Cuapter III 
TWINE, CORDS, AND BANDS: COTTON 
Twine: Single ply (33); spindle (34); two-ply (35); three-ply (36); multiple ply (37). 
Three-yarn scale lines (38). 
Cords and bands (39) (A) made without special apparatus: 
Tatting: With two threads (40); with three threads (41). 
Strand plaiting (42); combined with overcasting (43). 
Overcasting (44). 
Loop plaiting: With 4 loops (45); with 5 loops (46). 
Cords and bands (B) made with special apparatus: 
Single flat split-eye needle (47); two flat split-eye needles (48); single hooked 
needle (49); two hooked needles (50); four split-eye rounded needles (51); 
six split-eye rounded needles (52); two long cane sticks (53); a single stick 
(54); loom (55); looping on a frame (56). 
33. Single-ply cotton twine. After the cotton has been picked it 
is put in the sun to dry, but not for more than a day or two. It is 
then stored in a quake or openwork basket, where it may remain 
for any length of time, provided it is not allowed to get wet. When 
about to be used the foreign matter is carefully picked out and the 
whole teased, bit by hit. This teasing process is important. A 
very small handful is pinched up, teased out with the fingers, 
“smacked,” so to speak, between the palms of the hands, and thus 
alternately teased and sharply squeezed into a thin circular pat 
about 4 to 44 inches in circumference. During the “smacking” 
process there is a slight simultaneous rotation at the wrists. A 
large number of such pats are placed one on top of the other, form- 
ing a pile or cylinder about 6 or 7 inches high. This cylinder is then 
pressed laterally, folded in its length, and gradually stretched. It 
is again folded in its length and similarly stretched, so as to form a 
soft pad about 2 feet long. This pad of teased cotton is next 
twisted into a spiral, loosely at its distal extremity, but progressively 
tighter toward its proximal, which is again stretched previous to the 
whole being lightly wound around the left forefinger and wrist 
(fig. 6), its distal and much larger end hanging loosely over the 
forearm. That portion of its proximal extremity between the two 
thumbs is now gradually and very carefully teased out and stretched, 
any untoward slipping being prevented by resting the third finger 
of the left hand on the bent forefinger of the right, which acts as a 
fulcrum. On completion of the stretching, the amount and exact 
degree of which will depend upon the thickness of thread desired, 
etc., the portion of cotton just stretched is attached at its proximal 
extremity to the spindle (fig. 7) through the nick or hook at the 
92 
