October 2021 But it made a noticeable difference to the feel of the swatch in my hand. Spin: Worsted or Woolen How a yarn is spun affects a yarn's weight and crimp. Drop me a line any time. When it comes to choosing between a woolen-spun yarn and a worsted-spun yarn, there really is no right or wrong answer. May 2015 With your information I can now choose wisely, thus ensuring my yarn/pattern will be completed. Bonus points for great pictures to make everything visual and extra clear. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. I hope you found time to explore your stash, and perhaps enhance it with yarns of different breeds. Jill, I am a newbie to crochet and knitting, so this information is wonderful! Youve just figured out your yarns WPI. Worsted-spun yarns are known for being more durable than their woolen-spun counterparts. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. Depending on their knowledge of spinning and yarns, it gets a bit tricky to articulate sometimes. The worsted will tend to emphasize the gaps between the colours. Unfortunately you cant tell from the ballband unless the manufacturer has included that information. Woolen yarns feel lighter, can feel textured and have a halo, and if the fibers like to be hairy or fuzzy, they will be flying their fuzzy freak flag. I have been knitting for awhile and have yet to use the yarn recommended by a designer for various reasons. They are also warmer because of the airiness. Great article! They also tend to have better stitch definition than single-ply yarns do. This definitely affects your choice for a project that will be steeked, but also for fair isle or intarsia colourwork where the woolen spun will fill in the gaps between stitches of different colours. This is a fantastic article and helped me to understand in the ins and outs so clearly however, even after refreshing Im getting broken links for all the in article photos what happened? June 2020 Snippets is the Saturday newsletter full of MDK news, specials, and first look at new offerings. What Ply is Worsted Weight Yarn? Stitch definition. I also find that woollen spun yarns need a lot of work to be held in place to create even floats, whereas worsted spun yarns naturally feed through my hands and create an even tension almost by themselves. (See my Jamieson & Smith Jumper Weight vs a worsted crepe swatch.) You explained it so well. Our worsted spun wool and wool blend yarns are available in lace to bulky weights in a wide range of colors. The carder opens up the fiber and blends it evenly, resulting in a thin cloud- or web-like sheet commonly known as abatt. I'm glad it was helpful to you! So what difference does it make, why bother to think about spinning technique and processing type before spinning? But once knitted and blocked, a further bloom will take place, and the resulting fabric will be light and lush; cozy and insulating. Are they going in parallel or perpendicular? The worsted spinning method creates yarns that are smooth and durable, with superior stitch definition. Wool Yarn Wool is the dense, warm , soft, often curly hair forming coat of sheep, also called a fleece. Thank you!!!! 100% Targhee-Columbia wool. Now I can make better informed decisions when selecting yarns for a project, and now that next trip to my LYS will really become an adventure! Worsted spun yarns are used in preparation of suits, dresses, crepes. This means, how many individual strands were used to form the thread. October 2018 November 2022 Ive put off learning more about the structure and the why and have just let myself be lead around MLYS making choices that just add to the stash but may not be right for the intended project. The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network. www.imperialyarn.com. And I also now understand my past failures a little better haha! Id assumed it was me, but now I wonder if its my yarn? Ive been knitting for 15 years and never knew any of this! 'Carding' is one of the processes which untangles the woo. If your gauge is too loose (that is, fewer stitches per inch than it should have), try going down a needle size. Understanding helps tremendously and the side by side swatches were terrific. The worsted yarn will be a little bit stronger whereas the woolen yarn will break a little bit easier. Worsted wool is smoother than woolen, takes shine more easily, does not sag, holds a crease well, is lighter and less bulky, and wears longer than woolen. This was a grat posting. That is woolen drafting. Your explanation of the 2 ends of the spectrum also makes it very easy to understand our process and resulting yarns. Prepare to fiddle with needle sizes and maybe make a math adjustment or two if your chosen yarn doesnt quite match the gauge in the pattern. Taking the spinning seminar from Cecilia Quinn I learned the difference between worsted and woolen is in the way the fibers were treated and spun. I made a sweater that is just too heavy and was hoping to be able to make it in a lighter weight yarn. The smoothness of the yarn means that the stitches knit from them sing proudly and have excellent definition, while the compactness of the yarn contributes to fabrics with greater drape. This action will also remove this member from your connections and send a report to the site admin. The Empire (on the right) is less consistent, and looks a little puffier. (Theres a method to this madness, we promise!). 