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Flicker and lock
Comb and top
Hand cards and rolag
Drum carder and batt
 Twisting
 Join
 Singles
Plied yarn
(this is two-ply)
 Balanced
yarn
 Designer
yarn
 Niddy-noddy
How to use a niddy-noddy to make a skein
Brought to you by
Published by
Interweave Press
201 E. Fourth St.
Loveland, CO 80537-5655
Available from better fiber and yarn stores and on selected
newsstands, or for subscription information call Interweave Press
at (800)767-9638.
This brochure is available for the general advancement
of the spinning community. Contact Interweave Press for details.
© 1995 Interweave Press. Text by Rita Buchanan and Deborah
Robson. Illustrations by Ann Sabin Swanson. Unlimited reprint
permission from Interweave Press. Not for resale without written
permission from Interweave Press.
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Preparing the Wool for
Spinning
Wool is easier to spin if it's prepared by
separating the fibers into a loose, fluffy arrangement. You can
buy a fleece and do the washing and preparation yourself, or pay a
little more (usually $10 to $20 per pound) for wool that's been
washed, dyed (if you choose), and processed.
Click here to see fiber
Special tools have been designed for preparing wool and other
fibers. A flicker,
flick carder,
or pet comb (average cost under $10) is excellent
for loosening individual locks and pulling out any short or weak
fibers. Flicking works best
for a fleece with distinct locks and a staple
length of 4 inches or more. Mini-combs, Viking combs,
and English wool combs (cost $50 to $150) also
work best for wool with locks that are at least 4 inches long. You
can comb several locks at a time. Combing is a
separating process-it removes any shorter fibers as it loosens and
aligns the longer fibers. After combing, the long fibers are
pulled into a smooth, continuous strand called a top (the short
fibers are set aside for a different use or discarded); fibers can
be pulled off with your fingers, or through a tool called a diz. A
few mills are set up to do combing, and sometimes you can buy
commercially combed tops of wool or other fibers.
Hand cards
or carders (average
cost $30 to $60) are good for preparing medium to short wool
(staple length 4 inches or less);
drum carders
(cost $250 to $500 or more) can handle short, medium, or long
wool, depending on how they are set up. Carding
is a blending process, good for evening out the variations in
color, crimp, or length between different parts of a fleece; for
blending different colors of dyed fleece; and for combining wool
with mohair, angora, or other fibers. Wool can be lifted off a
carder as a fluffy, pillowlike, rectangular batt.
Spinners sometimes roll batts into slender tubes called rolags
or pull them lengthwise into long strands called slivers
or rovings. The carding process can easily be
automated, and there are dozens of small mills around the United
States that sell carded batts or rovings; some will custom-card
wool that you supply.
Making Yarn
Many kinds of spinning tools are available today-everything
from simple wooden handspindles to high-tech electric spinners,
from antique wool and flax wheels to modern wheels. The diversity
of spinning tools is a wonderful story in itself, but it's
important to remember that in handspinning, it's
the skill and sensitivity of the spinner's hands that shapes the
yarn. The spinner is in control; the tool is just an assistant.
No matter which tool you use, the process of spinning is
basically the same. The first step is drafting or
pulling fibers out of the prepared lock, top, batt, or roving.
Drafting just a few fibers at a time makes a very thin yarn;
drafting many fibers makes a thicker yarn. Twisting
the drafted fibers makes yarn. Twist holds the fibers together so
they don't slip apart or rub loose; one of the spinner's skills is
determining the appropriate amount of twist for a given yarn. At
the start, you want enough twist that the yarn is strong . . . and
not so much that it makes itself into independent corkscrews.
After drafting and twisting a length of yarn, you can let it wind
on to the bobbin of the spinning wheel or wind it onto a
spindle by hand, then start drafting and twisting more yarn. When
you finish spinning one batch of fiber, you make a join by
splicing on a new supply. A careful join is invisible in the
finished yarn.
Turn the wheel (or spindle) one way and you get Z-twist
yarn. Turn it the other way and you'll have S-twist
yarn. By convention, most spinners turn the wheel clockwise (Z) to
make yarn from loose fiber, but the only rule is that if you start
spinning in a given direction you need to keep going that way
until you've finished with that bobbin- or spindle-full of yarn
(reversing directions untwists your work).
