Category: Tips

Z-twist yarns

The recent examination highlights the challenge of sourcing Z-twist yarns, essential for reconstructing specific textile artifacts. Manufacturers often lack detailed spin and ply information. The yarn’s twist direction affects fabric texture and handling, with Z-twist enabling tighter, smoother fabrics for many nalbinding stitches, while S-twist suits other stitches stitches and contemporary knitting techniques.

So my most recent examinations brought up an interesting issue. It can be hard to find Z-twist yarns; at all. Not just the specific weight, number of plies, and spinning method (worsted spun instead of woollen1) one might look for when trying to reconstruct an artifact, but just even any Z-twist yarns. When searching online you find that manufacturers often are not providing information on their spin and ply directions. Additionally, even if the photograph is close enough to look, you can’t trust the image hasn’t been reversed because it looks better for marketing purposes.

By Yarn_twist.png: PKMderivative work: Dfred (talk) – Yarn_twist.png, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6991339

So why is this important? The final twist direction of a yarn has an impact on how it lays in the final textile. Even the act of winding on and off a ball can affect the yarn twist and have an effect on the final resulting fabric.2 This is markedly more noticeable the more a technique spirals when being worked. Looped textiles inherently spiral the yarn either as they wrap the yarn around the needle or hook, or as the yarn is pulled through the stitches. That wrapping/spiraling can either tighten the twist or loosen it. In the case of single ply, it can loosen it enough the yarn falls apart.

Not all nalbound artifacts are worked in Z-twist yarns, but a significant number are. And combined with certain stitches, Z-twist can help make a tighter, smoother fabric which can be easier to work as the yarn is less likely to split. Other stitches (those ending the stitch on the reverse of the working thread instead of on the technical front or vice versa for left handed) spiral in the other direction and are better suited to S-twist yarns. This is also why S-twist yarns are generally more suited to the wrap direction found in how knitting is currently taught in the Western world and Z-twist yarns are generally more suited to the wraps of modern crochet.

I am clearly not the only person that has noticed this. There are a variety of useful articles on the effect of twist on a fabric available.3 In fact, I have recently run across a website dedicated to yarn substitutions called YarnSub that includes twist direction in its database (although it has some issues in its comparisons matching number of plies to z-ply instead of keeping the twist separate from the number of plies and also includes cabled yarns where the final twist is Z). Here is the search for Z-twist yarns: https://yarnsub.com/search?q=z+plied

I used to get some nice naturally dyed Z-spun yarn from Juuliorg out of Estonia. They are currently on an extended vacation, but the mill is still open.

I have also used some Z-spun yarn from Ullcentrum: https://www.ullcentrum.com/en/yarns-tools/wool-yarn/z-plied-2-ply/

I’ve also run across several other suppliers. Unfortunately, current conditions are restricting postal service here to the US. So while I may not be able to get any soon, perhaps you may find these useful.

Filter on Z-tvinnat: https://bavensspinnhus.se/produkter

Zgarn

So have you found a favorite Z-twist yarn? I would love to hear about it.

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Footnotes:

  1. The difference between worsted spun and woolen spun yarns is in the preparation and drafting of the fiber. Worsted spun yarns the fibers are combed and drafted so that the fibers all align. This makes for a smooth hard-wearing, but not lofty yarn. For woolen spun yarn, the fibers are carded and drafting is from a rolag or fold so that the fibers are intentionally jumbled. This makes for a lofty yarn that holds a lot of air, but it tends to not be as strong and more likely to pill and full/shrink. ↩︎
  2. Here is an interesting blog post demonstrating the effect: https://peggyosterkamp.com/2021/08/use-your-s-z-identifier-tool-to-add-or-subtract-twist-to-yarns/ Accessed 11/30/2025 ↩︎
  3. https://wildwoollys.com/blogs/articles/what-is-z-twist-yarn-and-should-you-care Accessed 11/26/2025
    https://spinoffmagazine.com/twist-direction-s-vs-z-twist/ Accessed 11/26/2025
    https://sweetgeorgiayarns.com/twist-and-shout-why-twist-direction-matters-in-your-making/ Accessed 11/26/2025
    And even how twist direction was used to create patterns in woven textiles: https://brankaontextiles.com/z-s-directions-spinning-textile-how-ancient-women-once-wove-monochrome-patterns-with-light-and-shadows-in-the-beholders-eye/ Accessed 11/26/2025 ↩︎

Warning: AI created Nalbinding Books

Nalbinding has officially become popular enough that AI is now being used to create nalbinding craft books for sale that will likely trick beginners looking for a cheap entry level instruction books. Unfortunately, the results of using AI to write a nalbinding book currently read like a badly mangled plagiarized scraping of internet blog posts combined into sections that don’t have any logical flow. Not only do the instructions not have the insights from an established nalbinding instructor that are necessary to enhance learning, they actively are wrong and do not make any sense. Add to that, their history sections and stitch name to classification cross walks are all mixed up.

