Monday, August 14, 2006

rafters drays and hanks

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This morning at first light, the hillside was full of a group or rafter of turkeys.

They are hard to photograph because they always appoint a scout to keep watch.  I was getting pretty close until a little red squirrel told on me.

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Squirrels are mostly solitary, but if you ever see them in a group you could call them a dray of squirrels.

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I finally finished spinning up the Finn/Alpaca blend that I started last spring. Would you call this group of yarn a skein, a lea, or a hank?

a traditional unit of length for yarn, varying with the weight of the fibers in the yarn. Typically a lea of wool is 80 yards (73 meters); a lea of cotton or silk 120 yards (110 meters); and a lea of linen 300 yards (274 meters). For cotton and wool, a lea is equal to 1/7 hank. A lea is sometimes called a skein

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a traditional measure of length for yarn. The length of yarn in a hank varies with the market and the material; for example, a hank of cotton yarn traditionally included 840 yards (768 meters) of yarn, while a hank of wool yarn was 560 yards (512 meters). For both cotton and wool, these traditional hanks are equal to 7 leas or to 12 cuts. In the U.S., however, a hank of woolen yarn is generally 1600 yards (1463 meters). In retail trade, a hank is often equal to 6 or 7 skeins of varying size.

Now all that is left is to set the twist and package it up.

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6 comments:

Dawn said...

Neat turkey pics Cyndy! We had various sparrows and finches here this morning chasing each other around the trees and over the verhandah. Looks like some nice yarn you are spinning up there.

Anonymous said...

The rafter turkeys are amazing! I don't think I've seen those before--we have wild turkeys here but they don't look like rafters. Oh, how my dogs would love to herd your turkeys...I always learn something from you--'dray of squirrels'--I like that! Beautiful yarn!

judy said...

I'd love to think I'd remember the "dray" of squirrels. I'll try to use it at least three times today. We have many drays.... at least with red squirrels. Are they drays too? Or is it just for the greys? The hank I've got under my belt. Rafters.... whew! Great fun!

vanessa said...

i would call it gorgeous! earlier in the spring we saw a mama turkey and all her tiny babies cross the road, too cute :-)

~ Teresa ~ said...

You take the most beautiful pictures!

Anonymous said...

What neat pics of the turkeys!

Lovely yarn!

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