When it comes to choosing between a woolen-spun yarn and a worsted-spun yarn, there really is no right or wrong answer. When youre choosing a substitute yarn, try to get one with a similar fiber content so your end result has the same fabric characteristics. This video of a Navajo Weaver has long been a favourite of mine. Jo, You have a real gift. The woolen yarn fabrics do not hold the crease well and are less durable than worsted yarns. The term itself comes from the English town of Worstead in Norfolk England. This causes the yarn to be light, airy with small fiber ends poking out. Understanding helps tremendously and the side by side swatches were terrific. I was moving too quickly on that one, clearly. Please allow a few minutes for this process to complete. 2.22 yds UK Sherry 100% Spun Silk Fabric Luxury Suiting 9 oz Apricot 80" BTP . This was a great post. Thedoffer, a large cylinder at the delivery end of the carder, then relays the batt into acondenser, which splits the batt into several thin, untwisted strands calledropingorslivers(sly-vers). In tropical-weight worsteds, the use of tightly spun, straightened wool combined with a looser weave permits air to flow through the fabric. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you. I wonder if it is related to the tendancy of woollen-spuns to bloom? (See my Jamieson & Smith Jumper Weight vs a worsted crepe swatch.) June 2014 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. They are also warmer because of the airiness. Going to send people to this. Share. Worsted spun yarn includes individual fibers that are facing in many directions, whereas woolen spun has all of the fibers facing in the same direction before the yarn is spun and they remain much more parallel in the final spun singles. Classically speaking there are 2 types of yarn. 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. However, you may visit Cookie Settings to provide controlled consent. This yarn delivers on every account. Airy and soft, but fragile (because of the shorter staple and looser twist?). Semi worsted will give you more fluff to . Getting a yarn thats labeled with the same weight as the previous yarn is only part of the challenge, though. These two spinning techniques are also the basic, standardized methods employed in commercial yarn production though, as noted in Knitting in the Old Way by Priscilla A. Gibson-Roberts and Deborah Robson, more and more spinning mills today follow a hand spinning approach to commercial spinning, adapting processing and spinning techniques to enhance the natural characteristics of a particular fiber or to achieve a yarn well-suited for specific kinds of knitted fabric. You have made it so clear to me. The project aims to restore the hydropower installation to produce clean energy from the waterway that runs under the mill. So how do you spin yarn to be either worsted or woolen? Dogs Thank you for an excellent and informative article, Jill! Shop Talk Safe home and already knitting a scarf . Woolen yarns are the ones you might find bits of hay in. You can read more about the ranges of WPI for each yarn weight on the Craft Yarn Councils website. (using carded fibers). Woolen-spun fibers, on the other hand, are not straightened; the individual fibers lie in all directions, creating a yarn with lots of air pockets. Brooklyn Tweeds Arbor (Targhee wool, worsted spun) and Shelter (Targhee/Columbia wool, woolen spun) are perfect examples. You are however spinning long draw, which is a more woolen type of draft and will be trapping more air in the yarn. However, roping is more commonly used to refer specifically to this stage inwoolen-spinning mills. I like to use a pencil. Time to read it again, more closely! Compared to woolens, worsted wool fabrics are brushed in two directions with special brushes. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. The packing-in of the fiber as worsted yarn is made allows the fibers to protect each other for longer wear and less pilling. 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. In the videos below, I'm using hand carded alpaca. February 2021 A lot. Spin: Worsted or Woolen How a yarn is spun affects a yarn's weight and crimp. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. July 2021 Thanks for clearing up my confusion over what I scored at the thrift shop today and helping provide some direction on what project might be right for it. January 2016 Our BWC Wisconsin Woolen Spun yarns are two-ply in both the fingering and worsted weight and are available in 100 gram skeins. Thank you! April 2014 Look at the picture that accompanies this section. I hope you found time to explore your stash, and perhaps enhance it with yarns of different breeds. One of the most basic attributes of a yarn is woolen or worsted spun. The photos were such a vivid illustration of the difference between these two types of drafting and their results for your knitting. They are the same weight and have the . October 2019 Before you go subbing in your new yarn, though, think about the following issues. A lot of totally digestable information, that was logically arranged and illustrated and you even sprinkled it with touches of humor. If youre really comfortable with doing a lot of math, making adjustments on the fly, and pulling out your work if you decide you dont like how it works, then feel free to experiment with a yarn of a different gauge. November 2014 Think in terms of shopping at a fiber show. Wool is readied by washing (lanolin is the by-product), carding, sometimes combing, then spinning. Woollen Yarn Woollen yarn is spun using a short staple fiber prepared by handcarding and rolled into rolags. Ideally, you want to get accurate stitch and row gauge. That means theyre good for colorwork and lace projects where you really want your stitches to pop. Thanks for explaining the difference, it's interesting to see those subtle contrasts between the stitching! document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. 