Are you ready to ply?
You've mastered spinning a singles yarn and now it is time to ply it. The concept is simple enough—just take two (or three, or four, or more) singles, hold them together, and ply them by twisting them in the opposite direction they were originally spun. Simple, but the possibilities are endless—how do you keep them from getting tangled? How much twist do you insert? How many plies do you include? What about novelty yarns? What if you're using different fibers or colors in each ply? This is why plying is an
art—you get to choose the composition of your yarn and each of these decisions, whether made consciously or unconsciously, will determine the outcome of your yarn and eventually the outcome of your finished piece.
If that sounds daunting, don't worry—you've got the likes of Maggie Casey, Judith MacKenzie, Rita Buchanan and other spinning masters within the pages of our free eBook, How to Ply Yarn: From Plying on a Drop Spindle to Creating Plied Yarn on a Wheel, to guide you through the process. We've pulled together a handful of useful and inspiring plying articles from the past thirty-five years of Spin-Off so that this information is in one handy place. We know that this free eBook contains a wealth of information for the beginning spinner, but I know from my own experiences that when I take a moment to review material that I think I comprehend, I always learn something new—greater depth is revealed each time I take the time to look at something again with fresh eyes.
Happy spinning,