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. Which do you like and want to work with? No twist enters the fiber by itself. . September 2022 February 2018 Well, the differences between woolens and worsted begin at the carding stage. When you look at yarns, hunting for worsted vs. woolen, some are obvious from across the yarn shop. You can see the difference when its wound into a ball, and in the strand. But if the pattern calls for yarn from an indie dyer or one of the smaller manufacturers, it can be pretty hit or miss (I just checked for several of my favorites that I've used in designs this year, and nothing). Try to get your WPI to match as closely as possible to avoid that problem. Your email address will not be published. New spinning innovations have produced wind and waterproof wool fabrics. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. Great article, thank you for this very detailed account , I learned so much ! Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. February 2017 Ill jump right in with the big one. Here, we take a closer look at some of the industrys top woolen-spun yarns. A woolen yarns loose, lofty structure traps and holds air, making it warm and light, but the air between the fibers allows them to abrade quicker. Before you go subbing in your new yarn, though, think about the following issues. The Classic British Wool yarn line is available in four thicknesses and fifteen heathered colorways. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. October 2017 Its knit using one strand of fingering-weight wool yarn and one strand of lace-weight silk-mohair yarn. Voila! I did not know this was the difference in certain types of yarn. The table below lists some of their properties: Original Yarns My thanks also. Thank you!!! Does it make that much difference to your gauge? That is worsted drafting. Its easier to just add more rows than to recalculate the width of a garment. 2.83 yds Holland Sherry WOOL Fabric Luxury worsted Suiting 10 oz Plaid 102" BTP. This yarn delivers on every account. Different fibers behave in different ways. Im trying to educate myself on the different weights of yarn and could only find worsted listed as a weight. 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. (using carded fibers). Generally speaking, plant-based materials will be heavier than animal fibers. Pilling should not be conflated with the characteristic bloom of woolen spun yarns. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. January 2018 There is a lot of technical information about the differences between woolen spun and worsted spun yarn, which you can read about here on the MDK blog. Worsted wools are better at keeping out the wind and rain, but woolen wools are warmer, because they are full of air which acts as insulation. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Ill be referring back to it next time Im looking for yarn for a specific project. So good! During the Middle Ages, common agricultural practices were in flux because new breeds of sheep were being . Knit using the same needles and in the same style that youll be knitting the garment (i.e., flat or in the round). I think Ill need to read it over a few times to really get it, because there is so much information. Worsted is a high-quality type of wool yarn. Perfect. In stockinette its *really* obvious. May 2022 The bloom also means that woolen-spun yarns can be generously forgiving and able to balance out tension or stitch irregularity in knitting. Now that you know about how woolen and worsted yarns behave in knitted fabric, youll be able to choose the perfect pattern to complement your new yarn love. Im usually a picker, and I never pull from the center of a ball. Please refer to Blacker Yarns blog for an explanation: https://www.thenaturalfibre.co.uk/blog/woollen-and-worsted-spun-yarns-thoughts-wovember#:~:text=A%20woollen%20spun%20yarn%20will,high%20proportion%20of%20short%20fibre. Also softer than woolen yarn after carded. Yarn and fiber folks have an extensive vocabulary for many things, but we are really stuck on the word worsted. Color. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. https://garmentmerchendising.com/category/fiber/. Thank you Jagger Spun for the information! Within woollen preparation the fibre is spun straight . That doesnt happen when fiber is being compressed and smoothed while it becomes a worsted drafted yarn; that happens when the twist limbos into the fiber. Usually with terms like August 2020 Gauge: 5.5 sts / inch on US 6. They are the same weight and have the same number of plies. 