Do not waste your money. These two books appear to be entirely AI generated. They contain random text about nalbinding that clearly has been scraped from internet and put together into erroneous claims. One is completely without pictures and the other only has two pictures. The text is illogical and grammatically messy. Measurements alternate between cm and inches without any logical reason.
The pictures on the front covers are clearly AI generated. The picture on the left looks more like a bad interpretation of crochet. The picture on the right is not a recognizable stitch and has a very odd thumb. Unfortunately, it is not possible to learn nalbinding with the help of these books.

For a craft where there is already both insufficient and diffusely produced research, no consolidated corpus of historical artifacts (I’m working on both of these1), and limited modern craft instructions available,2 these AI produced books do nothing to contribute to the craft. In fact, they are likely to convince people to not even continue to try learning what is a beautiful and widely diverse craft.

Do not waste your money on AI written nalbinding books. If you’d like to learn to nalbind, there are several venues suitable to multiple different learning styles. If you like videos, there are a lot on YouTube. My videos can be found here: Nalbinding by Anne Marie Decker, but Sanna-Mari’s cover a wide variety of stitches: https://www.en.neulakintaat.fi/. If you prefer static diagrams or pictures, there are several instruction books currently on the market produced by real live people that have experience teaching nalbinding. Besides my own instruction manuals mentioned in the footnotes below, some of my favorites are: Maria Lind Heel’s out of Denmark (available at https://www.etsy.com/shop/HistoricalcraftsDK) and Kaupeyrir’s out of the UK (https://www.etsy.com/shop/Kaupeyrir). What are your favorites?

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My thanks to Ingela Andersson Lindberg for bringing these to my attention.

Edit (8/13/25): And three more, just in the last few days. One only has 3 pages. None of the cover art is even remotely nalbinding.

  1. The insights available in a properly organized database are fascinating and clear even from the initial efforts. What is also clear is that we need a proper protocol for examining and reporting on the characteristics of nalbound fabrics as much of the published research is lacking details that facilitate any broader analysis. ↩︎
  2. I’ve written two nalbinding instruction manuals, Nalbinding Made Easy and The Åsle Mitten Stitch, which are currently available for sale here in PDF format: https://tanglefairies.etsy.com ↩︎

Tips: Shaping by eye

Maintaining a flat spiral in nalbinding can be challenging. There are limited instructional resources compared to knitting and crochet. Nalbinders often use instinctive strategies for increasing or decreasing stitches, considering loop angles. Proper alignment helps avoid ruffles.

Maintaining a flat spiral in nalbinding is something that people often find tricky in the beginning. Other looping techniques, such as knitting and crochet, have had many instructions published on the number of stitches to add in each round in order to build a flat circle at a variety of gauges. Nalbinding does not have that wealth of instructional history yet.

Many nalbinders rely on more instinctive increasing strategies, given the lack of pre-tested and published instructions. There are numeric strategies that one can use to help you determine the number of stitches, but they are affected by grist of yarn,1 stitch choice, and gauge used. While it can be a helpful guide, translating from the instructions for its looped cousins can also present challenges as they are often written for rounds, not spirals.

I tend to fall in the instinctive category of nalbinders. If it needs to get bigger, add more stitches. Needs to be smaller, decrease. But it’s not entirely just intuitive. I do pay conscious attention to the angles of my working loops in relation to the growing textile and that informs my decisions.

Specifically, I compare the angle at which my thumb loop intersects the line from the center of the textile through my connection point (where I take the next connection stitch).

When the thumb loop leans away from the center line, it needs an increase to keep the spiral fabric flat. When it is parallel to or just leaning away slightly, no increase is needed. Just take a regular stitch. If the thump loop crosses the center line, you have too many increases and likely need a decrease or two to avoid ruffling your fabric. It’s best to always stay just not quite parallel and never cross the line unless a ruffled fabric is what you are aiming for.

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  1. A nice explanation of Yarn grist and the effects when substituting yarns: https://www.moderndailyknitting.com/2018/07/25/grist-secret-measurement-substituting-yarn/ ↩︎

International Nalbinding in Public Day – Sept 1st

My original plans to participate in the International Nalbinding in Public Day* this year were waylaid by Hurricane Ida working its way North. As a substitute, I recorded the first in a series of tips videos that I have planned.

In this video I show the simple start I use for nalbinding. I use the base row for Mammen (and Korgen, Müsen etc.) as an example, but it can be used as the base start for a number of variants. I show how to tell which loops are which, how to hold the loops while forming a new stitch, and what movements keep the nalbinding loops in position.

I hope you find it helpful and that today finds you happy, healthy, and warm.

* Today was the sixth annual World Wide International Nalbinding in Public Day