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YARN MAKING
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STAPLE YARN SPINNING
A number of proccesses take place before the final spinning of yarn,
they can be listed as,
mixing and blending, cleaning,
fibre seperation, fibre alignment,
followed by
drafting and twisting.
mixing
- The term mixing refers to the bringing together of two or more varieties of
the same basic fibre
- For example, Egyptian cotton fibre combined with American cotton fibre,
so that the final yarn remains 100% cotton
blending
- Blending refers to the bringing together of fibres from different origins
- For example, wool and silk or cotton and polyester
cleaning and fibre seperation
- All bales of raw fibres contain a variety of impurities that need to be removed
- The first process is to divide and split the bales into smaller and smaller loose bunches,
to remove dust, seeds and unwanted debris
- Some fibre types are then washed or scoured
- Others can be combed or carded to further seperate and clean the fibres
fibre alignment
- This process follows carding and combing
- Several slivers or groups of carded or combed fibres are combined to form a single sliver of straightened fibres
- The process is called drawing
drafting and twisting
- Drafting is the process of gently drawing out the sliver to reduce it's linear density or thickness
- Exactly how this is done and what machinery is used depends on the required yarn quality and count
- The final process is to insert the required amount of twist into the single yarn
The two most critical processes appropriate to hand-knitters are those of
blending and twisting
for more detailed information about blending
click
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