[Nfb-krafters-korner] Tweeds versus Heathers

[Sarah Sykes]

Hi everyone,

Someone recently asked for an explanation of the difference between
heathered yarns and tweed. this was regarding Lionbrand Homespun, but
it applies to all yarns.

"Heathered" is a description that should not be confused with the
grayish pale purpleish color derived or inspired by the plant. A
heathered yarn has a main color with other shades of that same color
or similar colors mixed in in such a way that the overal effect is
gently mottled, but the colors are not different from one another in
an extreme way. if I were to describe this effect in a totally non
visual way, I'd tell you to imagine you're holding a basketball. Ok,
ignore the thick grooves that are the seams and just think about the
texture of the ball. Still with me? Okay. that slightly bumply feeling
is what a heathered yarn looks like. If it were just a plain colored
yarn, it would just be smooth. If it were a crazy varigated yarn, the
bumps would be uneven and sometiems sharper. But that all over evenly
bumpy feeling is just exactly what heathered yarns do visually.

Why is it so easy to confuse a heathered yarn with the grayish plant
called heather? Because the yarn is named after the plant. Not after
one stalk of the plant, nor after the purple-gray color of a single
flower, but after the visual effect you get when you look at a whole
field of heather. It's all generally the same base color, but there
are areas of darker or lighter color so that the field is not just one
solid boring color but actually has shading and texture to it.

Okay, on to tweed.

A tweed yarn has at least two plies, or strands in it that are of
highly contrasting colors. But since these plies are twisted together
to make the yarn itself, the contrast is consistant throughout the
finished piece. When you make something out of this yarn, the finished
fabric has a similar visual effect to a heathered yarn, except that
the contrast is a little more pronounced. In our non visual example,
the bumps would be sharper. But there's more. Very often in tweed
yarns you will find flecks of extremely contrasting color built into
the yarn so that you have little points in your finished piece where
the speck of color really stands out. It is far less common to put
these flecks in a heathered yarn.

Does this help you? Please do reply with questions or comments on how
I can make this clearer.

Blessings,
Sarah M. Sykes