Spinning

The drafting and insertion of twist into natural or staple manufactured fibres to form a yarn.

During the spinning process the slubbings produced from the carding process are converted into a yarn with a specific degree of fineness and twist. The most common yarn spinning machines used in the woollen system are ring frames, rotating slubbing threads are passed through a stretching zone called drafting. Here two pairs of rollers operating at different speeds are used to introduce a controlled degree of stretch. The degree of draft can be adjusted to give the required yarn thickness. After drafting the yarn is wound onto a tube fixed on a rotating spindle. The tube and spindle revolve at a predetermined speed and the revolution of the spindle causes a permanent degree of twist to be inserted into the yarn. The amount of twist can be adjusted by changing the revolutions of the spindle and the speed of yarn delivery.

The degree of fineness of the spun yarn is usually described by a numerical system of measurement called a count system.