Round and Round

 

A cone, tube and cotton boll against a background of woven cotton sample

Cotton.  One of my favourite yarns to weave.  

Not everyone knows where fibres come from, and sometimes it's good to dig a little and find out more about the materials we work with and tend to use frequently.

Cotton is versatile, comes in a variety of thicknesses and formats.  The fibre itself comes from the seed pod (or 'boll') and the fibre staple is fairly short, ranging from 3/4" to 1 5/8" for textile purposes.  Anything shorter goes into other products - paper making for one.

Cotton is cellulose and has many characteristics in common with other cellulose fibres, although there are differences.  The most obvious one is, perhaps, linen and the other bast fibres.  While still cellulose, the fibre comes from the bast fibres in the stalk of the plants, not the seed pod.

And then, of course, there is the regenerated cellulose yarns - rayon (collectively), but sometimes identified by their trade name, like Tencel.  Or Bamboo.  (I understand that it is possible to get the un-regenerated bamboo fibres, but that is rare - what is most commonly available now is the 'rayon' bamboo.)

Rayon comes in a variety of different formulations, so just getting 'rayon' might mean something quite different if you buy a different brand.

And of course, it all depends on how the fibre has been prepared for and spun!

I've been weaving cotton samples for an article I'm writing, and it's been interesting to explore cotton in a more organized fashion to look at one specific thing.  Since different yarns do behave differently, I've rummaged in my yarn stash and come up with a variety of different cotton yarns, and woven samples which I can use for the article.

Today I hope to cut the current warp off the loom and begin weaving the samples for article number 2, which will look at a completely different subtle effect that happens at times in weaving.  Once again I'm looking at a variety of different yarns and how they behave.

Over the years I've encountered both of these topics and have opinions.  But this is the first time I've actually sat down and studied them in a more organized fashion.  A 'proper' experiment.

I can't begin to tell you how much I'm enjoying this.  :)