# What is energized yarn?



## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Here is one answer. This was in my newsletter from Knitting Daily http://www.knittingdaily.com/blogs/daily/archive/2011/03/04/what-is-energized-yarn.aspx


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## weever (Oct 1, 2006)

Whoa. Backing out of the room slowly so no one can see I was here. I'm outta my league!


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## susanne (Nov 4, 2004)

i read about energized yarn in a spin off magazine last year. my understanding if you knitt with it, it will create a weave to one side. depending if yarn was z or s spun it will go either to the right or to the left side. 
never explored it but thinking about trying it out it.


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## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

I took a class on working with energized singles at Olds.

If you spin one bobbin up S and one Z, then knit five rows off one then five rows off the other (in plain stockinette) you end up with herringbone! It's the coolest thing.

And if you hold the two singles together and knit them as though they were one yarn, you get this super sproingy bouncy fabric that has the coolest texture to it! 

It's really neat. You pretty much have to knit straight off your bobbins though (or some equivalent) as the yarn wants to dance all over the place!


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

Very interesting, and I like that jacket with the triangles. My idea of "energised yarn" is just overspun yarn.??? Only happy, when I take a freshly spun hank of yarn and it hangs perfectly straight. Cheep thrills,that's me.


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## Ana Bluebird (Dec 8, 2002)

When time was running out, I knitted and crocheted without setting the yarn and found it very difficult because the yarn separated and fought me the whole time. It would save me time by going ahead and setting it so it'd stay put. Is this anything like "energized yarn"?


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

I'm not so sure that energized yarn can be straightened out, not permanently anyway.


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## susanne (Nov 4, 2004)

does this mean it needs to be over spun with high tension?


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Over spun yes. Not sure what you mean by high tension though.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Here's a link about energized yarns and there are some good pictures of what it does http://www.fuzzygalore.biz/patterns/zigzag.shtml


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

I just knit a sock from an energized single .... LOL! It is quite funny looking! The knitting twists so much that when you put it on your foot, the kitchner stitch on the toe goes from top of foot to bottom of foot instead of side to side!


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## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

If you want to try this out, I suggest a drop stitch scarf as a great project. We did this at the spin in at Olds last year, and it turned out neat.

We had 2 spinners, so one did a bobbin of S twist and one did a bobbin of Z twist. Then, while the 2 bobbins were on a lazy kate, our super amazing knitter started knitting a drop stitch scarf - tensioning the yarn to keep it from going all tangly by running the singles around her feet, which she held out in front of her with her toes pointed up. (She was just adorable.) Anyway, pointed toes or not, you knit with the 2 singles held together: 3 rows garter stitch, then one row where you wrap the yarn 2x around the needle each stitch ... the next garter stitch row you drop those extra wraps and it makes long sproingy stitches that just BOUNCE! It's really cool.

You could also do this with just one single, and you'd see that the finished object leaaaans big time to one side or the other. 

It's quite fun, but you NEED to keep tension on the single or it will tangle up on itself. So work from a bobbin on a tensioned kate, or use some other strategy to make sure the bobbin holding the singles doesn't go rolling across the floor on it's own. Rewinding it will be a big hassle!


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