This question has me thinking. Is Over Spun Yarn useful? I am going to turn it’s flaws on their heads and perform some experiments to figure out the answer. So before you run that twisted skein back through the wheel, hang weights on it, or (gasp) chuck it to the bottom of your yarn bin to never see the light of day…read on.

I started spinning on a drop spindle, but it wasn’t long before I brought home my first spinning wheel, “Traddy”. Just like many spinners I know, I saved up for the wheel and then had very little left to purchase anything to actually spin. Can you spin cotton balls from the bathroom cabinet? Besides the general cost of spinning fibers, I also had to drive over 140 miles each way to get to the nearest yarn store that carried roving and batts. Phew! All that investment and I hadn’t even started spinning yet. Logically, I was paranoid about “messing up” my purchases with “bad spinning”. Let the research begin, I told myself. And so it began. As you read my blog and learn more about me, you will discover that I love to research information. I think of it as a hobby actually.

When I googled “hand spun yarn”, the first thing I found were colorful and heavily textured art yarns. Of course I had some feelings about art yarn immediately. Unsure and confused was a big part of my initial reaction. I was a traditional knitter before I was a spinner and I didn’t quite know what to do with the wildly colorful and textured slubby, lumpy, thick and thin, and coiled yarns. Figuring I was being sensible, I decided to learn the rules of spinning first. Learning the basics sounded like a good place to start. Hopefully I could figure out what on earth “art yarn” was good for. Don’t @ me yet anyone, keep reading!

I need to add that I have since fallen in love with art yarns, or as I like to say now, textured yarns. Creativity and art come in all forms from the precisely spun, constant tpi, plied yarns to thick and thin, slubby, and tail spun textured yarns. To refer to one as “art” seems a bit presumptive to me. I personally prefer the term “textured yarn”. Other posts in my blog will give ideas for what to do with these beautiful yarns that don’t seem to conform to gauge specific pattern making in crochet, knitting, weaving, etc. Subscribe, keep reading, and stay tuned!

All right, back to the journey. The first wheel I purchased was a vintage Ashford Traditional produced from about 1965-1975.

To check the age of a vintage Ashford Traditional check here.

To puchase a new Ashford Traditional check with your local yarn shop or check out spinning wheels online at The Woolery here.

The wheel I purchased came with a spinning book published in 1970 called Handspinning: Art & Technique by Allen Fannin. I read the book cover to cover. It had lots of factual information about how to spin on a High Wheel (Walking Wheel), a flier wheel, and a spindle. However I still wasn’t sure how to make my yarn consistent and properly twisted. I was stuck until I found Mabel Ross.

I purchased an instructional DVD presented by Mabel Ross called Handspinning Advanced Techniques. In this DVD, Mabel Ross’ expertise is obvious. She truly is a master spinner! Finally someone explained to me how to control my twist while spinning. I printed out a spinner’s control card which included a chart for twist angles, finding twist per inch (tpi), wheel ratios, and how to predict a final plied yarn’s twist from the construction of the pre-plied singles. It was the technique I was looking for and I immediately began to practice and hone my skills controlling twist. If you would like your own copy of this very informative and technical DVD, you can find a copy here.

Since I started my spinning journey by being aware of treadle counts and twist balance, I had never heard of hanging my yarn with a weight on it until someone asked a question in a group I was in about what to do with an over spun yarn. I knew from my research that over spinning yarn was considered undesirable for many projects, but I wondered was it always bad? Maybe there are situations where over twisted yarn is desirable? I made a chart to look at the faults or potential beauty of over spun yarn.

*weighted yarn will dry with the twist straightened out of it. However, when wetted again the twist will return. This is not a solution to remove the twist from over spun yarn and will not make the yarn balanced.

Clearly, over spun yarn can have some features that are frustrating or beautiful depending on what the yarn is used for. The beauty of hand spun yarn is that the spinner has all the control! If you want a perfectly balanced yarn create it. If you want an over spun yarn to take advantage of or highlight its individual qualities, create it. In the end knowing your yarn is the key to crafting a beautiful project.

In a YouTube video I made, I explore the characteristics and properties of over spun yarn. I also test out the hang-a-weight-on-it hack to see if it really works to remove the excess energy from the yarn. Knitting and weaving with over spun yarn, I create several swatches to examine the quality of fabric made from over spun yarn. Finally, in my next blog post, you can find a pattern to utilize over spun yarn in a fun way by knitting a curly cowl.

Know your yarn, and create beautiful fiber art!