processed according to the instant invention can be formed into yarns using any conventional method including but not limited to ring spinning open end spinning and air jet spinning methods in fact the fiber preparation process enables the production of finer size open end spun yarns than have heretofore been achievable at commercially acceptable levels of production since the improved consistency of the dyed fiber input results in fewer ends down during the spinning process in a particularly preferred method of the invention designed to achieve virtually nep less heather yarns the dyed fibers are combed blended with natural fibers and the blended fibers are combed together as a result the dyed fibers have thus undergone two combing operations in this way extremely high quality soft yarns are produced which have more intimate fiber blending because the dyeing process often has a tendency to strip some of the natural oils from the fibers it has also been found to be desirable in some cases to add one or more conventional types of lubricant to the fibers prior to combing them particularly where the ginning process has removed more than an optimal level of the fibers 39 natural oils the amount and types of such lubricants can be readily selected depending on the particular batch of cotton fibers being processed without undue experimentation by someone having ordinary skill in the art a variety of yarns were prepared according to various embodiments of the instant invention and the results are outlined below for purposes of comparison with the physical characteristics of conventionally produced yarns for purposes of description below the term u201c scratch combed u201d is used to describe the combing of fibers which was performed at a machine.