What do the terms 3/2, 5/2 and 10/2 mean in cone yarn descriptions?
Yarn Weights on Cone Yarns
Peggy Beryl
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What do the terms 3/2, 5/2 and 10/2 mean in cone yarn descriptions?
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If you post this in the machine knit section, someone might be able to answer.
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Here's an explanation from The Woolery--the cone yarns with 3/2, 5/2, etc. are usually produced for weaving.
"Yarns that are traditionally used for weaving more than knitting are typically described by a number such as 3/2, 5/2, 10/2 and so on. This is a very clear way to describe yarns that contain the same fiber. The first number is the size of each ply that makes up the yarn. The second number is how many plies the yarn has. So 3/2 is two plies of size three yarn and 5/2 is two plies of size five yarn. The number that describes the size is larger the thinner the yarn. So size 5 yarn is thinner than size 3 yarn. Just keep in mind that size 3 yarn in cotton is not the same as size 3 yarn in wool and linen." https://woolery.com/yarn-weights-helpful-explanation
"Yarns that are traditionally used for weaving more than knitting are typically described by a number such as 3/2, 5/2, 10/2 and so on. This is a very clear way to describe yarns that contain the same fiber. The first number is the size of each ply that makes up the yarn. The second number is how many plies the yarn has. So 3/2 is two plies of size three yarn and 5/2 is two plies of size five yarn. The number that describes the size is larger the thinner the yarn. So size 5 yarn is thinner than size 3 yarn. Just keep in mind that size 3 yarn in cotton is not the same as size 3 yarn in wool and linen." https://woolery.com/yarn-weights-helpful-explanation
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I do a lot of knitting with fingering weight (my preferred weight to work with). I know use do as well with a lot of your sweaters and socks. When you use cone yarn, what do you combine to be equivalent to a fingering weight? I have never worked with cone yarn, but have an interest in it. Thank you - Kaysockit2me said:
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Thank you for the information and link.nicholsa said:
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I have yarn on cones - some is really thick; some is bouclé; some is thin enough to use on a sewing machine; some is wool; some is cotton; some is synthetic; some is blends. The only real difference between yarn put up on a cone versus yarn in a center-pull skein or a hank is that coned yarn probably has a lubricant spun into it. That's to reduce flying lint when used on industrial machinery. It washes off when the article is washed.sockit2me said:
Nothing prevents anyone from using industrial yarns for hand knitting or crochet, but it's up to the knitter/crocheter to play around with the materials at hand to make what they want. For instance, the super thin yarns - how to knit with those?! Wind off balls, and then use multiple strands held together. Not for the inattentive! Because the separate strands haven't been plied together, it's all too easy to miss one when making a stitch, but the results can be amazing. Guaranteed uniqueness, because no one else is likely to come up with the same combination of threads.
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Jessica Jean Thanks for giving me an idea for the multiple yarn cones I have! Found them several years ago in a thrift store. They were mixed in with skeins of yarn.
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You're welcome!litprincesstwo said:
There used to be a store here where they evidently bought industrial leftovers. They'd wind several very thin strands together - same colour/fibre or assorted - to make up a strand thick enough for handknitting. The leftover leftovers would be sold for a dollar a pound. I kids grew up with thick blankets crocheted from such mishmashes.
These are far more recent and knit: https://www.ravelry.com/projects/JessicaJean/divided-squares-14
https://www.ravelry.com/projects/JessicaJean/mitred-thick-greens-thing
https://www.ravelry.com/projects/JessicaJean/ten-stitch-blanket
https://www.ravelry.com/projects/JessicaJean/truly-tashas-shawl
Older (i.e. before I discovered mitered squares) Afghan stitch:
https://www.ravelry.com/projects/JessicaJean/afghan-stitch-blanket
https://www.ravelry.com/projects/JessicaJean/my-first-afghan-stitch-blanket
Hmm ... I seem never to have taken a photo of the really thick ones I had made with the equivalent of four strands of worsted weight using a 12mm hook. Well, I still have a couple of boxes of that yarn and the hook; I guess I need to make another one! At least this time, I know the name of the stitch my mother had given me by phone. It's the Lemon Peel stitch. Those blankets were the best for children who move around a lot while asleep, because the blanket stayed on no matter how much they wriggled about!
