zen and the art of swatching

[firecat]

A while back I took advantage of the Newton's Yarn Country "20 pounds for $25" overstock sale. Lately I've been swatching some of the yarns I got from them and other sources.

Most of the swatches aren't perfectly square because I tried different needle sizes and stitches.



The swatches



Wool / rayon, very stretchy, 26 st/32 rows per 4" in stockinette on 5s.



Linen / rayon, 17st / 4" on 6s.



Yarn Country "Maine" wool / rayon / acrylic, 16 st / 24 rows = 4" on 8s. The photo came out very poorly. This stuff looks so luscious I want to eat it.



Mercerized cotton. Very flexible. DK weight. 22 st and 28 rows per 4" on 3s in garter. 18 st per 4 inches on 5s in 4x4 rib.



Cotton with rayon pastel nubs, 13 st/15 rows per 4" on 10.5s



Unknown fiber - feels like wool and doesn't felt so probably has some acrylic. Very soft and kind of fuzzy. 18 st/32 rows per 4" on 7s.

Comments

[aquaeri.livejournal.com]

Re: unknown fibre: You might want to play around with burn tests. Grab a bit of yarn, over some tinfoil or similar safe surface, and light it. Good ventilation is a good idea, too.

Wool, from memory, is hard to start, and has a "burnt hair" smell (not surprisingly). Acrylic melts and the smoke is acrid. Rayon and cotton both burn like paper, being mostly cellulose. Sometimes a mixed composition is very obvious after trying to set fire to the yarn. Sometimes you get a molten mess.

Wool is also typically very water-absorbent - you can spray enough water on that it feels noticeably heavier without actually feeling wet.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

Mmmm, mercerized cotton.

[geekchick]

I love the color of the linen/rayon.

[lysana.livejournal.com]

The "Maine" looks absolutely marvelous.