SLUB YARN

This is a fancy yarn in which thick places occur at regular or random intervals. Slub yarns can be single, two- or three-ply.

Produced by twisting a fine thread with another thicker thread, which at intervals has a slub formed; the slub is a short fibred twistless silver. Also called "slub" or " flake " yarn. The illustration shows the yam in the cloth

A yarn made with slubs, e.g., thick places, distributed random fashion varying distances apart. Sometimes the slubs are thick in the middle and taper off fine at both ends. The slubs may vary in length.

A fabric made by the Moors on hand looms, with equally wide stripes of slub cotton warp and fine silk warp of cream colour. Used for turbans and bournouses. The slub yarn is warp and the weft is just strong enough to keep the threads together.

(See knitting). All yarns used for knitting are termed hosiery yarns in Leicester, but in America only yarns actually used for knitted footwear come under this term. These yarns are much softer than required for weaving. Miscellaneous Yarns - Goat wools, such as llama and alpaca are employed in spinning. yarns for the knitting trade. Vicuna and camel yarns are used to a limited extent. Ramie yarn is specially employed for knitting gas mantle fabrics. Soft spun flax yams have been used for making underwear fabric. Chenille and other manufactured threads are used to a small extent in warp knitting. Composite yarns, such as union yarns - spun from a mixture of wool and cotton fibres; cordon yarns - cotton and worsted singles, doubled together; wool and rayon or spun silk, cotton and rayon or spun silk are largely used to produce self or two-colour effects. Fancy yarns, such as slub yams, voiles, and curled and loop yarns are also employed. Hosiery Yarns (Cotton) include condenser, hosiery, condenser lisle thread, mercerised and sewing cottons. Condenser yarns are spun in coarse counts from low-grade cotton, Indian and American. They are carded, condensed and mule spun, and possess little twist. Hosiery cotton yarns vary considerably in counts and qualities, practically all varieties of Indian, American and Egyptian being used in varying proportions to obtain suitable mixture for quality and price. Cheaper yarns are carded and mule spun. American and Egyptian cotton yarns are combed mainly with the object of removing seed particles. High-class Egyptian and Sea Islands cotton yarns are super-combed. The chief features of a hosiery cotton yam should be: (1) Regularity; (2) cleanliness; (3) fullness. Regularity prevents the making of cloudy fabric, showing thick and thin places. Cleanliness is essential, as the seed particles clog the eyelet hole in the yam guides and cause breakages. Fullness is desirable to cover the loop interstices. Elasticity and pliability are quite as essential as tensile strength. Yams are usually soft spun and if two-fold soft doubled, average twists in two-fold being 2/10's 6¹/₂T., 2/20's 8¹/₂T., 2/30's 10T., 2/40's 16T., 2/80's 20T. Softer twist less 25 to 30 per cent of average (T= turns per inch). Lisle thread is a comparatively hard-twisted and doubly-gassed thread in which there are no projecting fibres. It is always of a two-fold character, and the doubling twist varies from 24 to 34 turns per inch in 2/60's. It is used largely in the manufacture of ladies' hose tops and feet and for lace hosiery. Mercerised yams are used largely in the fancy trade, a comparatively soft twist again being employed. Sewing cottons for seaming, linking and making-up are specially prepared in two to six cord open and reverse twist. Woollen and Worsted Yarns include lamb's wool, wheeling, skein yarns, gala yams (woollens), worsted, crossbreds, fingering, cashmere, dry spun botany (see under each name). Worsted and crossbred yarns of various qualities are used. These yams are spun softly with " hosiery twist." The drawing may be open, cone or French, and the spinning may take place on cap, ring or flyer frames. The chief essentials of hosiery yarn are softness of fibre, fullness, minimum of twist consistent with the requisite tensile strength, regularity, pliability and elasticity. Cashmere Yarns, as used in the knitted goods industry, are spun from short, loose and weak wools as well as from better qualities by French drawing and mule spinning. A small proportion of real cashmere is used for outer garments. In recent years nylon yarns have been largely employed.

See Effect Yarn. ———————— (See Yarns). In addition to fancy coloured yarns there are varieties of specially spun or twisted yarns. See under the following terms: - Bead, Boucle, Bourette, Cable, Chenille, Cloud, Corkscrew, Crape, Curl, Diamond or Chain, Gassed, Genapped, Gimp, Grandrelle, Knickerbocker, Knop, Loop, Marl, Mottle, Permo, Reany, Ruffle Wool, Slub, Snarl, Spiral, Spot, Twist-on-Twist.

An all-cotton plain weave fabric made 41-in. wide from hard-spun warp yarn and a fancy weft of the slub character. The slubs occur every few inches. About 42's warp, 56 ends and 60 picks per inch. Both piece-dyed and printed.