Yarn Glossary
Short, clear definitions of terms commonly used in fancy yarn and knitwear production.
- Fancy yarn (effect yarn)
- A decorative yarn produced by deliberately adding irregularities such as loops, slubs, hairiness or shiny fibres during twisting. It gives fabrics texture, volume and colour effects.
- Bouclé
- A fancy yarn structure in which an effect yarn is overfed around a core yarn, forming small, regular loops on the surface.
- Brushing (raising)
- A process in which surface fibres of a yarn or fabric are lifted with wire brushes. Brushed yarn gains a soft, hairy and lofty hand.
- Chenille
- A fancy yarn with a velvety hand, made by trapping short tufts of fibre between two core yarns.
- Slub yarn
- An effect yarn with thick and thin sections (slubs) repeating at irregular intervals, giving fabrics a natural, handmade look.
- Metallic yarn (lurex)
- A shiny yarn containing, or plied with, a thin metallised film strip. Used for a glitter effect in knitwear and accessories.
- Yarn count (Nm / Ne)
- A value indicating yarn fineness. Nm (metric count) is the length in metres of 1 gram of yarn; Ne (English cotton count) is the number of 840-yard hanks per pound. The higher the count, the finer the yarn.
- Twist (TPM)
- The degree to which fibres or plies are wound around each other, usually given as turns per metre (TPM). Twist determines strength, hand and the look of the effect.
- Machine gauge (gg)
- The number of needles per inch on a knitting machine. Coarse gauges (e.g. 3–7 gg) take thick yarns, fine gauges (e.g. 12–14 gg) take fine yarns; yarn count is chosen to suit the gauge.
- Shade card
- A colour card showing the yarn colours and articles of a collection with code, composition and count. Shade card codes are used for sample and order requests.