Thinking About Yarn, Part 1
Published On: November 20, 2024

Ok…y’all are as interested in this sensory issue thing as I am. So, I’m going to try (emphasis on try, taking something that happens real deep down in your brain and putting it into words and then into someone else’s brain is not always as easy as you might like) to see if I can explain How I Think About Yarn. And then I’m going to try explain How That Helps Me Find Yarn I Like Using.  Because once I got better at thinking about yarn, I got better at finding yarn that would work for my sensory issues.

But, to do that, I have to, well, explain how I think about yarn. And I am not the world’s most concise person. Which means this is going to be…several videos before we’re either done or I get distracted and wander off. But I’ll do my best! I, alas, cannot post videos here. So you can wander over to this post to see the video (you can see it even with a free membership).

As a reminder, this came about because I was putting together some little yarn samples for someone who is new to yarn, has sensory issues, and is trying to figure out what yarns are going to work for her. So the first thing I wanted to do was talk about the basics of what yarn is and how yarn works.

And the way I like to explain yarn to folks is that it’s (usually^) twisted floof. You take whatever material you’re making your yarn out of (wool, cashmere, cotton, whatever), you get it laying next to each other in a little strip, and you twist it together.

You twist it because that makes it strong. When it’s not twisted, it can pull apart easily. When it is twisted, it holds together much better.

You can either stop at this point and just work with that piece of twisted floof, and if you do, you have a single-ply yarn. Those tend to look like this. Notice how round the yarn is and how the surface of the yarn looks like one continuous smooth surface.

Or you can take several pieces of twisted floof and twist them up with each other, and if you do, you have a yarn with multiple plies. Those tend to look like this. Take a look at the two on the left and notice how there are little lines on the surface of the yarn (ahem, more details on this in the video, this is the bit I meant when I said I’d be sad if I had to write it all out so I was doing it out loud instead).

The way you make those strands of twisted floof (what material are they out of, how thick are they, how tightly are they twisted), and the way you twist them together (how many of them are there, how tightly twisted are they, what direction are they twisted) is most of what makes one yarn different from another. And you can get really really into the details if you want!

But if you’re just starting to think about yarn and figure out what you like, all you really need to know at first is that yarn is basically twisted floof. And that you can either work with one piece of twisted floof all on its own (a single ply yarn) or with several pieces of twisted floof twisted around each other (a plied yarn).

That’s one of the first things I notice when I look at yarn, and it’s one of the first things I use to categorize yarns in my head (I actually often have my stash divided into plied vs single ply yarns). And getting those categories in my head nicely defined is a big part of how I find yarns that will work for me.

So start looking at yarn with that in mind, and we’ll get to the next big category next time!

^ There are exceptions to all of this! And we will talk about some of them later. But when I’m introducing a concept to folks, and there’s something that’s true most  of the time, I tend towards saying ‘here’s how it usually works, we’ll come back to the exceptions later as needed or if you’re still interested.’ I think this works better than branching off into all the exceptions right at the beginning before they have the basics down, because it’s less likely to be overwhelming.

So if you’re a spinner, or you know a whole lot about yarn, and you’re getting the itch to go ‘well aaaaaactually…’ I know! I promise I know! I know and I agree and you’re right! And I’m happy to get in to the exceptions under the right circumstances. But the circumstance here are ‘giving someone a quick overview to get them oriented,’ not ‘diving into all the lovely details.’

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