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!
Comments
11 responses to “spindle plying.. part 2”
The pictures help a great deal. No spindle spinning for me anymore without straws!
That’s going to be such pretty yarn! I’m glad to know a wad of roving works just as well. Winnie keeps digging my ply ball out of the spinning bag and making off with it. It *is* after all built around a cat toy. Perhaps I should make one just for her.
I bought myself a Turkish spindle after your wonderful demo in CT last spring but I’ve since forgotten how to do it. You made it look so easy. I shall have to try it after the holidays when things quiet down again. I’m sure there are some great tutorials on-line and perhaps they’ll click now that I’ve seen it work in person.
Nice photo tutorial!
Mmm, yummy stuff — thanks for the tutorial! I just spent the afternoon winding three plies into a ball in preparation for plying them. Took a lot longer than I though it would, specially when you have to stop and even them out occasionally. I didn’t even come close to having equal lengths in the plies. (I just eyeballed it and divided the roving. Apparently my eyes aren’t as good as I thought they were – LOL!) Do you divide by weight?
What’s the inset in that spindle? Looks turquoisey gorgeous!!
Nicely done, nicely spun! Thanks for the tips. I’m spindle spinning now!
Nice! It was worth the wait.
Pretty yarn! I finally get why plying this way works out so well–I was always worried about my center-pull balls collapsing or had to juggle more than one source of singles. It’s been great for my ‘purse spinning’ to just have a single bag with a two-strand ball and my spindle.
I love your photos, always inspiring!
Why did I never think to put some batting in the middle of my yarn balls? Brilliant! The last couple of yards at the middle of my yarn balls, particularly those with my handspun, gets all crumpled. Now, they won’t. Great pictures, thank you!
I never tried to ply directly from the cops…what a smart way to do it. Now I just have to pay more attention to how I wind them while I’m spindling!
Thanks for taking the time to show how you do this.
Hi, Neat post. There is an issue with your website in web explorer, could test this? IE nonetheless is the marketplace leader and a huge part of other folks will pass over your magnificent writing because of this problem.