BellaOnline Forums Hobbies and Crafts Spinning S versus Z twist

Well, while we mourn the loss of tradition, it seems like a constant of human textile history has been the search for and import/export of better dyes! It seems to be a very human trait to want more and more stable colors (or colours )

My dad told me that when he went to a college reunion (WUSTL), he noticed that the school colors were red and green and he was sure they'd been maroon and a dark green when he was a student. He asked someone about it and was told that they'd restored the flags and found out that they were just dirty and the original colors were red and green. (The school library has a different story for the change for lighter to darker to lighter.) So, even "tradition" isn't as traditional as we sometimes think!

Julie

In my opinion the only time whether you spin z or s that would affect your knitting or crochet would be if you don't ply and just use singles.Then its logical to me ,but once you've plied i can 't see how it can.Perhaps this is why the rumour started and somewhere plying got thrown into the mix.

Its a bit like the slant that some people claim can be seen in knitting if you don't ply your yarn. If its over or underspun, regardless of whether its s or z, you will probably have problems using the yarn, particularly if the twist has not been set. I know some spinners say they never set their yarn, and have never needed to, and/or wind off onto a niddy-noddy immediately the bobbin is full, etc and others treat that as heresy.
I accidentally wound off a bobbin the other week and there is a difference between that skein and the others of the same yarn that sat on the bobbin and rested over night, although I'm hoping that will not be so obvious if I decide to ply the yarn. I also tend to err on the side of caution, and set the twist, even if I am going to ply the yarn at a later (or sooner) date.

On the Moswolt wheel I started with the backward spinning! I told my husband that this would be for crochet. The more I think about it, the more I think it might be easier to crochet without splitting the plys. On this wheel it is easy to remember to do it backward. We shall see how it goes!