20Nm/1 100% Merino Worsted Wool Yarn with Single Anti-shrink for Knitting and Weaving.yarn Patterns: raw white/yarn dyed/top dyed Styles: worsted/woolen Technics: ring spun Use: knitting, weaving Feature: single anti-shrink Evenness: USTER Different twists for weaving and knitting Yarn count: 20Nm/1 Wool top:24 micron Used for sock Color: solid color, suitable for all colors MOQ of sample . When a yarn is spun from a pile of fibers into a string, its turned a little bit as its stretched out to make a tubular shape. If you substitute with a yarn that is drastically thicker or thinner than the recommended yarn, you wont be able to achieve the right gauge. Woolen spun yarn is known to be light as air, durable, warm and lofty. The two main types of yarns are spun yarn and filament yarn. Ive wondered lately why some yarn I loved in my LYS seemed perfect, but when swatched, especially in garter stitch, looked so shiny, something I didnt want. Compared with worsted yarns with the same specifications, worsted core-spun yarns have the following advantages: 1. So how do you spin yarn to be either worsted or woolen? December 2017 Content: 100% pure new wool Put-Up: 119yd [110 m]/134 oz [50 g] Construction: 3-ply Care: Handwash in cool water Recommended Gauge: 20 sts and 28 rows = 4 (10 cm) on size 6 (4 mm) needles, Woolen-spun yarn creates little air pockets in the fiber; I like to think the process is similar to backcombing ones hair, offers Blacker Yarnss Sonja Bargielowska. In this photo below you can see the 1ply Supreme (worsted) on the left has more of a halo whereas the 1ply Cobweb (woollen) on the right has better stitch definition - it almost feels like cotton although it is 100% wool. Its an old method too and goes well with fiber that has been prepared for spinning by hand. NOW I KNOW. Yarns with multiple strands of fiber plied together are very sturdy. What a fascinating series of posts by Ms. Moreno! Now I also know the difference when spinning too. You've got the woolen spun vs worsted spun reversed. Woolen yarns have variable fiber arrangement In woolen spun yarns the fibers are running in multiple directions, like a cloud. April 2020 Ill never look at yarn the same way again! Drafting is the process of adding twist to fiber, and of course it has an effect on your knitting. Woolen spun yarns are in the production of sweaters, carpets, tweeds. Want to try out some wonderful wool yarns? 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. This means it offers remarkable warmth and lightness and is adaptable in gauge, able to compress to a denser fabric on small needles or bloom to cohere as a gauzy fabric when worked on large needles. March 2021 How satisfying! The twisted singles are then plied together on the twisting frame Arbor is comprised of three plies, while Vale is comprised of two. I am so excited to have found this article today. Hours: Mon-Fri from 9am-4pm MT I finally understand what worsted and wollen mean. In side-by-side comparison of worsted and woolen yarns with the same fiber and yarn structure, the worsted yarn is more durable, less warm, and heavier than a woolen yarn. Most people whove knit the hat have substituted yarns, but if they didnt use one with a halo like the silk-mohair, they sometimes found that the resulting fabric was too loose. They are both delightful, yet different. Yarn tends to come in hanks, balls, skeins, cakes, and cones. This is because the combed fibers, lacking air pockets, can more readily spin up into a compact, dense, and sturdy yarn. Rudy Amann was mentored in handspinning by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts. Safe home and already knitting a scarf . August 2018 the fiber(s) used. Combed top can be used to make yarns for items that are still going to be warm, like a hat, it just will not have the insulating ability of a yarn spun woolen, but will be stronger than a woolen spun yarn. You may be wondering by now if one is better than the other. The Windham is more uniform and sleek looking even with the inherent visual softness of the Merino fiber. Thank you! March 2020 The bloom also means that woolen-spun yarns can be generously forgiving and able to balance out tension or stitch irregularity in knitting. The indie Dyer might know how their base is spun if one is buying direct but maybe a LYS owner might not. Its totally fine. When I first started knitting, I bought a Debbie Bliss magazine that had this adorable, lightweight top for summer. It's then spun with the twist entering the drafting zone in a long draw technique. The packing-in of the fiber as worsted yarn is made allows the fibers to protect each other for longer wear and less pilling. Customer accounts enabled in your Store