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Even Yarn

© Lili Pintea-Reed

Even Yarn
by Lili Pintea-Reed

While it is sometimes nice to have a nice lumpy ethnic looking yarn, in some projects a consistent, even yarn is more desirable. This can be achieved easily by several steps:

1) Well-prepared fiber
2) Steady, even draw
3) Plying

Well-prepared fiber is easy to draw out and to add twist to. It tends to pull more evenly than hastily prepared fiber. The person seeking to get very even yarn might first work with purchased roving or top to observe how commercially prepared fiber looks. I like a bit of uneveness to add character to my yarns (one reason to hand spin), but commercial fiber can give you some very real ideas about just how well carded and combed fiber can be.

After your fiber is well-prepared, you can practice a steady even draw. Keep spinning when you can have some undisturbed time to meditate with your yarn much like Ghandi spinning cotton; or if that is too spacey for you, practice when you can concentrate just on spinning. Notice how you draw out the fiber to best obtain the look you want. Is it thick enough? Is the twist even and well distributed? Relax and take time to do the job to your specifications.

After you have spun a quantitiy of yarn, if it still looks less even than you would like it to -- ply. Plying balances areas of overspin and covers up slubs and bumps. It also gives you practice on producing an even twist. This is probably the easiest way to for a beginner to produce an even yarn.

With all these suggestions you soon will produce a nice even yarn for those special projects which require a very even product.

Happy spinning!!!