Transcript for

Episode 100:

The Woolen Drafts

Today: a quick review of woolen and worsted yarns, and a deep dive into the woolen drafts. If you love lightweight, warm, fuzzy woolen yarns, this episode will help you understand all your options for making them.

Hello there darling Sheepspotter! Welcome to episode 100 of The Sheepspot Podcast. I'm Sasha, and my job is to help you make more yarns you love.

I love everything woolen yarns: how lightweight they are, how warm they are, and especially how fast they can be to make. But I struggled, at first, with how to make them. Today, I'm going to review quickly the characteristics of woolen yarns and how they differ from worsted yarns, and then talk about what all woolen drafts have in common and exactly how they produce those woolen characteristics. Before I get going, I want to remind you that I have an entire episode, episode 4, devoted to the difference between woolen and worsted yarns, and there's a free download for that episode called The Woolen and Worsted Cheat Sheet that can help you understand these terms if they are new to you. So be sure to grab that cheat sheet if you're a little fuzzy on this distinction, because it really is a fundamental aspect of yarn-making.

Quickly, though, woolen yarns are made from carded fiber preparations using a drafting method that allows twist between your hands. They're typically made with short, crimpy fibers. These elements combine to create yarns that are elastic, fuzzy, and lightweight, because there's lots of room for air to get trapped between the fibers. That trapped air also makes woolen yarns warm.

Worsted yarns, on the other hand, are made from combed fiber preparations using a draft that keeps twist out of the drafting zone, and they're typically made with longer, sleeker fibers. These elements combine to create dense, heavy, smooth yarns with great drape.

What makes a draft "woolen"?

What distinguishes woolen drafting is twist in the drafting zone (the area between your hands when you're spinning). So imagine what happens as the twist comes up your yarn toward your fiber supply. It's like a little tornado that swirls around the fibers, pushing them in all directions as it catches some of them and pulls them into the yarn. When you combine twist in the drafting zone with carded fibers that are already pretty disorganized and unaligned, this creates those crucial little air pockets in your yarn. But even if you are spinning a combed fiber, the twist will disrupt the alignment of the fibers enough to create some room for air and a fuzzier surface to the yarn than you would get if you were pinching that twist out of the drafting zone. So, whether we're talking about short woolen drafts or long woolen drafts, the thing that distinguishes a woolen draft from a worsted one is the opportunity the twist has to create a little fiber-y funnel cloud and disorganize the fibers.

Short woolen drafts

If you're a newer spinner, you may be a little wary about letting twist into your drafting zone, because you may have had the experience of having twist come into your fiber supply and lock up your fiber and prevent you from drafting at all. And that can be really frustrating if you don't know why it's happening or how to fix it. I think it can be very useful for newer spinners to start experimenting with woolen drafts using a short woolen draft. I recommend using roving, rolags, or a batt for this. If you already have some experience with short forward or short backward draft, it's just a small change to open up those front fingers and let the twist in. If you keep treadling and drafting at your regular pace, and don't panic, you should be able to do this fairly easily. But if you find that your fibers get locked up from too much twist and you can't draft, I have a couple of suggestions.

First, go to a larger whorl/pulley, so you're putting twist in more slowly. If you're using an e-spinner turn down your speed.

Second, learn how to do the untwisty thing. I learned the untwisty thing from Maggie Casey and it's life changing. When you find that you have too much twist in your fiber supply, the first thing you need to do is either stop treadling or turn off your e-spinner. Then you're going to take your thumb and index finger, put it between the locked up fiber and your orifice, and roll your singles between your thumb and forefinger in the opposite direction of the direction you're spinning (for most of us that will be counterclockwise. You'll know you're doing it right because you'll see your singles get puffier. Then gently draft that fiber out by pulling toward your orifice. Your twist will redistribute itself along the newly drafted fiber and you'll be able to draft again.

Remember that woolen and worsted are two ends of a continuum. Spinning a woolen prep with a short draft allowing twist between your hands will give you a fairly woolen yarn. But if you want those woolen characteristics to be as pronounced as possible, you're going to want to use a long draw, so let's talk about those

Long woolen drafts

In a long draft, you create a long length of yarn all at once. You keep your forward hand close to the orifice, and while you treadle, you move your fiber supply hand back and allow the twist to do all the work of pulling fibers out of the fiber supply. The trick here, which I also learned from Maggie Casey (because she is a spinning genius) is to move your hand back at the same rate that the twist is moving. If you move at the same rate as the twist, you'll get a fairly even yarn. If you move faster, your yarn will thin out, because the twist doesn't have time to gather up the fiber. If you move more slowly than the twist, the twist will have time to gather up a lot of fiber and you'll get a slub. This takes practice to do well, but once you get the hang of it you can make a lot of yarn very quickly. At first, you'll just watch the twist to see how it's moving, but eventually you'll be able to feel where the twist is and how fast it's moving without even thinking about it. You'll use your orifice hand to pinch your singles close to the orifice. This allows you to tweak the speed of the twist when you get out of sync with it and give yourself something to draft against.

Remember that quote from Abby Franquemont from episode 98: "visualize yourself controlling twist." That's what spinning is: learning to see and feel and dance with twist.

If you've never done long draw before, start by practicing short backward draft with twist in the drafting zone. This will allow you to practice moving your fiber supply hand back. It's a very small change from this to long draw: all you have to do is leave your forward hand close to your orifice instead of moving it back with each draft. And get yourself some carded fiber—it will make learning long draw much easier.

Do you love woolen yarns, or are you strictly a worsted-yarn person? Do you prefer short or long woolen drafts? I want to know! You can tell me in The Flock, Sheepspot's free online community for inquisitive handspinners, where you'll find a thread devoted specifically to discussing this episode. I will link to that thread in the show notes, which you can find at sheepspot.com/podcast/episode100.

I'll be back next time with an episode on combination drafting. While you're waiting, carve out some time this week to do some spinning. You know it will do you good.