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Thank you sockit2me. I've often wondered myself what the numbers represent.sockit2me said:
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I have some of the thinner stuff from a failed 'I'm going to learn how to machine knit' adventure. I used some of it for a baby blanket, holding two strands together, and just sitting the two cones side by side in a basket while I was knitting. I was happy with the way it came out, and hardly seemed to have made a dent in the cones.
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You can ply it with a spinning wheel or an electrI drill, see youtube.
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Alas, those number mean different things to different sources. This from the Colourmart.com site:
What do NM numbers mean?
The first thing to say about the NM numbers we us (2/28NM, 3/10NM and so on) is that if you find them difficult to understand, you can ignore them
. The next thing to say is that pretty much any factory spun yarn sold in the world will have been described by it's spinner in NM terms or equivalent, it's just that as we sell industrial cones which we buy with these numbers on, we use them - many craft yarn sellers leave them off.
So what do they mean? well the number before the "/" is how many strands the yarn has. The number after the "/" is how many meters you can get from each gram of each strand. So a 2/28NM yarn has 2 strands, each one giving 28 meters per gram. When you put two strands together, the weight per meter doubles... put another way when you double a strand the meters per gram halves. The same principle applies to more than two strands, so the rule is that to get the total meters per gram for a multi strand yarn you divided the number after the "/" by the number before it. So a 2/28NM yarn gives 14 meters per gram (28 divided by 2), whilst a 4/7NM yarn gives 1.75 meters per gram (7 divided by 4 = 1.75). What sometimes seems a bit odd about this resulting number is that the lower the number the thicker the yarn... a 2/28NM yarn will give 8 times as many meters from say 50g as a 4/7NM yarn ( 14 from above divided by 1.75 from above gives 8).
Other useful tips about NM numbers:
- they work the same way as the more typical numbers on other supplier's yarns - if a 50g ball has 500 meters in it then the total NM number for that yarn will be 10 (500 divided by 50)
- if you multiply the NM number by about 500, you will get yards per pound (YPP)... so the 2/28NM mentioned above is about 7,000 YPP
What do NM numbers mean?
The first thing to say about the NM numbers we us (2/28NM, 3/10NM and so on) is that if you find them difficult to understand, you can ignore them
. The next thing to say is that pretty much any factory spun yarn sold in the world will have been described by it's spinner in NM terms or equivalent, it's just that as we sell industrial cones which we buy with these numbers on, we use them - many craft yarn sellers leave them off.So what do they mean? well the number before the "/" is how many strands the yarn has. The number after the "/" is how many meters you can get from each gram of each strand. So a 2/28NM yarn has 2 strands, each one giving 28 meters per gram. When you put two strands together, the weight per meter doubles... put another way when you double a strand the meters per gram halves. The same principle applies to more than two strands, so the rule is that to get the total meters per gram for a multi strand yarn you divided the number after the "/" by the number before it. So a 2/28NM yarn gives 14 meters per gram (28 divided by 2), whilst a 4/7NM yarn gives 1.75 meters per gram (7 divided by 4 = 1.75). What sometimes seems a bit odd about this resulting number is that the lower the number the thicker the yarn... a 2/28NM yarn will give 8 times as many meters from say 50g as a 4/7NM yarn ( 14 from above divided by 1.75 from above gives 8).
Other useful tips about NM numbers:
- they work the same way as the more typical numbers on other supplier's yarns - if a 50g ball has 500 meters in it then the total NM number for that yarn will be 10 (500 divided by 50)
- if you multiply the NM number by about 500, you will get yards per pound (YPP)... so the 2/28NM mentioned above is about 7,000 YPP
I sometimes buy some comes from Bendigo Woolen mill (here in Australia) they sell some on cones but they sell as 2ply or 3ply with 500grams to a cone....they do also offer to put other yarns onto a cone if you buy 3 or more 200gram cakes
I love the 2 & 3ply on the cone as it's less joins
I love the 2 & 3ply on the cone as it's less joins
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If you're lucky. I always expected cones to have zero knots. I've learned that it's not always so. Now, I just untie or cut out the knot, and continue knitting.Nanamel14 said:
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True, to an extent. Colourmart sells predominantly cashmere and wool and blends thereof. They also have some silk blends, mohair, cotton blends, and linen blends. I quoted their entire article from their website as it is the easiest for me to understand - and I usually use their yarn. I don't have any experience with cotton yarns but, given how different sewing and embroidery threads are, would imagine their NM parlance is quite different.AdeleRM said:
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