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. In most cases, semi-worsted and semi-woolen yarns could often be confused for the same thing. Semi-worsted at a similar wpi got me 83 yds/1.1 oz. Thats especially true if youre knitting a small, close-fitting garment like a sock or mitt. So at my LYS how can I tell from the label on the yarn? 4.5 sts / inch on size US 8. What is Worsted Wool? This is what is meant by the gorgeous phenomenon of blooming. 28 minutes. Ive got the same question as an earlier commenter one leg of my knit stitches is tighter than the other. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. October 2016 I feel I finally understand the difference. $43.99 + $10 . Woolen fabrics are spun from short fibers, while worsted wool is made from longer and fine ones. Just asking because s-on-s yarns produce a particular asymmetric shape when knitted. October 2020 That ratio helps you understand how thick the yarn is. With your information I can now choose wisely, thus ensuring my yarn/pattern will be completed. 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 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. Fabrics created with worsted spun yarns, on the other hand, will generally have better drape, smoothness, and stitch definition. The fibers in stitches knit from woolen-spun yarn seem to literally bloom into the space theyre given. December 2018 My thanks also. Worsted spinning is generally done with the longer fibres, whereas woollen makes use of the shorter ones, which means that worsted yarns are generally denser. June 2020 Original Yarns That wasnt the silhouette I was aiming for. July 2020 I just started stranded colorwork and this with your swatches is a good resource. 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. 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). 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. Lisas List: 10 Reasons Knitting Is Better Than Dating, Spurned Gifts: When Knit & Crochet Gifts Went Wrong. Great article and most helpful. Oh great now Im going to spend all day weeping for Wuthering Heights Tom Hardy and wondering what kind of yarn he was. One other point about worsted vs. semi-worsted. Thank you for this insightful article. The choice truly only depends on what you enjoy working with, what kind of fabric you want to achieve, how you plan on wearing the finished object, or all of the above. I think it also helps to think of the woolen spun as grippier (as in grips more) since all the fibres are not tamed into a smooth yarn but are sort of sticking out all over. Sign up for our email list and get 10% off your next order in the MDK Shop! Instead of carding the fibres they're combed. Beautiful fibre you'll love to work with. It will help a lot in future project planning. The yarn is spun using the woolen process. July 2017 100% wool. August 2015 Thank you for there explanation. 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. It does not store any personal data. January 2020 Single-ply yarns are, to put it mildly, gloriously soft. To read the applicable privacy policy, please. March 2018 A drumcarder can also be used. When this "worsted spun" yarn is woven it produces fabric with these qualities unlike the more common woolen-spun wool yarns available to handweavers. You may be wondering by now if one is better than the other. Now, Cotton-Ease was a perfectly good yarn (its since been discontinued, alas). Maybe you have moral or ethical concerns about the recommended yarn company, or maybe you just dont like the recommended yarn, or maybe youve got another yarn you really like that youd rather use instead. Work your swatch until the swatch is about 4 long, and then bind off. Thank you so much for sharing. Great visuals and explanations. Worsted noun. Its easy to see whats going on with the yarn and knitting in the samples. Perfect. 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. All Rights Reserved. Your best bet is always to know how to make the substitution yourself. Im trying to educate myself on the different weights of yarn and could only find worsted listed as a weight. Ravelry has a searchable field for this info now, but unfortunately many yarnies/companies havent filled it in yet. Can you spot the other difference? These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Understand that some designers are buried in messages. Spinningwithapurpose This is why many stranded colorwork knitters prefer to use woolen-spun yarns; because of their bloom, different colors end up blending together at the edges for a painterly effect. The Windham is more uniform and sleek looking even with the inherent visual softness of the Merino fiber. Woolen yarn is less durable as compared to worsted yarn which may last longer. They also tend to have better stitch definition than single-ply yarns do. Heres an example of what I mean: in February 2020, I released the Profiterole Hat. And now for the tricky, but crucial, part of yarn substitution: making sure you hit gauge. Maybe youre trying to use up some of your stash. This means that they'll have very clear stitch definition, as opposed to woollen spun yarns which have a softer stitch definition. If either of these fibers is in your yarn, no matter how worsted and smooth it is spunit will become a fuzzy yarn. Spun/plied 10:1. February 2020 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. Both woolen and worsted spinning methods make beautiful yarns. This is an excellent article and explanation. You can see the difference when its wound into a ball, and in the strand. 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. As such, for our woolen-spun yarns, the strands of roping are simply loaded on a spinning frame, where they are concurrently drafted, twisted, and wound onto bobbins to become singles for plying. You absolutely do not have to use the same yarn recommended by the designer for a pattern. To measure WPI, take out a ruler and an item of uniform thickness that you can wrap your yarn around. 