Soft yarns, hard facts? Evaluating the results of a large-scale hand-spinning experiment

In 2009, a spinning experiment was undertaken with the aim of evaluating the possible influences of spindle, fibre and spinner on the resulting yarn when spinning with a bottom-whorl drop-spindle as commonly used in Middle European regions. Fourteen spinners participated, spinning two wool types on five different spindle types, resulting in a total of 140 spun samples. The yarns spun during the experiment were analysed using traditional quality assessment methods for the textile industry (measuring length and mass, and using visual survey cards), traditional hand-spinners’ methods (wraps of yarn over a given length of a dowel) as well as an image analysis programme to evaluate yarn diameter and yarn evenness, two properties that are difficult to measure using the classic methods. The results show that the dominant factor influencing the yarn was the individual spinner; neither whorl mass, nor whorl moment of inertia, nor fibre did influence the spun yarn significantly.