What is Repco?? Repco is a really interesting yarn thats spun in both directions, so it creates an absolutely perfectly balanced yarn thats designed for machine knitting. When it comes out of the pin-drafter, when it would usually go into the spinning Jenny, it, instead goes into a Repco spinner. The Repco spinners spins one direction for 10 or 12 inches, and then reverses direction and spins the opposite direction for another 10 or 12 inches, then back to the start. It glides through the machine like butter and then fulls *beautifully* when its washed into a soft, spongy, springy fabric that wears like iron. Heres the write-up from the (hopefully soon to be renewed) Etsy listing for it: This is a rare yarn from New Zealand thats perfect for knitting soft yet durable socks. Its 80/20 22-23 micron Merino/Wooly Nylon and weighs in at 2,300 yards per pound--perfect for sock knitting. It knits up beautifully on sock machines on every cylinder from the 54 on up to the 84. If you have a wide foot, it knits just fine on the 96 and 100 slot cylinders at a loose tension. You can also use it for hand-knitting on roughly American size needles 2 through 4. What makes this yarn so special is the Repco spinning method thats used to spin the yarn. The wool is spun by wrapping the fibres around a centre core of Wooly Nylon. Every few seconds the machine adds a little more twist then reverses itself and twists the opposite direction. What you get is a few inches loose then a couple of inches twist--see the picture below for a closeup of the finished yarn. Its soft, fluffy, and *perfectly* balanced as the Repco system puts in exactly the same number of Z twists as it does S twists--no worries about spiraling socks!! The wooly nylon core keeps all the wool in place during knitting, but allows the wool to full beautifully in the finished product and adds long-term durability. I recommend machine washing the finished knitting in a gentle cycle and cool water, dry naturally, and then fluff it in a warm dryer for about 10 minutes to let that 22-micron Merino fluff up and show its beauty. It felts well, if you want to felt it, and sucks up dye even better giving you a somewhat heathery look due to the wool and nylon taking up the dye differently. This yarn is white-white-white--a clean palette for your dye projects. Knit it big and felt it to size in the dryer or knit it to size and wash it gently to maintain its unfelted size and shape. It also wears extremely well for such soft yarn. If youre looking for a hiking sock or a workers sock that wears well, but isnt harsh on your feet, you should definitely give this yarn a try! You have to see it in person to really appreciate it. Hopefully, you now have some idea why Lynn and I are so excited about getting it again! :)
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 13:50:43 +0000