An App for Spinners? Yes!

There's nothing like the blend of old technology with new. This is especially true when the new helps us out with the old. Sometimes it's little things like niddy noddy calculations. I have a niddy noddy on which one wrap is 60 inches. I can't tell you how many times I've had to do a math question like (60 x 113) ÷ 36 = ? to find out how many yards of yarn I have.

Spinners are always solving math problems. If I spin a yarn that has 18 Wraps Per Inch, approximately how many yards will I have in an ounce? How many ounces do I need to spin to have enough yards for my project? How do I achieve my desired twist on a wheel ratio of 1:6 with a short draft of about 4 inches. It goes on and on.

Well guess what? Today I stumbled onto what I think is a seriously cool iPhone/iPod Touch app for the spinning community. It's called iSpin Toolkit. You can measure the angle of your twist, find your WPI or TPI and calculate a myriad of things from WPI to grist, niddy noddy figuring and even the number of treadles needed to create a certain TPI. I've been playing with it this afternoon and I have to say, it makes the calculations fun. You can choose a light screen or a dark one, whichever is easier on your eyes. There's even a ruler to check your gauge.

There are a lot of craft apps that look cool, but I can't really see myself using them. This one is loaded with practical tools. I think iSpin Toolkit is worth checking out.