Abstract: Method of and apparatus for the control of composite effect (fancy) yarns with enlargements or "stitches", twisted by means of a hollow spindle. A base thread and an effective thread are combined and fed into the rotating hollow spindle where they are met with a tie thread fed from a package on the spindle. The resulting yarn is fed through pressing rollers past a small hook, through a yarn guide, and thence to a yarn coiling means. A tensiometer is disposed to engage the yarn in the span thereof between the pressing rollers and the small hook. If either the tie thread or the base thread should break, the enlargements on the effecting thread are larger than normal, whereby some of such enlargements are caught by the small hook and the winding of the finished yarn by the coiling means is interrupted. The pressing rollers continue to supply the other threads, and thus there is a reduction of the tension in the span of the thread engaged by the tensiometer.