worsted spun vs woolen spun

Yarns with multiple strands of fiber plied together are very sturdy. So at my LYS how can I tell from the label on the yarn? When spinning the fiber the long draw or medium draw technique is used to allow the fiber to wrap upon itself while . August 2019 Generally speaking, plant-based materials will be heavier than animal fibers. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. In relation to the thinner 1ply yarns Woollen Spun has a crisper feel, whereas the Worsted Spun has more drape and softness. I have just started spinning using a Navajo type spindle and I was unsure that I was l on the right lines. If your allergy is very specific (e.g., you cant do wool, but you can do alpaca, or you cant handle linen but youre fine with cotton or bamboo), itll be easier to substitute than if your allergy is more broad (e.g., you cant do any animal fibers at all and have to use plant fibers, or vice versa). Copyright 2014-2023. But just to make things tricky, it's entirely possible for a yarn to be both woollen and worsted, generally when a previously spun woollen yarn is re-spun using the worsted technique, creating a so-called semi-woollen or semi-worsted yarn. Thank you for your thoughtful and careful drafting, and especially the photos! If either of these fibers is in your yarn, no matter how worsted and smooth it is spunit will become a fuzzy yarn. On Ravelry, you can go to the (Ravelry link) Projects tab on the pattern page to see other versions of the hat knit by other people. How about giving us more names of worsted and woolen yarns currently available? Oh great now Im going to spend all day weeping for Wuthering Heights Tom Hardy and wondering what kind of yarn he was. Fabrics created with worsted spun yarns, on the other hand, will generally have better drape, smoothness, and stitch definition. Voila! This is so helpful and interesting not to mention how easy to understand. To produce our heathered colors, the scoured fleece is then dyed in a range of intensely saturated base solids, which are then blended together during the spinning process using percentages of the base colors unique to each colorway. The difference between woolen and the worsted yarn is that woolen yarn is spun by carding fibers. Before beginning the process of spinning our woolen-spun yarns, the fiber is first cleaned and then dyed in the fleece. Thank you for a well written and useful article. I feel I finally understand the difference. Its easier to just add more rows than to recalculate the width of a garment. November 2022 You can see her producing rolags, and then using a navajo spindle to do a form of long draw. The Empire (on the right) is less consistent, and looks a little puffier. On Instagram, just type #ProfiteroleHat into the search bar, and check out the other versions people have posted. 4.5 sts / inch on size US 8. Theyre great for items that wont get a ton of friction while youre wearing them and that you wear against sensitive skinthings like hats and cowls. Heres an example of what I mean: in February 2020, I released the Profiterole Hat. December 2020 Its easy to see whats going on with the yarn and knitting in the samples. Please allow a few minutes for this process to complete. Our most popular workhorse yarn is the Heritage two-ply, but if you want even more wear, the Tuffy is an 80/20 blend of wool and nylon. Heritage comes in forty-five colors of the rainbow, including plenty of neutrals and heathers. . Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. The difference in these two yarns are mainly due to two factors; (1) the nature or class of wool used; and (2) the method of preparing and spinning the fibres into yarn. The one on the left is woolen spun, and the one on the right is worsted spun. The yarn is less hairy than worsted yarns. Twist is the magic that makes fiber into yarn, and drafting is how the twist gets into the fiber. April 2020 Worsted yarn is best used in outerwear, hats and mittens. Thank you for an excellent and informative article, Jill! I finally understand what worsted and wollen mean. The worsted yarn will be a little bit stronger whereas the woolen yarn will break a little bit easier. July 2013 (Theres a method to this madness, we promise!). Woolen yarns have variable fiber arrangement In woolen spun yarns the fibers are running in multiple directions, like a cloud. They are the same weight and have the same number of plies. However, the cost of carded woolen yarn is lower. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. When it comes to choosing between a woolen-spun yarn and a worsted-spun yarn, there really is no right or wrong answer. Since it doesn't have air, it does not tend to be "fuzzy". A lot of totally digestable information, that was logically arranged and illustrated and you even sprinkled it with touches of humor. This can get a bit tricky if youre substituting because you have a fiber allergy. Does this happen with all yarns? You've got the woolen spun vs worsted spun reversed. Woollen spun woven fabrics are thicker and heavier and used mostly for outerwear. May 2017 The yarn isn't smoothed, it's simply stretched out like a piece of chewing gum, that traps lots of air in the yarn, and makes it very bouncey and elastic. This exciting variety can be attributed to similarly multiple factors such as individual spinning style and