Depending on what type of fiber you're spinning and how you use
your hands, the steps of drafting and twisting may be done
separately and in sequence, or they can flow together into a
continuous process. Spinners working with combed, long-staple wool
often draft by moving their hands just a few inches-about half the
length of the fibers-in a gesture called a short draw.
Then they deliberately guide the twist into the drafted fibers,
making a smooth, dense worsted yarn. Spinners
using short-staple wool that has been carded and rolled into
rolags may use a long draw, moving one hand back
and forth with a full swing of the arm, simultaneously drafting
and twisting up to three feet of fuzzy, puffy, woolen yarn
before winding it on. You'll see many variations and combinations
of these techniques if you watch different people spin; as with
most decisions in spinning, what's "right" is whatever
works best for the individual spinner and the fiber. Because they
can be so unique, there is no precise, consistent way of
describing drafting methods.
When you turn loose fiber into yarn, you make a singles
yarn (a single strand), with the fibers all twisted in the same
direction. Singles yarn can be finished and used as is, but
spinners often take an extra step, twisting two or more strands of
singles together to make plied yarn, which is
usually stronger, more uniform, and easier to handle. The simplest
plied yarn twists two singles together in the opposite direction
to their original spinning (Z singles, S plied). A balanced
yarn is a special type of plied yarn, where the twist used in
plying exactly balances the twist used in spinning and straightens
out the fibers. A balanced yarn is very calm and doesn't kink at
all.
Basic spinning and plying techniques produce "plain
vanilla" yarn, lovely in itself and useful for all kinds of
knitting, weaving, and other projects. A plain-vanilla spinner can
achieve plenty of variety simply by using different types of wool
(in natural or dyed colors), by varying the thickness and twist of
the singles, and by choosing whether or not to ply the yarn. For
even more variety, there are advanced techniques for making fancy designer
yarns, with unique texture and color effects.
Finishing Wool Yarn
After plying-or after spinning, if the yarn will be used as
singles- make the yarn into a skein by winding it
onto a
niddy-noddy or skein winder.
Tie the skein in at least three places before you remove it from
the niddy-noddy. Wool yarn usually gets softer and puffier when
you wash and dry it, and it also shrinks in
length- usually 10 to 25 percent, but sometimes even more. It's a
good idea to wash yarn and let it shrink before you knit, weave,
or do something else with it.
To wash the skein, fill your sink with
comfortably warm water and add a squirt or two of dishwashing
liquid or shampoo; set the skein on top of the water and press it
down gently to get it wet. Let it soak for a few minutes. Lift the
skein out of the water, drain the basin, and run in rinse water of
the same temperature. Set the skein in the water and press down
gently again. Remove the skein, drain the water, and repeat the
rinse. Squeeze the skein (don't wring it) to remove excess water,
and then let the skein dry on a towel or rack.
Felting happens when you agitate or rub wet
wool fleece, yarn, or fabric. It's wonderful to make felt on
purpose, but to avoid accidental felting when you're washing any
wool product, be careful to handle it as little and as gently as
possible.
If the yarn looks wrinkly or kinky after you wash it, you can
smooth it out by steaming it, like you would
steam wrinkles out of a garment. Use a travel steamer or steam
iron, or pass the skein over the spout of a steaming teakettle;
five to ten seconds of steaming is enough to smooth most yarns.
Admire your skein. It's some of the best yarn in the
world!
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Wool
fibers usually group together in clusters called locks. By gently pulling
a few sample locks out of the fleece, you can determine the staple length
(or average length) of the locks (usually between 3 and 8 inches), the
crimp or waviness of the wool, and the count or thickness of the wool
fibers (larger numbers indicate finer wool-80s is quite fine, and 40s is
coarse). Coarse wool tends to have fewer crimps per inch, and may be
scratchy or itchy-but will be very durable. Fine wool most often has a lot
of crimps per inch, and feels soft and comfortable next to your skin, but
would not wear well in a rug. These attributes can be measured precisely,
but most spinners just assess them by eye and by feel.