All About the Twist

tubes placed on end, yarn running up through a reed to keep the yarn feeding straight up off the tube (or cone) for winding warps

There is a school of thought about transferring yarn from one format to another - one that goes - never take yarn off the top of a cone or the end of a tube because you can add or subtract twist to the yarn.

I've always hated taking yarn off the side of a tube (with one exception - sectional beaming with the tubes stood on end).  Oh, I tried.  I rigged up shoe boxes with knitting needles, had a spool rack where all the tubes were dutifully lined up, horizontally.  And fought with excess yarn coming off the tubes, wrapping itself around the 'axle' the tube was rotating on as I tried to convert rotary motion to reciprocal and just finally decided that adding or subtracting twist really wasn't an issue with the yarns that I most commonly work with and have happily been winding warps on a warping board with my tubes stood on end for decades.

Recently, curiosity drove me to figure out exactly how much twist was added or subtracted and came up with about one twist per 10" when the tube was full, gradually decreasing as the tube reduced in diameter until it was empty where it was one twist per 1.75 or so inches.

Will this reduction or addition of twist affect your cloth?  I really can't say.  Each yarn is different and that degree of increase/decrease may - or may not - have any noticeable impact at all.

And then there are end feed/delivery pirns.

An end feed (or delivery) pirn means that the yarn comes off the tip of the pirn, adding or subtracting twist as it does.  And the diameter of a pirn is much less than a tube or cone, therefore adding/subtracting more twist than taking the yarn off a tube/cone.  Off the end of a cone, or off the tip of a pirn is just a difference in degree.

Bottom line?  If you can't be perfect be consistent.  Choose a direction to remove the yarn from your yarn package, weave some samples, analyse them to see if the change in twist is affecting your cloth.  And then do what pleases you.

I wasn't pleased dealing with horizontally placed yarn packages, so I set them up vertically.  YMMV.

Currently reading Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese