Improvements relating to textile yarns

A freshly spun or twisted yarn of thermoplastic fibres is rendered "kinky" by forming it into a single stitch chain which is set by passage through a heating zone (at a temperature just below the softening temperature of the fibres) and then through a cooling zone, finally unravelling the chain. A number of chains may be wound in side-by-side relationship on a beam and, prior or subsequent to winding, set, e.g. by heating and cooling the beam. The chains may then be withdrawn, unravelled and the yarns fed directly to a carpet-making process such as tufting.