Spinners Alphabet: What Begins With C?

By Amelia © March 9, 2026

A sample of crepe yarn

C

is for Cable, that crazy often tightly spun yarn where you overply a 2-ply. then ply it back on itself in what I like to call a cable ply, to bring it back into balance. So it's four strands and very tough. Then there's Chain Ply, a 3-ply construction made by making loops as you ply a single strand, like crochet chains. And Crepe yarn structure is like a hemi-cable, you "cable ply" an s-spun single against an overplied 2-ply.

For a great way to study yarn structures, see Sarah Anderson's Yarn Design for Handspinners (Amazon affiliate link - I may get a bit if you use this link). I carry the deck from the book around with me when I need to shake up my spinning and try new things. 80 different yarn structures, and then consider the impact of yarn diameter and color on them!

Fun fact: from the same single, the 3-ply and cable will have very similar WPIs. The cable will be more dense, making a great heel yarn for socks made from the 3-ply. A student gave me this nugget, and I've used it several times since. It works!

Other fun C's: combing and carding: combing is a worsted prep, carding is a woolen prep; crimp - the curvy wave in individual fibers, which can help you decide how thick or thin to spin it; and that leads me to Cormo, that lovely crimpy fine wool with a cotton-like feel - yum!

Do you have a fun fiber C to add to this? tell us all about it in the comments...

Postscript: I plan to post these every other week moving forward, more or less, making 2026 the year of the spinner's alphabet. This spinner's, anyway!

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© March 9, 2026 by Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.com/