Novelty yarns

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Novelty yarns are yarns with an interesting texture or other notably unusual features that distinguish them from ordinary yarn like cotton and wool. Typically these involve at least one or two strands of regular yarn twisted together with something else to make an interesting texture, and are frequently made from synthetics such as nylon, but can also be composed of natural fibers.

Very often, novelty yarns will involve frequent color change. Most often these will be obtained through the print process, in which a fiber will have different colors through a dyeing process. Sometimes the color will come through the sequence in which different colors are spun together. In some yarns the same process is used, but at the same time the color repeats are long enough to enable a self-striping feature. If the proper number of stitches is cast, then stripes will appear as the yarn is knitted into a garment. Sock yarn companies have evidently taken a great interest in self striping yarn. Such yarns have a wide array of different effects that can be obtained by knitting the yarn in the round over the number of stitches normally cast for a sock.

[edit] Types of novelty yarn

• Bouclé
• Eyelash yarn
• Flammé
• Ladder yarn
• Ribbon yarn – also called tape yarn