Extras – Twist Issue

Twist Angle - Michelle Boyd

Errata:

failed to notice that this particular twist angle guild has it’s 0 axis along the bottom instead of in the middle. Subsequently, the photos and the captions give incorrect information.  We enthusiastically apologize to both the author and the readers.  When using this guide, these yarns should have been measured holding them along the horizontal line of the guide, giving drastically different results. Please note that the paper guide behind the purple one does have it’s 0 axis as the midline and had we used that guide, our method would have worked (though the angles would have been different than the ones we gave).  Please be sure to check the guide you use as the author tells us that we are in good company as this is one of the most common mistakes she sees.

Twisted History - Christina Pappas

Additional information on how anthropologists and archaeologists use twist and the case studies discussed in the article can be found in these references:

Adovasio, J.M. and J.M. Gunn

1986 The Antelope House Basketry Industry. Archeological Investigations at Antelope House edited by D.P. Morris. National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C

Hyland, D.C. and J.M. Adovasio

2000 The Mexican Connection: A Study of Sociotechnical Change in Perishable Manufacture and Food Production in Prehistoric New Mexico. Beyond Cloth and Cordage: Archaeological Textile Research in the Americas edited by P.B. Drooker and L.D. Webster. The University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.

Minar, C.J.

2001 Material Culture and the Identification of Prehistoric Cultural Groups. Fleeting Identities: Perishable Material Culture in Archaeological Research edited by P.B. Drooker. Center for Archaeological Investigations Occasional Paper No. 28.Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.

2000 Spinning and Plying: Anthropological Directions. Beyond Cloth and Cordage: Archaeological Textile Research in the Americas edited by P.B. Drooker and L.D. Webster. The University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.

Petersen, J.B., M.J. Heckenberger, and J.A. Wolford

2001 Spin, Twist, and Twine: An Ethnoarchaeological Examination of Group Identity in Native Fiber Industries from Greater Amazonia. Fleeting Identities: Perishable Material Culture in Archaeological Research edited by P.B. Drooker. Center for Archaeological Investigations Occasional Paper No. 28.Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.

Petersen, J.B. and J.A. Wolford

2000 Spin and Twist as Cultural Markers: A New England Perspective on Native Fiber Industries. Beyond Cloth and Cordage: Archaeological Textile Research in the Americas edited by P.B. Drooker and L.D. Webster. The University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.

Rodman, A.O.

2000 Andean Textiles from Village and Cemetery: Caserones in the Tarapacá Valley, North Chile. Beyond Cloth and Cordage: Archaeological Textile Research in the Americas edited by P.B. Drooker and L.D. Webster. The University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.

Linen In Love - Grossman

Other types of flax prep

Tow is the name given to the shorter coarser fibers that form the outermost layer of the phloem, after they are separated from the line flax during the later stages of hackling; the same term is generally applied to the yarn or cordage spun from this fiber. Think of it as combing waste. Tow is often carded into a roving, which can be wound around a branching tow distaff and spun like any other woollen prep; it is chiefly useful for making twine. Flax being highly flammable, tow makes excellent candle wicks.

Line flax is sometimes cut and combed into top, suitable for worsted spinning. In this form it is relatively easy to blend with other fibers like wool or silk, for a springier effect or a shinier and more supple one, as the case may be. Blending flax with wool can create a lovely yarn, but it also violates a religious taboo: Any fabric combining linen and wool (whether spun together as a blend or woven as linsey-woolsey) constitutes Shatnez, which is forbidden under Jewish law; it’s tantamount to breaking the textile equivalent of Kosher laws.

Inferior flax fiber is sometimes “cottonized” – that is, it is reduced to its least common denominator (i.e. a mass of ultimates) via chemical processing; this fiber can then be prepared and spun very much like cotton. Experiments in cottonizing date back to the late 18th Century, but the process didn’t really catch on for at least 200 years. The 1902 Encyclopedia Britannica certainly took a dim view of it: “A process to turn good flax into bad cotton had however, on the face of it, not much to recommend it to public acceptance; and [it] therefore remains only as an interesting and suggestive experiment.” So far as I know this prep is not generally available to handspinners, but it has been making something of a comeback recently in the fashion industry; wherever garments are made of stretchy linen jersey, that jersey is almost certainly the end product of cottonized flax. It retains some of the shine – and price – of linen, but in other respects it is not very different from a fine cotton knit.

The Math of Balance - Elizabeth Watt

To read more about balance and the math of it, check out these sources:

Encyclopedia of Handspinning. Mabel Ross. Interweave Press 1988

The Alden Amos Big Book of Handspinning. Alden Amos. Interweave Press 2001

Handspinner’s Workbook: Fancy Yarns. Mabel Ross. Spinningdale 1989

The Essentials of Yarn Design for Handspinners. Mabel Ross. Mabel Ross/Spinningdale 1983

The Spinner’s Book of Yarn Designs. Sarah Anderson 2012