Spinning Around

This morning as planned I started to ply the three singles. Step 1 was to wind the three into a single ball. It may be better doing this straight from the spindle, but as this is a new craft I only have two. So as part of winding into three balls and then winding into another combined, I think I lost some twist. Unfortunately I didn’t take a picture.

Step 2 was to ply the three strands into one. As I spun these clockwise, I needed to ply anti-clockwise. From my copious video watching on this, the key is to check your ply to ensure you get enough twist without going too far or not enough.

Here it is plied and still on the spindle.

Step 3 would be transferring this to a niddy noddy but I don’t have one. So a quick check online showed a swift can be used. I measured the circumference of my swift and got 48 inches. This helps measure your yarn by multiplying that by the number of complete turns. Again, silly me I didn’t take a picture. Once transferred I added three ties in a figure of eight method to keep the yarn neat and then removed from the swift.

Step 4 is the wet finish. You can also steam the yarn but I thought I’ll do the full wet finish this time.

After a 20 minute soak and the same for the rinse, I squeezed it out and pressed between a rolled towel.

Step 5 is where you whack it against the worktop. I think this is to settle the ply. I need to read more on this. But I gave it 6 or 7 good whacks. And now it is up drying. You can weight it if you want to stretch it out but I’m not. This means if this goes under tension it will stretch further. But I think it will be weft. We shall see.

And here is the finished skein. It’s not a bad first attempt. I can see where I have over-spun the cream and it’s coiled slightly in one place. As to thickness, it’s a bit all over the place. Ranging from maybe a 4 ply up to a light chunky. I need to work on my spinning technique in both the singles and plying, but that will come in time.

Overall, I am pleased to have tried this. I have a further 7 to spin. This is going to be a nice little pastime. I would recommend anyone to have a go if you are in to yarn.