# Roving- What does ounces of roving equal in yardage



## Cdambro

I hope you all don't get tired of my questions......

If I have 4 oz. of roving, how do I know how many yards it will spin? When I buy a 3 oz ball of yarn, the label tells me how much the yardage is. I know if I buy bulky, there isn't as much yardag as if 3 oz. of lace weight would be. Am I correct in my thinking? I guess my question is that if I am buying 4 oz of roving, and it is spun fairly thin, how do I know what the yardage will end up or is it a guessing game? I am thinking I should buy 8 oz. to make sure but again, I don't know. Until now, the guessing work was always done for me. Lol. Thank you for your help.

I am plying my 'Brillo Yarn' and will post the finished yarn when I am done. I am plying on my Navaho spindle and it is fairly easy.


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## grammamary

Yep--totally depends on how thick or thin you spin it. Sometimes the type of roving will dictate how it can be spun.


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## mama879

I always buy 8 oz if I can. I usually use 2 different colors when plying but some time I use the same. I spin rather thin when I spin so I usually ply to get a dk weight in order to get a nice amount. If I do not use it all in one spin(stash it) or if I spin it all and do not use it I put it on a old tp roll for some other use. I like to spin it all and store it so I have it done to ply with others colors later on. Just me.


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## desireeross

4 Oz will give me about 600-700+ yards sport weight


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## IndigoSpinner

If you look at commercial yarn of the kind you want to spin, it will give you a good idea of how much yardage you'll get from the same weight roving as the ball of yarn.

Most commercial yarn is spun worsted, and it's fairly heavy compared to a handspun woolen yarn.

When you spin woolen, it incorporates more air into the finished yarn and makes for a lighter, fluffier, warmer yarn that has more yardage.

Spinning worsted tends to give a denser yarn with less yardage.

You're going to have to do some spinning and see how you spin and gain some experience with how your yarns turn out. And bear in mind that if you change your method of spinning, it will affect the yardage you get from a specific weight of fiber.


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## desireeross

Something else I've found is once my yarn (spun worsted) has been washed I lose yardage. I lose between 5-7%


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## IndigoSpinner

desireeross said:


> Something else I've found is once my yarn (spun worsted) has been washed I lose yardage. I lose between 5-7%


Yeah, you stretch the yarn a bit while you spin it, and a bit while it's on the bobbins, but when you wash it, it relaxes back to its original length and blooms a bit.


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