Posted by Meg on Tuesday, 22 July 2008, at 2:42 p.m.:
In Reply to: what does 8/2 mean? posted by SD Wangmo on Friday, 11 July 2008, at 6:37 p.m.:
This relates to the weight of the yarn on the cotton system. It means it's a 2-ply #8 yarn. To get the yardage per pound, multiply 8/2 by 840. That's the standard for cottons and related yarns. In this case, this yarn has 3360 yards per pound. The worsted system is calculated differently, and used with wools, acrylics, and some other yarns. With it, the plies are listed on top and the size of the yarn, underneath. And the standard for the worsted system is 560 yards per pound. An example: 2/8 is two plies of a # 8 yarn on the worsted system. To get the yards per pound, divide the first number into the second number and multiply by 560 yards per pound. In our example, 8 divided by 2 is 4; this multiplied by 560 is 2240 yards per pound. Another example, 3/15 = 1/5; 5x 560 yds/lb = 2800 yds./lb. It's usually not too hard to figure what standard to use; just remember: Wool/worsted: 560
Cotton: 840.
Good luck in your weaving. Meg