Long draw is the
spinning
Spin or spinning most often refers to:
* Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles
* Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin
* Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...
technique used to create
woolen
Woolen (American English) or woollen (Commonwealth English) is a type of yarn made from carded wool. Woolen yarn is soft, light, stretchy, and full of air. It is thus a good insulator, and makes a good knitting yarn. Woolen yarn is in contrast t ...
yarn
Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, used in sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery, ropemaking, and the production of textiles. '' Thread'' is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. Modern ...
s. It is spun from
carded rolag
A rolag (Scottish Gaelic: roileag) is a roll of fibre generally used to spin woollen yarn. A rolag is created by first carding
In Textile manufacturing, textile production, carding is a mechanical process that disentangles, cleans and interm ...
s. It is generally spun from shorter
stapled fibers. Long draw spun yarns are light, lofty, stretchy, soft, and full of air, thus they are good insulators,
[Huebscher Rhoades, Carol. "Spinning Basics: The Long Draw." ''SpinOff'' Winter 2004: 74-76.] and make good
knitting
Knitting is a method for production of textile Knitted fabric, fabrics by interlacing yarn loops with loops of the same or other yarns. It is used to create many types of garments. Knitting may be done Hand knitting, by hand or Knitting machi ...
yarns.
Long draw spinning is most often contrasted to the
short draw technique used to spin
worsted
Worsted ( or ) is a high-quality type of wool yarn, the fabric made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from Worstead (from Old English ''Wurðestede'', "enclosure place"), a village in the English county of Norfolk. T ...
yarns.
Technique
The first step to spin a true woolen yarn is to card the fiber into a
rolag
A rolag (Scottish Gaelic: roileag) is a roll of fibre generally used to spin woollen yarn. A rolag is created by first carding
In Textile manufacturing, textile production, carding is a mechanical process that disentangles, cleans and interm ...
using
handcarders.
The rolag is spun without much stretching of the fibers from the cylindrical configuration. The hand holding the fiber is the active hand, and the one closer to the wheel is passive. The passive hand smooths yarn, picks out vegetable matter, and pulls out extra bits of fluff,
[Huebscher Rhoades, Carol. "Spinning Basics: The Long Draw." ''SpinOff'' Winter 2004: 74-76.] but that is all. The work of drafting is done by the active hand, and most of the regulation and smoothing of yarn is done by twist and tension.
Drafting is done by pinching off a short section of the rolag, and then pulling back while twist is added to it. The active hand pulls back until the yarn is the desired thickness. The passive hand controls how much twist is allowed in the drafting yarn: too much twist and the yarn won't draft; too little and the yarn will break. Twist concentrates in the thin areas of the yarn, solidifying these. Thus the tension doesn't stretch these parts thinner, but instead drafts the thicker parts until all the yarn is approximately the same thickness. This has the effect of automatically thinning out the thicker parts, which is what allows this technique to work.
Once the yarn is the desired thickness, enough twist is added to make the yarn strong. In effect, this is done by releasing the passive hand. Next the yarn is wound onto the bobbin, and the process starts again.
In use
Most handspinners make a blend of a woolen and worsted yarn, using techniques from both categories, and thus ending up with a mix, named a semi-worsted yarn.
References
External links
*https://www.interweave.com/wp-content/uploads/basics-winter-04.pdf PDF version of relevant SpinOff article] - Provides step by step instructions with pictures
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Spinning