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  • Home
    • How I Started Handspinning
  • Spindles
    • Make Your Drop Spindle
    • Types of Drop Spindles
    • How to Use a Drop Spindle
  • Wheels
    • Selecting the Right Spinning Wheel
    • Spinning Wheel Styles
    • How The Spinning Wheel Works
    • Parts of the Spinning Wheel
    • Adjusting The Spinning Wheel’s Tension
    • Drive Ratios & Twist Per Inch
    • Spinning Wheel Maintenance
  • Techniques
    • Handspinning Woollen and Worsted Yarn
    • Preparing to Handspin Yarn on the Spinning Wheel
    • Basic Handpinning Techniques
    • Adding More Fiber When Handspinning Yarn
    • Plying Yarn with a Spinning Wheel
    • Navajo Plying
    • Making A Skein of Yarn With A Niddy Noddy
    • “Setting In The Twist” Of Handspun Yarn
  • Fiber Prep
    • How to Wash Your Fleece
    • Types of Fiber Preparations for Spinning
    • How to Prepare Fiber with Hand Carders
    • How to Prepare Fiber With a Drum Carder
    • How to Prepare Fiber With Dutch Combs
    • How To Prepare Fiber With a Flicker Carder
    • How to Use a Diz
  • Fiber
    • Alpaca
    • Angora
      • How to Care For Your Angora Rabbit
    • Flax
    • Llama
    • Mohair
    • Silk
    • Wool
  • Dyeing
  • Books

Glossary

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Alpaca -an animal from the camelid family that produces the luxury fiber called alpaca.

Angora rabbit – the long-haired rabbit who produces a luxurious fiber/wool called angora.

Batts – carded hunks of fiber as it comes off of a drumcarder.

Bench – also called the table. The table of the spinning wheel on which the wheel and spinning mechanism are mounted.

BFL – Blue Faced Leicester wool (sheep).

Bobbin – the shaft of the spool onto which the spun yarn is wound on a spinning wheel.

Carders – (or cards) a pair of brushes used to smooth and straighten fibers for spinning.

Comb – used to process long stapled wool for worsted spinning.

Crimp – amount of curl in a lock of fleece; fine wool is very crimpy.

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Distaff – a staff that holds the flax or wool fibers which are drawn from as the spinner needs them when spinning. A distaff can be attached to a belt, mounted on the bench of a spinning wheel, or free-standing.

Draft – the pulling out of fibers to allow only a certain amount of the fiber to twist into thread.

Drafting triangle – the space between the spun yarn and the fibers being drawn out.

Drive band – the cord carrying the power from the large wheel to the spindle or bobbin/pulley.

Drop spindle – (hand spindle) a stick with a weighted whorl that is used to twist fibers into thread.

Ewe – a mature female sheep.

Fiber – the unspun hair/wool/plant material (as opposed to the thread, which is already spun).

Fleece – the entire coat of wool off of a sheep.

Flyer – the u-shaped device on a treadle spinning wheel that twists the yarn.

Footman – the straight piece of wood or wire that connects the treadle to the axle/crank of a spinning wheel.

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Grease wool – (or “wool in the grease”) the unwashed wool as it comes off of a sheep.

Handspinning – is the art of twisting fiber into a continuous thread by using a spinning wheel or drop spindle.

Hank – a 560-yard long skein of wool, usually wound on a niddy-noddy or reel.

Knot – a 40-yard strand skein of yarn wound on a reel or a niddy-noddy that measures 2 yards in circumference = 80 yards.

Maidens – (or sisters) two upright pieces of wood that hold the spinning apparatus in a horizontal position.

Mother-of-all – usually, the entire spinning mechanism on a spinning wheel; maidens, flyer and bobbin.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Navajo ply – a plying technique. Chaining a single thread into a three ply yarn.

Niddy-noddy – double-headed tool used in skeining spun yarn.

Noils – short fibers removed when combing the fleece; can be mixed with other wool and carded and spun.

Orifice – the opening or eye of the spindle on a treadle spinning wheel.

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Pencil roving – thinner strips of roving roughly the diameter of a pencil.

Plying – winding two or more yarns together; must be done in the opposite direction to that in which they were spun.

Rolag – finger sized roll of carded wool, ready for spinning to make woolen yarn.

Roving – long tubes of carded wool, produced by carding machines.

S-twist – yarn spun with a counterclockwise twist.

Scour – to wash or clean fibers or spun yarns.

Skeining – winding yarn off the spindle.

Skirted fleece – grease wool that has had the dirty edges removed all the way around.

Sliver – strips of batts in one continuous strip.

Slub – the flaw or fat place in the yarn (sometimes intentionally spun in for novelty yarns) Note: the length of a slub cannot be longer than the staple of a fiber.

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Spindle pulley – the small grooved whorl that carries the drive band connecting the spindle to the drive wheel.

Staple – length of a lock of fleece or a single fiber.

Strick – a bundle of flax prepared for spinning after the tow has been removed (long fibers only).

Tops – long fibers straightened by combing.

Tow – the short fibers left after flax is combed out.

Treadle – the foot pedal that turns the main wheel, or the process of pushing the pedal of the main wheel.

Whorl – the weighted part of a drop spindle that helps it to spin. Also the spindle pulley that regulates the speed of a spinning wheel spindle.

Woolen – yarns made from short-stapled wool; has a soft finish and felts well.

Worsted – made from long-stapled wool where the fibers are combed lengthwise and spun from cut end to tip in apparel-type fashion; has a firm finish and does not usually felt (i.e. most tweeds, suit or jacket material)

Z-twist – yarn spun with a clockwise twist.


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