The Pleasure of Plying Yarns!

  
 Why doesn't some company make a scale that doesn't lie! I have been diligent in eating fruit, veggies and monitoring my intake and the pounds will not budge.  Been up & down the stairs a bijillion times, without an ounce lost....sigh. Makes me want to dive into chocolate. I figure if I spin enough yarn, I will burn it off.  That should amount to about 500 skeins of yarn :o).

Now that you have mastered spinning on a drop spindle how about making plied yarns? Plying different colors together can make for some interesting yarns and it isn't hard at all. First you have to know the spinning lingo of directions. When you spin clockwise on a drop spindle or even on a wheel, it is called the "z" direction.  When you spin counter clockwise, it is called the "s" direction. These terms were chosen by the way the twist looks. When you spin clockwise & look at the twisted yarn, the fibers slant in the same direction as the downward stroke of the letter Z. The counter clockwise twist slants in the same direction as the downward stroke of the letter S. When plying, you need to know which directions your yarns were spun.
  
   You start by placing 2 balls of single spun yarns, each in its own bowl or basket to keep them from running away as you ply.  Attach the ends of the yarns to the leader on the spindle the same way as if it was fiber.  Keep equal tension on the yarns in your left hand and spin the spindle COUNTER CLOCKWISE, the opposite direction that the single yarns were spun and guide the twist upwards with your right hand.  Pull the yarns from left hand under slight tension with your right hand and guide the twist upwards. Keep doing this until the spindle "drops" to the floor. When spindle hits the floor, separate your arms, maintaining tension on the spun yarn and wrap this length around your left palm. When you reach the spindle undo yarn from hook and wind yarn on shaft into a cone shape just under the whorl. Bring about 15” of yarn back over the top of the whorl and under the hook and repeat plying.
If you want to ply a third yarn, repeat as above but spin back in the CLOCKWISE direction. In other words, for each yarn you ply on, you must alternate the direction in which you spin. When you are done plying you must wind the finished yarn on a kniddyknoddy or chair back & tie it off in 4 places in a figure 8 and set the twist again as mentioned in the last lesson. It is not as complicated as you think, you get a spinning rhythm going and it plies quite fast.

   You can ply yarns of different fibers , different colors and even different yarn sizes to achieve different effects. Experiment and have fun is the bottom line!

Stay tuned next time for dealing with yarn sizes & needle choices.

"Til next time,
Arlyne ~ http:www.thewooleywhale.com