A Spinner’s Glossary
By: Llyn Payne 1/12/2009

A

Accelerating Wheel: A spinning wheel which uses a system of double drive wheels and drive bands to increase the ratio and speed of the wheel. Book charkhas and Minor’s head attachments on great wheels are examples of accelerating wheels.

Alpaca: Refers to both the animal and it’s fiber. A member of the South American Camelid family, alpacas (and their fibers) come in two types: Huacaya and Suri. Fiber length ranges from 8 to 16 inches (20 - 40 cm) with a Bradford range of 56s - 44s or 27 - 45 microns. Suri has a wavier crimp and more luster than that of the Huacaya.

B

Balanced Yarn: Yarn in which S twist and Z twist are equal. A balanced skein will hang straight.

Ball Winder: An electric or hand cranked device for winding yarn into balls.

Bast Fibers: Long fibers obtained from the stems of plants. The most common bast fibers are: Flax, hemp, jute, and ramie.

Batt: A sheet of carded fibers. Batts may be produced by both drum carders and hand cards.

Blocky Staple: Fleece with square cut tip ends.

Bobbin: The spool which fits on to the shaft of the flyer on a spinning wheel. The bobbin stores the yarn as it is being spun.

Bobbin Lead: A type of drive system for spinning wheels. On a bobbin lead wheel, the drive band is positioned around the drive wheel and a whorl on the bobbin.

Bobbin Whorl: Whorls that are built into the bobbins.

Boll: The mature, open seed head of the cotton plant.

Bradford Count: Originating in the town of Bradford, UK, Bradford Count is a grading or quality control system for rating wool. It is based on an estimate of maximum number of 560 yard long skeins which can be spun from one pound of clean fleece which has been combed and spun worsted. Bradford Count is stated by a number followed by an “s”, 54s, for example. The higher the count, the finer the fleece. Note that yarns are seldom, if ever, spun to the maximum number of skeins implied by the Bradford Count numbers.

Braid: Blood Count (American) grading classification for carpet grade wools.

Britch: Wool from the haunch or rear end and legs of a sheep. Britch wool is coarser, harsher, and longer than the rest of the fleece.

Butt End: The cut end of wool staples.

C

Camel: Members of the Camelid family, camels come in two types: Dromedary and Bactrian. The fibers from the Bactrian camels are used in hand spinning.

Carding: The process of preparing fibers for spinning by using hand or drum carders.

Cashmere: A soft, fine fiber which comes from the undercoat of cashmere goats.

Castle Wheel: A type of upright spinning wheel which has the bobbin & flyer assembly mounted below the drive wheel.

Chair Wheel: An accelerating type of spinning wheel which features double drive wheels which appear to be mounted into the base of a chair.

Charkha: An Indian word meaning “spinning wheel”.

Cotton Hand Cards: Hand cards that are shorter, wider, and have finer carding cloth than those used for carding wool fibers.

Crank: The bent part of the axle on a treadle wheel.

Crimp: The regular wave in fibers. While the crimping pattern occurs naturally in wool and other natural fibers, it may be added to man-made fibers by the use of crimping machines.

D

Dehairing: The process of removing long, coarse fibers from the soft, fine undercoat fibers.
Dehairing may be done by hand picking, combing, or use of dehairing machines.

Distaff: A device to hold fibers for spinning.. A distaff may be attached to the spinner’s wrist, worn on a belt, mounted on the spinning wheel, be clamped to a table, or be free-standing.

Diz: A small, tool with at least one hole, the diz is used to draw sliver from wool combs. The size of the hole determines the size of the sliver. If a diz has multiple holes, each hole will be a different size so it can be used to pull different thicknesses of silver from the combs.

Doffing: The process of removing carded fibers from hand and drum cards.

Double Drive Spinning Wheels: Spinning wheels which have one continuous drive band running from the flyer whorl around the drive wheel, around the bobbin whorl, and back around the drive wheel, ending back at the flyer whorl.

Double Drafting: Another term for traditional long draw.

Double Flyer Spinning Wheels: Wheels which have two bobbin and flyer units. Traditionally used for spinning flax from a distaff.

Drafting: The process of drawing out the fibers to control the size of the yarn being spun.

Dressing the Distaff: Arranging and mounting fibers on the distaff for ease of spinning.

Drive Band: The cord running between the drive wheel and the whorl(s) of the spinning wheel. The drive band transfers power from the drive wheel to the whorl(s) causing them to rotate.

Drop Spindle: Basically a stick, called the shaft, with a whorl which may be mounted either on the top or the bottom of the shaft. The end of the shaft opposite of the whorl will have either a hook or a carved notch. The shaft of the spindle is either “snapped” between the fingers or rolled up the spinner’s leg to set it in motion after which it is allowed to fall while the yarn is drafted and twist is inserted.

Drum Carder: A frame containing at least two cylinders, called drums, of differing diameters covered with carding cloth. The smaller drum is called the “licker in” and has much finer, smaller teeth set into the carding cloth than does the larger drum is called the “swift”. Carding action takes place at the point where the fibers are transferred from the licker-in to the swift.
Drum carders may be either hand cranked or electric.

E

Elasticity: The ability of the fiber to return to it’s natural state after being stretched. Highly crimped wools are very elastic.

Ewe: A female sheep.