Notes:

Last evening, I was going through Bloglines and ended up on Ask the Bellweather.  Wouldn't you know it, two posts ago Amelia wrote a very interesting post on Plying with a Spindle.  Check it out.  The post links to an article in Fiber Femmes written by Abby Franquemont, on Plying with a Spindle.    Read that one too.  The similarities are there, talk of portability, love of the spindle.   Each method produces a spindle plied yarn, each slightly different. 

Laurie mentioned in the comments, that she'd never again spindle without a straw.  That's the trick.  I collect straws wherever I can.  My spindles are a testiment to where I've stopped for coffee.  Every spindle is decked out with an unsightly plastic straw prior to spinning the singles.  If you've noticed a bit of red or green or pink and orange striped plastic sticking out from my cops, that's the plastic straw.  When I find a clear one, I hang on to it.  So much nicer.  The amount that a straw would increase the spindle weight is unimportant.  In any case, after winding on a bit of yarn, you'll have done the same thing.  No worries there.  The purpose of the straw is three fold.  It enables the cop to slide off the spindle more easily and without tangling on the way.  It keeps the center from collapsing.  It allows me to put the cop onto a spindler's or lazy kate for plying.  I use the same spindle to spin all of the yarn. 

 There have been many posts on spindle plying.  I do it a little bit differently than most I've read.   I choose to spin all of the yarn for a project on the same spindle and don't like to spend the extra time to wind it off.  I ply from the cops directly.  As the adage goes.. pictures are better than words. 

My tools are ready.

I don't always wind my singles together onto a felt or yarn ball.  It is helpful if I think I'll be plying a heavily twisted single that might / will want to knot up on itself, or if I am going to want to take the yarn with me to ply elsewhere.  Portability.

Holding the singles together and with a bit of tension, wind them into a ball.  You don't need a felted ball.  I used a bit of wadded up roving.  Sometimes I'll pick up a small yarn ball that's hanging around or nothing at all.  Then I simply wind it onto itself.  This works better with a slightly heavier single.

That's portable!  It will carry safely in a bag with my spindle.  That will be the only tool I'll need to take with me to ply the yarn. 

I'm plying on the same Ledbetter spindle that I used to spin the singles.  Another really great alternative would be to switch to a Turkish spindle. 

Done!

Today was the November meeting for the local spinning guild.  Instead of taking a wheel project, I decided to spend the time plying the two little cops of singles I had spun from a rather generous sample in my SOAR gift bag.  In this case, I decided to use a small amount of rolled up roving as a plying ball.  To begin, I put both cops onto my lazy kate. 

I didn't weigh the sample before I began spindling.  I'll do that when the yarn is finished.  It is apparent already that my colors will not line up.  The roving was uneven when I got it and I wasn't very accurate in splitting it.