by âskeinâ I know from the knitting/crochet forum Ravelery that there is a lot of confusion about that word. To me, in UK, a skein means a small hank, but a lot of Americans seem to use the work skein to mean a centre-pull machine wound ball.
Back in the 1950s, nearly all knitting yarn came in elongate cylinders, about 12" (30 cm) long and 3" (7-8 cm) wide. Finer yarns made smaller cylinders but they were proportioned about the same. Those were called 'skeins'. Many cheaper yarns still come in that form. You had to fish around inside to find the end of the yarn that was supposed to be used, and leave the label around the skein until it collapsed from loss of 'innards'. As we started getting more varieties of yarns, we got more varieties of shapes of skeins. We have balls (some but not all allowing center-pull), hanks (the English skein, I guess), cones (those used to be for weavers), 'cakes' (short cylinders, diameter greater than length) and what-not. My experience is that 'skein' refers to the fact that there is a specific quantity of yarn gathered together in an orderly shape, and the other terms refer to the shape of the skein. Even hand-spun and other non-commercial or boutique yarns can be in 'skeins' usually in the shape of hanks or cakes. This would be because ball-winders make cakes and swifts make hanks, and those are the most commonly-available machines for winding skeins. Robin P. Los Angeles, California, USA [email protected] Parvum leve mentes capiunt (Little things amuse little minds) - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
