Fixing Over Spun Yarn?

[@catie5939]

You are an incredible educator, Evie. I'm autistic and I do a lot of learning online. I was "unschooled" as a kid and taught myself to learn, blah, blah lol, so I have a lot of experience learning from online educators. I'm forty now and you are genuinely one of the best online educators I've ever come across. You are so knowledgeable, you get straight to the point, everything you say is useful, you're not hard on yourself (which creates anxiety in the student, thinking they have to match up to that perfectionism). You're just yourself, straight forward, friendly, and have an approachable, kind vibe. I've been knitting for over thirty years now and never thought I'd take up spinning until i found your channel. Wtf lol, i feel like I'm just glazing you at this point, but i wanted you to know! You really do amazing work here and even though it's "just spinnng" you've changed my life. I spin now. 🤯💜 Thanks. Really appreciate you.

[@sarahperry14]

Thank you for this video! I just spun my first two singles and plied them - they are way over spun but now I think I can still make something beautiful from them 🙂

[@montyhall6600]

You can run it back through and untwist the plies to make it balanced

[@ColorsofHopeCraftsASMR]

This is great for your first video! Can you believe how far you have come? I have a problem over spinning yarn, but I haven’t figured out how to fix it.

[@diannefitzmaurice9813]

Count your treadles before releasing the yarn into the orifice and use a backward draw. As Jillian noted her balanced yarn had 6 twists per inch which is about what to use as a start to achieve a balance. So try a six count .

[@ColorsofHopeCraftsASMR]

@@diannefitzmaurice9813 Thanks for the tips! 😁

[@mariannegreen4376]

Very helpful. As a beginner spinner I tend to overspin.

[@JillianEve]

You are not the only one! It took me some practice to slow it down too! 💕

[@diannefitzmaurice9813]

Jillian when you wet the overspun yarn you didn't let it wet down thoroughly . It does make a difference. Now for some fibers like angora, you want to overspin it slightly so it doesn't shed, especially if the angora is sheared or clipped and not harvested naturally and then has been carded. And setting the twist does need a bit of weight on all yarns. But the weight you used might have been a little too heavy for the test to show any difference and draw the conclusions you did. Also the position of the weight on the skein was not changed when drying. So the factors involved are how much overspun is the yarn, what is the fiber, what difference will it make to be overspun and does it ever correct under a weight. If so how much weight and is it evenly distributed when drying . And also what difference will a slightly overspun yarn make to different techniques to turn it into a textile. So as you say a heavily overspun wool yarn like Corriedale will not make a good warp. But can it be used as a weft ? Many weavers like to whack the yarn and this is also supposed to help. For crochet especially a slightly overspun angora yarn will self correct and once the project is wet finished and blocked it will bloom with wear and be just fine. You will find more of a difference and inclination to skew with knitting. But even then it does help. The best weight I was taught to use is a towel in the center of the hung skein and shifted around when half dry . It is not enough to stretch the yarn but adequate to straighten it . Mohair is another tricky one. It should be slightly underspun but this also leads to dificulties for setting twist as it may not be even . If you spin it for socks it is better not to be underspun and even lightly overspun like for angora, as this will even out and make a much stronger yarn for wear. Ther tricky part is of course that an overspun yarn does not feel as soft and could be irritating . Commercial yarns are really bad because they are so underspun - mostly to give the illusion of softness that is not instrinsic to the micron count of the fiber if it was well balanced. That said the finer yarns come out quite differenctly than the higher micron counts for both underspun, overspun and balanced yarns . So there there is quite a difference in spinning your own balanced yarn or yarn spun specifically for a project. But that is the wonder and beauty of handspun that you can tweak these intricacies to make the perfect yarn for your project to turn out just right. But do give another test on this project of your overspun yarn with some additional tweaks and see if it makes a difference. As with any evidence based scientific study more than one approach gives a much more balanced view, which is what we want with not only yarn but good information. Thanks for sharing your project. These always make for good discussion.

[@arlenetoth608]

I have just started to spin and over spun my single. I am calling it art yarn! I can use it in my felting project. I have'nt tried plying yet, but I would think that you could use the overspun plied yarn to make a scarf sample or neck warmer and see what happened. It could be a happy accident. :)

[@JillianEve]

Yes, you can absolutely experiment with it! Have fun and you might discover a technique that you really like!

[@diannefitzmaurice9813]

No aim for a more balanced ply not over plyed to help correct the tension.

[@diannefitzmaurice9813]

Good point -- singles that over twisted do respond better to a bit of weight like a towel when setting the twist than a plied yarn does to correct it .

[@robbinallan3767]

Finer spun yarn can take a lot more twist. You can also increase the tension to draw the yarn on faster.

[@aeastman59]

thank you this was helpful also!

[@dominiquemichaud7945]

This is a useful experiment. I wonder what would happen if you knit a project without wet finishing a handspun yarn. Did you tried it?

[@JillianEve]

Yes, you can, but you always risk the fabric changing after it is wet. Maybe it will look good, maybe it won't. I think some experimenting is always a good idea! 💖🐑🧶😊

[@diannefitzmaurice9813]

I often skip this step and don't set the twist when using 100% handspun angora. It does require that you block it well when you are wet finishing it though . But it sometimes saves time to skip this step once you are proficient with your spinning . It doesn't work as well with wool and not great to skip if it is heavily overspun.

[@jeanpalmer-moloney7620]

Thank you for this lesson! Got it- weights are not a solution for over spinning. My question is IS there a solution? I tried an experiment of taking the damp single ply yarn (which was drying and obviously “artisan” with kinks) and using my wheel as if to ply it (taking it in a counterclockwise direction). This seemed to help loosen at least some. Do you have suggestions?! Is there a way to deconstruct a mess and start over, or is felting the solution?

[@JillianEve]

Yes, I do exactly that and put the yarn back into the wheel to give it more or less twist. 💕

[@daniellekikta8638]

I'm trying so hard to not over spin my fiber but I'm having a terrible time figuring out my speed and tension. I've done so much homework. I'm getting so frustrated with wasting fiber.

[@JillianEve]

It's not waste, it's practice. You can get this, keep trying! 💜

[@montyhall6600]

Nothing is ever a waste of fiber. Consider it a learning curve.

[@diannefitzmaurice9813]

Again count your treadles . This really helps till your feet get the rhythm required for it to be balanced.