Hi Sue: This happens all the time. If any thread is S-plied then when a bobbin rolls to the left the plies will untwist, and a bobbin rolling to the right will add twists. As you work, you roll the bobbins out of the way, then when you want them you pick them up to bring them back into the work, so the twists that untwisted or overtwisted are not restored as they would be if you rolled each bobbin the same amount in each direction.
With an S-plied thread or yarn, the plies are untwisted on the left side of your pillow and overtwisted on the right side. Working with finer lace threads, which have more twists per inch than your yarn, this effect only becomes obvious once in a while. The untwisted threads start to look puffy, the overtwisted ones look thinner and of course when you pick up a bobbin the thread will twist back on itself as it tries to restore its balance. Now that you're using yarn, you're seeing the effect almost immediately because there are far fewer twists on the plied yarn than there are on normal lace thread, so just one or two rolls of the bobbin makes a big difference. So, what can you do about it? I'm afraid I don't have any clever tricks, and anything I suggest you're probably already doing. You can try to stop the bobbins from rolling but that's never worked for me. I would just try to restore the twists as I go along, by keeping an eye on how the thread on each bobbin looks and if necessary, rolling each bobbin in my hand when I pick it up. Hope this helps. Adele North Vancouver, BC (west coast of Canada) On 2013-01-05, at 1:22 PM, Sue Babbs wrote: > Over the years we have been discussing, on and off, the fact that some > bobbins seem to twist / untwist more than others. > > At present I am working a wide torchon edging in cashmere/silk mix, with the > same thread and Swedish bobbins throughout. ON the left I have a half stitch > fan for the headside, and on the right of the pattern is a variety of cloth > stitch pairs and some ct pin ct areas. > > The bobbins in the half stitch area are losing their twist, and those on the > right side with mostly ct pin ct are steadily gaining twist. Those in the > middle (which probably travel in and out of the other areas) are more stable. > I have never seen such pronounced differences as working in this lace-weight > yarn. > > Sue - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
