Short draw

Short draw is the spinning technique used to create worsted yarns. It is spun from combed roving, sliver or wool top – anything with the fibers all lined up parallel to the yarn. It is generally spun from long stapled fibers. Short draw spun yarns are smooth, strong, sturdy yarns, and dense. Short draw spun yarns also tend to not be very elastic. These characteristics make them good for use in weaving.

Short draw spinning is most often contrasted to the long draw technique used to spin woolen yarns.

The two main characteristics of the short draw technique is that the spinner keeps their hands close to each other, at slightly more than the distance of the fiber length or staple length, and that the twist is kept between the second hand and the wheel – there is never any twist between the two hands.

There are three subtypes within the short draw technique, depending on which hand is active. In forward short draw, the hand closest to the wheel is the active hand. The passive hand stays in the same place throughout, gently holding the fibers fanned out into a triangle shape known as the drafting triangle. The active hand moves forward as it pulls fibers from the drafting triangle, and then back as it allows twist into the newly created yarn. Generally about an inch of fibers are pulled from the drafting technique, much less than the fiber length. While drafting (pulling the fibers from the drafting triangle) the twist is kept out of the yarn, and is only allowed in as the active hand moves back towards the passive one. The twist is never allowed to get between the active and the passive hand. When the active hand is back at the distance of the staple length from the passive, the whole technique repeats.

In backwards short draw, the hand closest to the wheel is the passive hand. It pinches new fibers, but these are drawn out by the other hand, the one farther from the wheel, as it moves backwards. Once the fibers are all drawn out, the active hand is moved forward, and twist is allowed into the new yarn as it passes through the passive hand.

The difference between backwards and forwards short draw is simply which hand is active. In each, one hand is active, and the other is passive. The combination short draw is simply a combination of the other two, with both hands being both active and passive, depending on the moment.

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Wikipedia