is for Twist Angle. This is my favorite yarn measure; combined with wraps per inch it tells me so much about my yarn. On its own, it gives me a feel for the amount of twist - no matter how thick, a 25° angle of twist in your plied yarn tells you it is a medium knitting yarn. Super-squishy soft yarn has about a 15° angle of twist, and superb sock yarn measures in at a 38° twist angle. All of this holds true no matter how thick or thin the yarn is - 25° is a medium knitting yarn by feel, be it laceweight, DK weight, or aran. All will be moderately squishy. 38° will feel durable no matter the thickness as well.
I measure by lining my yarn up along the 0° mark or the long straight edge of the protractor, and then keeping it parallel to that, I slide it over the angle markings. One direction of a twist angle tool, or one side of a protractor, will match the angle of twist of your yarn - one side is for Z (clockwise) twist and the other for S (anti-clockwise) twist. I do usually measure plied yarn, as it's easy to see the angle the singles twist around one another. I slide over the lines until one matches the angle of twist in the yarn. That's its twist angle. In the image above, it's the lower numbers that you use. Given it only has markings every 10 degrees, it's hard to be exact. I like having markings every 5 degrees, so I can see if I'm in sock yarn range in particular with its 35-38° angle of twist.
My other favorite gauge is also free - the Memphis Fiber Arts website had it, and luckily we can still access it though the internet archive: Twist and Grist - a Spinning Gauge. It has both twist angle measurement and WPI measurement, though I do prefer wrapping my yarn around a pencil to measure WPI, rather than matching the thickness of a line with one strand of my handspun. I've put an intentionally blurred one here so you get a hint of what it is, but do click through - it's a lovely tool you can print and use.
There are plenty of twist-angle devices on the market, but I do tend to use a protractor - there's an app for that, though I enjoy one from my kids' fourth grade materials - they are now full grown adults, so it brings back fond memories.
Do you use twist angle or twists per inch? My treadle-counting friends measure twists per inch, but my spindle and e-spinner friends are more likely to use twist angle.
I'm curious to know if you have another spinner's T to suggest.
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© November 9, 2026 by Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.com/
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