The Four Faces of Fiber (by Johnny Vasquez)

Yarn. That soft string we love to run over our fingers as we wrap it around a pair of knitting needles. Many a knitter has become obsessed with it, buying innumerable skeins that are stuffed away in every nook and cranny we can find. Often it is the texture, or color, or feel of the yarn that makes us want to have it, or rather, need to have it. And we don’t care if we have a use for it. Just owning that beautiful ball of yarn is enough.

But what is this stuff that we fawn over? Where does it come from? And how many different kinds of yarn are there really? Being new to the knitting world, I have become fascinated with the wonderful world of yarn. I once paid $37 for one skein and I can’t bring myself to knit with it. It is an incredibly unique yarn made from a cotton seed/ rayon blend and has a gorgeous chocolate brown color with a hint of silky sheen. And it got me thinking about all the different types of yarn out there and how they become those twisted strands we all love to play with.

Most of what I’m going to share with you is adapted from Clara Parkes Knitter’s Book of Yarn and her website, Knittersreview.com. These two sources have been invaluable in understanding the fiber arts world. What we will be exploring over the next five weeks are the four faces of fiber. Today I am going to give a quick overview of the different types of fiber used in yarn.

There are four main types of fiber used in making yarn, thus four faces.

“Now hold on a minute Johnny. Knitting for dummies said there are only two kinds of yarn, natural and man made.”

Ok, those are the two categories we can put these fibers in, but there are distinct fiber types within those categories, each with its own unique characteristics. Let’s start with the man made or synthetic fibers.

Synthetic Fibers

Many of you may wrestled with a scratchy ball of $3 Red Heart yarn when you were little. That cheap ball of yarn is made of Acrylic and can be processed to be very soft, or not so much. It is often blended with other natural fibers to make them softer and more affordable. Other synthetic fibers include polyester and nylon.

Natural Fibers

These fibers can be divided up into three types:

Protein Fibers

The darling of the knitting world is wool. But wool is only one of many protein fibers. These are fibers that come from animals, and in the case of silk, insects. They all contain carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur. And since they are almost all made of hair, theoretically your hair could be spun into fiber as well.

Cellulose Fibers

These fibers are those collected from plants. The most popular of these are hemp, linen, and of course, cotton. Cotton is unique not only because it contains the most cellulose, but it is also made from the seed pod of the plant, where as the other fiber are made from the stalks. Fibers derived from plant stalks are referred to as bast fibers.

Cellulosic Fibers

These fibers are made from plant cellulose like cotton, trees, and bamboo. The difference is they must be processed before they can be turned into fiber. This process includes using a chemical to turn the cellulose into liquid, which is then extruded into a spinnable form. You will often see these listed as rayon, which is viscous from bamboo, and Tencel. This process is also used to make SeaCell, which is made from seaweed.

So there you have it. The Four Faces of Fiber.  Which of these four types of fiber does your favorite yarn come from? Or is it a blend of fibers from different types? Right now my personal favorite would have to be Alpaca which is a protein fiber.

What is Rolag? (by Michele Grim)

 

Don’t fear!  I’m here to answer all your questions.  One of the most common types of spinning fiber that will be processed is called roving.  Roving is carded wool that is a long continuous strand of twisted fiber.   

A roving is a long and narrow bundle of fiber or fibre. It is used to spin wool yarn. A roving can be created by carding the fiber.  Because it is carded the fibers are not parallel.  Roving that is not twisted is called a sliver (pronounced SLYver).     

The first picture on the right is Llama roving.   

A batt is a wider than roving, rectangular and made from a drum carder.     

The second (white and yellow fiber) picture on the right is that of a wool batt.  

A rolag is a roll of fiber made from hand carders and generally used to spin woolen yarn.  A rolag is created by carding the fiber using handcards and then by gently rolling the fiber off the cards. If it’s properly prepared a rolag will be uniform in width distributing the fibers evenly.  A combed top is another type of long, continuous strand of fiber.   The difference is that instead of being carded it is combed with all the short hairs have been removed to create a smooth fiber.  

Animal fibers have traditionally been used to create rolags but today’s yarn spinner uses many different materials including synthetic and even plant fibers – like bamboo. 

The third picture on the right is that of a wool rolag. 

Either one you pick will give you some very beautiful yarn. Stay tuned for more fiber spinning related articles.  I’d sure like to hear from you if you also dye and spin your own yarns.  If you visit Misfit Yarns you’ll see some of my work.  Naughty Knitterz will soon be displaying some of my work on a newly created Yarn & Fiber Shop page.  No matter if you spell it fiber or fibre you’ll find it there.  

If you have email me ( michele@naughtyknitterz.com ) with any questions you might have.      

Spin & Grin you Naughty Knitterz!     

Source: Start Spinning: Everything You Need to Know to Make Great Yarn, Maggie Casey, Interweave Press, 2008.  Pictures taken by Michele Grim.