100% Targhee-Columbia wool. The twist brings air with it, and the surface isnt controlled by smoothing as it hits the fiber. December 2021 Thank you for helping me understand these yarn differencesthis will help me understand why one yarn will make me swoon, and another yarn, totally different, really makes my knees weak. Looking at a strand, I can start seeing variation. Because of the density, a typical worsted yarn is thinner than a typical woolen yarn of the same ypp. The Clun Forest yarn is lofty and warm, hand-dyed in variegated and solid colorways, and also offered in undyed white. December 2020 Thank you for your thoughtful and careful drafting, and especially the photos! I finally understand what worsted and wollen mean. Great article! In fact, the answer may not even be the same every time. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The term 'Worsted' doesn't only define the yarn weight, it also indicates a wool processing method. *Membership cannot be purchased with Gift Cards. Does it make that much difference to your gauge? 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. I learned about yarn substitution the hard way. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. WPI is a way to measure the thickness of yarn. This approach makes for a lofty, lightweight yarn that traps warmth. Put up is the way your yarn has been bundled up. Usually with terms like As such, for our worsted-spun yarns, once the roving is loaded on the spinning frame, they first pass through a draft zone, which drafts the fiber to open it up and reduce it to the intended weight (and thickness) required for the yarn. Dyed: United States. October 2015 now I understand, thank youu. Select an optionAlabamaAlaskaArizonaArkansasCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutDelawareDistrict Of ColumbiaFloridaGeorgiaHawaiiIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMaineMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMississippiMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOhioOklahomaOregonPennsylvaniaRhode IslandSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasUtahVermontVirginiaWashingtonWest VirginiaWisconsinWyomingArmed Forces (AA)Armed Forces (AE)Armed Forces (AP). 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? Id assumed it was me, but now I wonder if its my yarn? www.briggsandlittle.com, Content: 100% American wool Put-Up: 140yd [128 m]/134 oz [50 g] Construction: 2-ply Care: Handwash; dry flat Recommended Gauge: 1720 sts = 4 (10 cm) on sizes 79 (4.55.5 mm) needles, Shelter is a medium-weight yarn that varies in gauge, working differently and beautifully on small to large needles. You then spin using a long draw technique that maintains that rolled structure. It also explores the differences between woollen and worsted processing systems and products. Woolen and worsted are two different classifications of wool fabrics and yarn. All of my Maine-spun yarns unlike typical worsted-spun yarns are low-twist, very soft, a little fuzzy, and apt to pill to some degree. But it made a noticeable difference to the feel of the swatch in my hand. The Empire is more uneven looking, a little airier as well as fuzzy. No need to go to the gym if you do an hours wool combing! Its a great way to see how things might turn out before you start working on your own projects. So, and this is without seeing your yarn, your drafting, or the fibre, it's probably a lofty semi-worsted yarn. The bloom also means that woolen-spun yarns can be generously forgiving and able to balance out tension or stitch irregularity in knitting. 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. During the Middle Ages, common agricultural practices were in flux because new breeds of sheep were being . 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. July 2013 December 2016 Unfortunately you cant tell from the ballband unless the manufacturer has included that information. Thank you! In this blog, we will take a closer look at worsted and woolen yarns and what sets them apart. If Im knitting a gansey to last more than a few years, and want fantastic, crisp stitch definition, Ill choose a worsted spun yarn. The carder opens up the fiber and blends it evenly, resulting in a thin cloud- or web-like sheet commonly known as abatt. We consider it one of the finest worsted weight yarns out there. If you end up having to make a major substitution, remember that plant fibers tend to be heavier than animal fibers. Worsted ( or ) is a high-quality type of wool yarn, the fabric made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. However, though the staple length of the wool is short the yarn is strong over the length of a single knit or purl stitch, so the fabric worked in these yarns will be cohesive and strong. The yarn on the left has multiple strands of yarn plied together, while the yarn on the right is a single ply of fiber. They are also stronger, more durable, and less prone to pilling. You can write a comment on the yarns Ravelry page suggesting that drafting info be added. In fact, I rarely do. Woolen yarns are made of carded yarns and are fuzzy and bulky. A great big AHA! Moment for me! February 2014 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. 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. The combing process removed all the shorter length hairs, leaving behind fibres of the same length, free from tangles. September 2015 Thank you for this lucid explanation and the swatches to illustrate it. Now, I finally understand what it really means and how it will impact my future knitting! The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user. When spinning the fiber the long draw or medium draw technique is used to allow the fiber to wrap upon itself while . Thanks. This article is so well written and I love how you explain how the type of yarn will effect the finished product. Bees That would be worsted-style shopping. Some yarns are not so obvious. Any suggestions? Thanks for sharing. Jillian Moreno spins, knits and weaves just so she can touch all of the fibers. 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. I feel like I can make better yarn/pattern matches and explain these variables to others who want me to knit for them and their only concern is color. 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