Does anyone 'resue' yarn?

On Sun, 04 Dec 2005 21:48:38 GMT, "The Jonathan Lady" spewed forth :

It has to do with the direction the singles are twisted. For some reason that defies my explanation, or even my understanding, yarns twisted counterclockwise and plied clockwise won't unply when crocheted; but yarns twisted clockwise and plied counterclockwise do. I'm sure somebody out there in fiberland can explain why that is...

Sometimes bias fabric is desirable. There was an article in a SpinOff a couple of years back...

Reply to the list as I do not publish an email address to USENET. This practice has cut my spam by more than 95%. Of course, I did have to abandon a perfectly good email account...

Mirjam, Please fill my thermos with tea. I have never acquired a taste for coffee. Thank you. LOL Carol in TN

We still do recycle a lot, an old fridge my brother did not want anymore, I use now to store all my dyes in. But our best recycling we do with the fire wood, that come not cheap here if you have to buy it. Otto found an outfit that is so happy when you take to outside slabs of the trees away. The center part is used for planking but the curved parts have little market value to this lumber jack. Often Otto is able to even get good planking out of these cut off. The other find is the coffee grounds from a local small coffee stand. We pick up all the coffee grounds for the compost. I call our garden Linnaeus coffee gardens....LOL.

Els

I just saw a "peach flavored tea" in the store the other day that I would love to try sometime. I like tea, and I love peaches, so it sounds like a good mixture. But my all time favorite is what my Mom used to drink... Red Rose tea with milk and sugar in it. ;o)

Gemini

These are all wonderful ideas! Sandra Rose

We still do recycle a lot, an old fridge my brother did not want anymore, I use now to store all my dyes in. But our best recycling we do with the fire wood, that come not cheap here if you have to buy it. Otto found an outfit that is so happy when you take to outside slabs of the trees away. The center part is used for planking but the curved parts have little market value to this lumber jack. Often Otto is able to even get good planking out of these cut off. The other find is the coffee grounds from a local small coffee stand. We pick up all the coffee grounds for the compost. I call our garden Linnaeus coffee gardens....LOL.

Els

When the motions of knitting or crocheting are done, there is a very slight twist added to the yarn (unless you deliberately try to work so that it doesn't happen). After several stitches, the tiny bits add up and affect the yarn that hasn't been used yet. It either tightens or loosens, depending on the direction of plying. I think most yarn is made so that it will tighten rather than loosen, but when discussing directions I get very confused.

I think the problem is that if your knitting is such that the twist tightens a lot (some people tighten more than others), then the fabric will bias more.

Crochet will also make it bias, but the intertwining of the loops makes it less obvious than it is with plain stockinette.

Was that the article about using over-twisted yarn deliberately? I think Teva Durham also uses deliberate biasing in some of her designs, but it's rare. You have to like the effect.

=Tamar

Aren't they? I have some old clothes here that had belonged to my parents (haven't really had the heart to part with some of them... and some I just haven't sorted through yet). These ideas are being saved... whatever I decide not to donate to charity, we will either wear ourselves, or I will make something with them.

Gem

Good to hear! We are a friendly bunch.

Higs, Kather> You know, it's really like I found my long lost family here! LoL!

You know what? I love the smell of tea with milk and sugar, but hate the taste. Go figure!

Higs, Kather> I just saw a "peach flavored tea" in the store the other day that I

hehehe To each his own! :o)

Hey, come to think of it... Matthew asked me this morning where that phrase originated. Apparently he said it to someone on the weekend and they had never heard it before and didn't know what it meant. I have no idea where it came from originally... my family (and I've heard MANY other people) just have always said it. And I had never known anyone who hadn't heard the phrase before either. *shrug*

Gem

Tamar, there are great ideas out there on using overtwisted yarns, It tends to bubble when you weave with it. While you are using it say in a warp you put it on, under tension, and when it is taken off the loom it will crickle, and give that wonderfull bunched up look that is so in at the moment.

Twist in singles is relatively easy to figure out. Turn your fibers to the right and you have a Z twist. Turn your fibers to the left and you have a S twist. Take a pencil and draw your twists to the right , slowly moving your pencil down the page. Here you see that you can create a Z, ontop of your drawing. make the same drawing for a left twist and you can make a S out of that drawing. Now when you have a store bought plied yarn, you draw a big Z and a big S on two different pieces of paper and lay it on top of your yarn. You will see immediatly if your ply twist is Z-right, or S-left. Do a bit of knitting or crocheting and see how you twist goes, using the same method and voila you are in charge of your twist. All spinners know that once you have spun singles in either Z or S twist. You ply two of the same twisted yarns in the opposite direction to get a good ply.

Els

Thanks, Els. My problem is not so much in seeing it as in talking about it. When someone says "twist clockwise", I need to know whether they are looking at the yarn from the top or the bottom. Looking down from the top, if the spindle is spinning clockwise, the yarn is Z-twisted. But looking up from the bottom, if the spindle is spinning clockwise from that point of view, the yarn is S-twisted.

I agree, it's much easier to discuss S-twist and Z-ply, etc. The yarn I have in the room with me right now is all S-plied (from thin Z-twisted components), and when I knit with it, it twists tighter because of the motion of the knitting needle and the "braking" action of the hand holding the rest of the yarn that doesn't let the added twist even out down the entire skein (eventually it adds up anyway and makes kinks). That causes some biasing.

=Tamar

It's a fairly direct translation of "chacun a son gout," so it's probably from a famous French writer or philosopher. A more colloquial translation that picks up on the "taste" meaning of "gout" would be "There's no accounting for tastes."

=Tamar

ENGLISH way? Would that be with milk and sugar? Then the answer would be no - I can't do the milk but sugar or honey is good. Thank you for your hospitality. Carol in TN

OK, I understand S and Z-twists. Almost all yarns I have bought are plied with an S twist and have never been a problem. But the one that gave me so much trouble is a 4-ply with a Z-twist with an S-twist in each of the plies . As I was knitting, I noticed the piece was skewed to the right (/) but I kept going thinking I would be able to block them into shape. Only after I had knitted the whole sweater did I discover that no amount of blocking would straighten them out. Would you agree that the S-twist is what caused the problem?

Never heard it before??? Get out!!!

Higs, Kather> hehehe To each his own! :o)

I think we all have had problems with a bit of extra twist or untwisting while working with yarns, some do it more than others, and depending on your knitting or crocheting style, it will do it more or less. When I crochet it happens much more than when I knit.

Els

Jan I would have to sit and sample with it, but at the top of my head I would say that the amound in the singles and ply is maybe more the cause of it than if it is a S over Z twist. What do you think Tamar.

Els