Setting the Yarn Twist in Handspun Alpaca Wool

Setting the yarn twist is an important step in handspinning alpaca wool. There are several reasons for setting the twist.

1. You can relax over-twisted singles

2. You can balance unbalanced plied yarns

3. Your yarn will resist unraveling

4. Your yarn will be fluffier and softer

5. Your yarn may not shed as much

How do you set the twist? There are several ways to set the twist of your newly spun alpaca yarn.

The first method is to leave it on the bobbin for at least 24 hours. Your single spun yarn will start to set itself.

You can wind it off the bobbin onto a skeinwinder, spray it with water and leave it on there to dry, tying it in four places to hold it together. Remove it from the winder once it is dry and whack it against a wall a couple of times (We have read that some people whack the yarn against the wall while it's still wet.). Or some people just put their hands in the skein and jerk it a few times.

If using the skeinwinder, you can spray it with a mist of water, secure it in four places with small pieces of different colored yarn, remove it from the winder and hang it on a plastic hanger (or use a shower curtain hanger) to dry to set the yarn twist.

You could steam the yarn. Use a kettle, get the water to a boil and steaming. Be very careful not to burn yourself. Hold the yarn horizontally over the steam and do a section at a time. You will see the alpaca yarn start to "wiggle". When the wiggling stops, your yarn is set. Now all you have to do is hang it to dry. Again, be careful because the yarn will be very hot.

You can soak it in a top-loading washer. Make a hank, fill the washer with warm water. You can add soap if you want to wash the yarn. Put the yarn in and soak it for 5-10 minutes. Make sure that you turn off the washer so that the machine does not agitate the yarn. Otherwise, you will have felt instead of yarn. (If you added soap, you will have to soak it again in clean water for 5-10 minutes to rinse it out.) Turn the washer to spin to remove excess water and then hang the hank to dry.

Our favorite way to set the yarn twist is to soak it in a sink. Here are the steps we use.

1. Remove the yarn from the bobbin using a niddy-noddy. Secure the yarn in four places with short different colored yarn pieces. This keeps your yarn from tangling while it is being set. Remove from the niddy-noddy.

2. Fill a sink with very warm water. If the yarn needs washing, we do it at this time by adding soap. Let it soak for 10 minutes. If we have added soap to wash it, then we do a rinse for 10 minutes in very warm water. If you add soap, remember not to agitate. Just gently press your yarn down into the warm water.

3. Remove the yarn from the water and gently squeeze but do not wring or you may cause it to felt.

4. Use a towel to press the yarn and remove more of the water.

5. Hang the yarn to dry. Once dry, you have wonderful yarn to use in any project.

Is your yarn balanced or unbalanced? How do you tell? If your yarn is twisting back on itself when you hold it up at one end, then your yarn is unbalanced. You can fix an unbalanced yarn.

When your yarn is wet and you hang it to dry, add a little tension. Not too much. You don't want to overstretch and damage your yarn. Some people use a small can. Some use the spray bottle that they used to spray their yarn with a small amount of water in the bottle. Any small weight will do. We use the can method.

Now you know several ways of setting the yarn twist in your alpaca wool. It's a very important step to creating excellent yarn, so don't forget to set the twist!

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