|
3/13/2004 1:19:33 AM
|
MacChick
Posts 3589
|
My appologies in advance for the persistent attraction to yarns for ballet stuff, but here goes... I see that now there is a compnay selling the ballet sweaters in a cotton-silk-Lycra blend, and the yarn appears to be like sock yarn and very smooth.
This makes me wonder how they get Lycra into a yarn without that bumpy texture I usually see when either Lycra or elastic are added to knitting yarn. Does anone know?
Now I also wonder how it compares to fabric... I seem to remember that, at first, the only fabrics you could get with Lycra in them were knits, then wovens, like denim, and now even in very smooth wovens like cotton broadcloth. Is it just that knitting yarn is more difficult to make with Lycra in it than fabric is?
Elastic strikes me as risky, because some elastics lose there stretchiness after not too long, and others seem to hold up for years, but Lycra seems to be able to hold up to anything... desert sun, bleach, you name it, but is Lycra more expensive?
Is there any such thing as a knitting yarn that is a silk-cotton blend but has some Lycra in it, but not textured-looking in its relaxed state (like Star is)... or do these textured-looking stretchy yarns look smooth after they are knitted? Or is it because they are way stretchy, whereas smooth fabrics with about 2% lycra are just barely stretchy? Are these yarns both extra stretchy and bumpy looking because of the way the Lycra or elastic has been incorporated into the yarn? Is there a way to get some Lycra or elastic into a yarn without making it quite so stratchy or bumpy? Will we ever see this, or is it yarn-impossible? Or is it already out there, and I just don`t know about it yet?
|
|
3/13/2004 9:55:59 AM
|
|
Guest
|
I have not got a single answer for you. I am just here to compliment you on your wonderful questions! That is a PROFESSIONAL opinion, too.
|
|
3/13/2004 10:26:55 AM
|
|
Guest
|
Hi Chick, First of all, the ballet sweaters you have seen are probably machine knit and may be simply cut from machine knit fabric!!! Anyway, Lycra is blended with other fibers either by a maypole type of method that covers the lycra in either one or two layers or it is simply spun with other fibers. Lycra is added to fibers as much for shape retention over time and washing as for stretch. The lumpier the unstretched strand is, the more stretch it is likely to have - Like the sock yarn that is coming up here soon which stretches to nearly double its unstretched length (even though that upcoming yarn is blended with elastic). The supersmooth strands are probably lycra "maypoled" with a fine, smooth synthetic. The knitted items do lose a lot of their bumpiness when on the wearer. But that`s as far as my knowledge goes. I am personally looking forward to acquiring the upcoming stretchy cotton - and then I will look at it lovingly for several months (if I`m lucky)until I can put it in the rotation. About the turtleneck, kids have bigger heads in proportion to their bodies and need proportionally bigger necks on their sweaters, right? So, how `bout coming back with covered elastic thread on the inside of the turtleneck? Or make the next t-neck with bottons on the side? - Nancy
|
|
3/15/2004 11:24:40 AM
|
MacChick
Posts 3589
|
Thanks for the replies and the info... I`ll bet you are right that they are machine-made that way, because I have seen fabric on the bolt that looks like a knitted sweater... so apparently sometimes the easiest thing is to machine knit some yarns as yardgoods then cut-and-sew (and don`t sweat the waste?) to assemble garments out of it. Still... I WANT THAT YARN!!!
SO... if anyone ever sees a not-very-stretchy yarn that is cotton-silk-Lycra and smooth, not bumpy... do please let me know about it!!!
|
|
pages:
1 |
|---|