preference, fleece and fiber characteristics, or even environmental considerations like humidity levels. November 2013 The same process squeezes out the air making it not as warm. Understanding helps tremendously and the side by side swatches were terrific. Spinning Heres why: when the fibers in the yarn irregular in length and nestled together in every which way are soaked in water during the blocking process, they get the chance to relax, and then they readjust and mingle with each other even more as they dry, creating a solid and cohesive piece of fabric. It makes yarn that is smooth and dense. Any suggestions? Thanks for the clear and concise approach I get it now! The fibers are carded, or brushed, in a single direction and then tightly spun together, resulting in a yarn that is smooth and has a consistent thickness. I have noticed that in even acrylic yarns, worsted is not the same. The sweater turned out too big and too heavy, so it drooped until it hung from my shoulders like a circular tablecloth with a hole in the middle. It also means woolen-spun yarns are warmer than their worsted counterparts as these air pockets help hold body heat. lovely wool yarn selection from Jagger Spun. The yarn is spun using the woolen process. Domestic wool combed top from Poppy Flower Fibers, 4 oz. July 2015 December 2015 As with our woolen-spun yarns, fiber prepared for worsted-spun yarn is first scoured and then carded. You cracked the egg for me.I want to read more of your writing. Wuthering Heights Tom Hardy is the yarn that ran out when you were an inch from the finish. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Ill jump right in with the big one. Different fibers behave in different ways. So what difference does it make, why bother to think about spinning technique and processing type before spinning? You can also go to the (Ravelry link) yarn ideas tab to see what yarns other people have substituted. Worsted Weight: 250 Yards / 100 Grams. Heres a thread on Ravelry discussing it: https://www.ravelry.com/discuss/techniques/3930171/1-25, Really impressed by the author. Chances are, from the end of your batt the fibres are being fed in to the yarn along the direction of the yarn, and not at 90 degrees. Because filaments wrap the worsted core, the yarn is noticeably less uneven and has fewer defects than worsted yarns. The fibers of a worsted-spun yarn are first straightened and then oriented in the same direction, making the yarn smooth and shiny, which gives your knitted fabric lots of stitch definition. Are they going in parallel or perpendicular? The fiber is compressed and smoothed, and air is squeezed out as the twist is applied to the fiber. You can see the difference when its wound into a ball, and in the strand. Worsted is smooth (using combed fibers), while woolen is more rustic. Stitch definition. You'll also want to identify whether the suggested yarn in the pattern is woolen spun or worsted spun. August 2013 Worsted yarns contrast with woollen yarns, which are carded rather than combed and fuzzier than worsted yarns. Thank you so much for sharing. December 2016 You are the Rachel Maddow of yarn, delving in at a granular level, exploring every detail, and explaining it all with an engaging writing style drenched in clarity. No twist enters the fiber by itself. My substitutions have been just based intuition and have often resulted in less than desired results. www.solitudewool.com, Content: 100% wool Put-Up: 150 yd [137m]/4 oz [113 g] Construction: Singles Recommended Gauge: 12 sts and 16 rows = 4 (10 cm) on size 11 (8 mm) needles, The bulky single-ply Native Twist is a 100% wool, soft-spun singles and is Imperials most popular yarn. Its not just the beautiful dyeing. June 2019 The amount of twist added when making individual plies of yarn is very important and can take the hand and behavior of the yarn in different directions. The main differences between woolen and worsted spinning are the direction that the fibers are running in the yarn and the compactness of the resulting yarn. This action will also remove this member from your connections and send a report to the site admin. In the woolen system, the fibers are carded and then spun It affects the processing efficiency as well as the quality of the product.This presentation has focused on wool spinning particularly woolen & worsted spinning process. There are other ways to make woolen spun but this is the classic method. August 2016 The most important thing when choosing a yarn substitute is to pick a new yarn that is approximately the same thickness, or weight, as the recommended yarn. Semi-woolen yarn is spun woolen-style, using fibers prepared in a parallel arrangement. The Empire is more uneven looking, a little airier as well as fuzzy. Woolen yarns are made of carded yarns and are fuzzy and bulky. Our BWC Wisconsin Woolen Spun yarns are two-ply in both the fingering and worsted weight and are available in 100 gram skeins. October 2013 Its more precise than the yarns weight category of fingering, DK, bulky, etc. Drafting is the process of adding twist to fiber, and of course it has an effect on your knitting. Thank you! For many projects, it wont make much of a difference if youre switching yarn construction. They are also warmer because of the airiness. This is extra work youre asking them to undertake, and knitting patterns are already underpriced.