Spinning is what gives strength to a collection of fibres that are twisted together to make up a yarn. Exmoor Horn wool being such a robust and springy British heritage-breed wool, we added 30% of Exmoor Blueface (Blueface Leicester ram on an Exmoor Horn ewe) or fine Blueface cross wool, to give the end product a soft handle, whether it was spun for double knit, socks, or for pullovers.
There are two types of spinning, worsted and woollen
Worsted spinning has all parallel fibres and no short ones, which can result in a very fine yarn, fine enough for suiting cloth, and in knitting terms this will give high pattern definition. All Exmoor Horn double knitting wool is worsted-spun. So is our sock-making yarn, since the machinery that makes the socks can only work with worsted.
Woollen-spun yarn has short fibres in it. So will be bulkier, have more loft and a softer feel. Our 4ply yarn is woollen-spun to an older spec of 2/14, where 14 is the Bradford count.
Spinning – the first stage
The first stage of the spinning process is carding. This is common to both worsted and woollen. It disentangles the fibres and produces a sliver. If blending of different quality fibres has not already been done at the scouring stage, it will be done now by taking several slivers (4, 6, or 8 at a time) and blending them together to get a consistent end product. Repeating the process several times to ensure uniformity, and eventually giving rise to tops. This is gilling.
Spinning – the second stage
Next comes the combing process, unique to worsted spinning. It straightens the long fibres and puts them in parallel alignment. In so doing, the short fibres are removed, giving first noil that rises up. This can be re-combined and used in woollen spinning. Then second noil, which is used for felting.
Process prior to spinning
Now the tops have their thickness reduced in to first and second rovings. This is still a process prior to spinning. There are several photos of this in the “Sheep to Skein” gallery. At this point there is still no twist in the roving. It is not until actual spinning that twist is added to give strength to the thread. Folding or plying is where several spun threads are twisted together to give the resulting yarn the desired thickness.
The two pictures below show the actual spinning of our Exmoor Horn wool in Bradford in September 2017, both behind the machinery and on the spindles.
Spinning specifications
Spinning
The worsted specifications that Exmoor Horn Wool has worked with are: 3/7nm for double knitting hand knit; 1/11.5nm for sock wool; 1/8.5nm laceweight for machine knitting lightweight pullovers; and 2/8.5 for machine knitting heavier weight pullovers. The first figure specifies the number of threads to make the yarn (plied or folded) and “nm” = new metric, is a measure of how many kilometres of yarn are in one kilogramme.
In woollen spinning, the photo shows a black fleece being carded on a 65 foot long carding machine. You can see a fuzzy sort of wall. In the second picture, you can see the short fibres. The carded fleece is being divided into channels.
Spinning with a twist
Now each channel is being collected into a ball. There is still no twist, but the sliver is being held together by microscopic hooks which lie along the length of each strand of fibre. Dog hair, for example, is impossible to spin because it has no such hooks. Spinning, as below, introduces twist for yarn strength, with plying to give the desired thickness. The specification for our 4ply handknit is 2/14, where 14 is the Bradford Count, an older way of describing yarn.
