Using and Ashford Yarn Gauge.

 The Ashford yarn gauge is a varnished wooden tool for spinners. It has both an inch and a half inch cut out. This is where you measure your yarn’s equivalence to weight to a commercial yarn.

I tend to use the inch cut out to make calculations easier.

Start by winding your yarn to a point about 30-40cm in from the start (this means you should be measuring consistent yarn and not any uneven beginnings. Take the yarn and gently wind it around the inch cut out. Do this by gently placing the yarn together in an aligned manner… not too tight, or overlapping in anyway. Once you have filled the inch gap, count the number of threads used… these are called your warp threads. Let’s say you have 10 warps (10 threads in the inch gap). Here you would say your yarn is 10 warps per inch. Using the chart below you can see that 10 warps per inch estimates your yarn to be a bulky weight… anything from Aran weight and above.

Here is the yarn gauge warp information;

Type of wool (plied)	Warps per inch	Equivalent in commercial wool	Appropriate drive ratio	Twists per inch	Twist angle (degrees)
Fine	More than 20	2 and 3 ply	9-13:1	10-17	25-45
Medium	12-20	4 ply and double   knit	5-10:1	5-10	15-25
Bulky	Fewer than 20	Bulky and triple   knit	3-6:1	1-4	5-15

Also see – Confused-by-warps-per-inch-wpi? and What-size-knitting-needle-do-I-have? knitting-needle-conversion-chart

You can buy your fibre, felt, spinning, weaving and knitting supplies at www.SarasTextureCrafts.com

Book Review: ‘Felt So Good’ by Betz White

This is a book review I wrote a while ago at http://sarastexturecrafts.blogspot.com/2008/06/felt-so-good-by-betz-white.html

This book is great for any beginner who wants to take up this strand of feltmaking… Feting Hand Knits. With no-nonsense steps you can easily follow each project through to completion.

Who am I kidding… I adore this book, every few pages I get a fresh and sugary new project to complete, and am amazed by the possibilities that felting knitted wool can afford me. Who knew that my much-loved ‘washing accident’ sweater could have a new purpose in life. I must get more old jumpers out of retirement!

There’s even something for the kids here too, from finger and sock puppets to cute brooches and hair clips.

Needle Felting Tutorial: Basic Figure Work

Equipment Required:

• Foam pad
• Selection of Merino colours (100g in total)
• Pack of mixed gauge needles (explained during text)

Optional, but not included:

• Any other decorations you may require

Download PDF project – Sara’s Texture Crafts – Basic Needle Felted Figures Tutorial

All fibre and equipment is available at www.SarasTextureCrafts.com