Friday, October 12, 2018

Twist and Balance

Yesterday afternoon I gave a talk about yarn structure to a small group. Maureen asked if I'd write here what I said there, so here goes.

All fibre crafts, such as knitting, crochet, embroidery et c need a continuous thread. Otherwise you're restricted to the length you can cut from a hide or strip from a plant. A long time ago (before ancient Egyptian and Greek times) mankind worked out how to form a continuous thread by twisting fibres together.

It doesn't matter what the fibres are, animal, plant or synthetic, the thread is created through twisting. The method doesn't matter either - fingers, spindle, spinning wheel or machine all twist fibres together.

An interesting thing about twist is that the more you twist the fibres, the stronger the thread. BUT: there's a downside because the more you twist, the less soft the yarn will be. So you sometimes have to weigh these factors against each other. On the plus side, it means you can vary the twist according to the purpose of the yarn. So if you want strong sock wool, you put in a lot of twist, but if you want a soft, snuggly yarn for a scarf, you put in less twist:
So that seems simple - put in enough twist for your purpose and off you go. Not so fast....

If you twist your fibres clockwise and then knit the resulting thread, the individual stitches and the whole piece will slant badly:
Yesterday we had a go at straightening it out, but it quickly sprang back to this shape. You can twist your fibres anticlockwise and then it will slant in the other direction:
Overcoming this bias and creating a 'balanced yarn' involves plying, or combining threads. So for the example below, I spun two threads clockwise, and then combined them anticlockwise:
The skein hangs straight and the knitted stitches are straight. Plying doesn't necessarily have to combine the same or even similar threads. When I hand spin cotton, I often ply it with a fine commercial thread. And of course more than one thread can be combined. There are infinite possibilities, but the aim is to create a usable thread or yarn.

There are other factors that affect how much twist is needed, eg short fibres like cotton need more twist than long fibres like mohair; thin thread needs more twist than thick. But the principle remains the same - it's all about the twist.


15 comments:

  1. You're the best, Jane! Great presentation of twist!
    Katie V in NC USA

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  2. In a day filled with back to back 10 minute conferences, i’m Delighted to already have learned something new, something fascinating too. Thank you!

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  3. Thank you for the lesson! I didn't know you spun yarn, you sure know so many crafts!

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  4. Great lecture and very informative. Thanks Jane for sharing.

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  5. Thank you for the lesson. It is fascinating and I learned something. Wish I could have been there to see/hear you in person.

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  6. Jane, I have Finally understood what 'ply' means!!! Superb explanation. Didn't realise how the twist can affect one's work. Thank you for sharing :-) I'm sure you impressed them with your talk :-))

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  7. Thank you for this! Can you explain about Z twist and Y twist? I know that it refers to the direction of spinning, but one is good for tatting and the other isn't, and I can never remember which is which!

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    1. I’ll tat a couple of samples and see if I can work it out.

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  8. Very interesting piece, I would have loved to hear your talk, I never realised that the way you twist the thread makes the thread go one way or the other. There’s more to spinning than I imagined

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  9. I am not a spinner nor weaver so this explained so much. Please do give us more.

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  10. Thank you very much, great lesson!

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  11. Jane I never think about making of the yarn and yes this is very useful information. Thanks for sharing a portion of your lecture.

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  12. I'd like to add my thanks as well. Thanks for the clear pictures and samples, too. I really learned something! :-)

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  13. Much appreciated, Jane. I love your illustrations.

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