Whats in a Cone?!

This is the top close up view of a Yarn cone. I have been around them for enough time to know that they come in various sizes, shapes, materials, and colours. The colour of the tip is used for identification mainly. They are made from cardboard usually (sometimes plastic too) and cotton yarn is wound around them in a regular pattern. You will notice this pattern on your regular sewing thread rolls too. Yarn is usually wound around them on automatic winders. They can vary from the very basic to the very high tech precision winders such as the ones by SSM from Germany. I have had the opportunity to see them in action and they really are high tech wonders. The idea is to keep the weight of the cone constant, while being careful that the length of the yarn also remains almost the same for each cone. Tricky business indeed! But the latest machinery makes it look easy. most new winders also have a device installed on them known as the Yarn Clearer (the small red labeled device with the LED on the bottom half of the assembly. This one is by Uster,.. also made by Loepfe, Premier and others).

This is supposed to catch foreign material and trash right on its tracks to be wound on the cone. The device removes the affected yarn and rejoins the yarn back (more on that later :-) ) and the winding resumes. Again this is amazing to watch in action.
Some cones are different from these paper ones. They have holes in them and they are used when you want to dye or process yarn. They allow the dyes or other chemicals to seep through the yarn properly and evenly. I'm sure many others exist that I have not come across as yet.
Yarn cones are fascinating things. Hope you enjoyed my review on them. Catch you later.