yarn making, fancy yarns

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YARN MAKING

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overview

fancy-yarns

TYPES OF FANCY YARN

there are many types of fancy, novelty and decorative yarns produced for the knitting industry
They can be produced in many ways.

Different coloured fibres can be blended together then spun as one yarn.
Colour can be applied by printing or dyeing pattern onto roving or yarn.
Spots of coloured fibre can be twisted in with the base yarn.

Two or more threads of different, softness, thichness, weight, colour or fibre content can be twisted together.
Raised textures can be introduced by controling the amount and direction of twist.

Fancy yarns can be natural or man-made or a combination of both.

below are illustrated a few of the most popular fancy yarns

boucle, gimp and loop yarns

These yarns are made by feeding one or more effect yarns
faster than the core yarn while spinning
boucle has a hard twisted core yarn, the effect yarn is rapidly twisted round the core
so that excess yarn forms an irregular wavy, bumpy surface
gimp is much the same as boucle, but the excess yarn forms a more regular surface
loop yarn is the result of the excess soft spun yarn being formed into well shaped circular loops on the hard spun core

snarl yarns

Snarl yarns are made in a similar way to loop yarns
Except the effect yarn has a high, lively twist, so that the excess bits snarl and double up on themselves and twist together
(Just like the lengths of cord we make on a door-knob!)

knop or button yarns

These yarns are also made by feeding the yarns at different rates while spinning
But this time the excess yarn of one or more of the components forms bunches
These can be at regular or irregular intervals

slub yarns

Slub yarn is charactorised by having,
alternating short places of thin, firm twist yarn,
with places of very thick, loose twist yarn
The differnt areas can be at regular or irregular intervals

marl yarns

Marl yarns are made by twistng together two or more ends of different coloured yarns
The effect pattern is one of regular diagonal stripes of each colour

spiral and corkscrew yarns

These are plied yarns where one yarn wraps around the other, rather than the yarns being twisted together
A spiral yarn has a higher twist than a corkscrew yarn
A spiral yarn usually has a thinner yarn wrapped round a thicker core
A corkscrew yarn has a softer bulkyer yarn wrapped round a thin, firm yarn

chenille yarns

chenille yarns have a soft, fuzzy cut pile which is bound to a core
These yarns can be spun, but the machinery required is very specialised
For this reason, these yarns are usually woven on a loom
The effect yarn forms the warp, which is bound by a weft thread
The weft thread is spaced out at a distance of twice the required length of pile
The warp is then cut half way between each weft thread.