Admin. $43.99 + $10 . . Between those extremes, you can make infinite yarn combining elements from along the woolen/worsted continuum. After picking, the fiber goes through acarder, a machine with several rolling cylinders covered in metal teeth. If you can only achieve one, though, choose accurate stitch gauge. Use top to spin semi worsted. I have saved this post as I will go over it again and again. While the definitions of woollen and worsted yarns can be debated, each style of yarn has a very distinct physical appearance when knitted, crocheted, or woven into cloth. Youll also want to identify whether the suggested yarn in the pattern is woolen spun or worsted spun. Native Twist is available in twenty-nine bold, earthy, and jewel-toned solid colorways. Woolen yarns are generally the least expensive industrial yarns to make. As a last resort, if the designer has published their contact information, consider reaching out to them if you have questions about yarn substitution. Thanks for explaining the difference, it's interesting to see those subtle contrasts between the stitching! What you do need is to know what youre doing if you plan to change things up. My substitutions have been just based intuition and have often resulted in less than desired results. Really, it's totally personal preference. Thank you for a well written and useful article. I choose to support local and indie yarners and dont mind spending big $$ on yarn if I understand it will fit the intended project. Last fall when I traveled to the Taos Wool Festival, I discovered a remarkable cormo yarn from Elsa Wool Company. yarns. So many Tom Hardys. In my spinning past, I've spun from locks, from picked fiber 'clouds' , from bats, had also tried a badly produced rolag or two and gave up ~~ but mostly all the years I've spun its been from roving, sliver, and combed top. Nature Spun Worsted. August 2019 Just asking because s-on-s yarns produce a particular asymmetric shape when knitted. This means that they'll have very clear stitch definition, as opposed to woollen spun yarns which have a softer stitch definition. Theyre lofty yarns, so they make lightweight, absorbent fabrics, Elsa Hallowell says, which feel cooler when its warm and very cozy when its cold. www.wool-clothing.com, Content: 100% pure virgin wool Put-Up: 170yd [155 m]/1 3/4 oz [50 g] Construction: 2-ply Care: Handwash gently in lukewarm water Recommended Gauge: 24 sts = 4 (10cm) on sizes 35 (3.253.75mm) needles, Flywheel is a sportweight version of Harrisvilles well-loved Watershed. It is named after the small English village of Worstead, in the county of Norfolk and this village was a center for manufacturing in the twelfth century. 4.5 sts / inch on size US 8. Take a look at the picture in this section. Woolen spun is traditionally spun from carded rolags (this was the job small children carried out). The yarn is spun using the woolen process. It will stay in my notebook in my knitting bag. I won't give you all the details, but before finishing there was already a significant difference in diameter; the worsted (dark) measured as 17 WPI, while the woolen (light) measured as 12 WPI. and now the skies are clear, the the clouds have drifted away, and the sun is shining! All Rights Reserved. I have been knitting for almost 50 years and have never understood what worsted yarn was all about. So, what ply is worsted weight yarn? On the other hand, worsted yarn is spun by combing fibers. Your book will be one of the few in my library, as I want those that provide me the knowledge to choose and knit wisely. Understand that some designers are buried in messages. Thank you so much Katie. The yarn is less hairy than worsted yarns. Not every woolen-spun yarn has a rougher surface, and not every worsted yarn is smooth. October 2020 It resulted in a hat that was light as a cloud but still structurally sound and very warm. Both types require different fiber preparation on spinning techniques. A little history on worsted wool. I just started stranded colorwork and this with your swatches is a good resource. 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Updated July 1, 2020. The difference between worsted-spun and woolen-spun yarns lies in how the fiber is handled before the actual spinning. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". Woolen spinning also works best on wool with shorter staple lengths, such that if you pull on the yarn from several inches away, the yarn can indeed break. If you cant, try searching the designs hashtag on Instagram. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. So far, all the colors have been created by dyeing the fiber in 16 vibrant solids, then blending them, two or . I said Thank You as soon as I read the title. Then you compare that to the ratio of another yarn with a similar fiber content. Now, I finally understand what it really means and how it will impact my future knitting!