Introduction To Handspinning: The Basics of Plying

What is Plying?
Plying is taking a partial twist out of two or more singles to make them spin back on each other and make a balanced yarn.

Why Ply?
Plying strengthens the overall yarn, making it durable for the rigours of weaving or making a garment. It smooths out inconsistencies within the singles by hopefully marrying thin bits with thick bits. Plying adds bulk to a yarn and creates a relaxed yarn that wont snarl and tangle while knitting or weaving.

Having said all this, it’s ok to work with singles as well. Singles can be left on the bobbin to allow the twist to set, or washed and steamed to iron out the twist energy in them.

How Do I Do It?
Having spun up 2 bobbins of singles it’s time to ply. Place an empty bobbin on your wheel. Place your two full bobbins on a Lazy Kate on the floor near your back hand and hold the two ends together. Always ply in the opposite direction to your spinning. The convention is to spin with the drive wheel rotating in a clockwise direction and ply with the drive wheel spinning in an anti-clockwise direction; ie backwards.

Holding the leader of the bobbin and the two singles in your back hand, get the wheel going and allow all three to ply together. Don’t have a leader that’s too short.

Once attached allow this to wind onto the bobbin. It is probably a good idea to have your scotch tension set a little tighter than you would normally have it to spin. You want the yarn to wind on in a positive fashion as all this will happen quite quickly.

Once you have joined the singles use your back hand to draw the singles from the bobbins on your Lazy Kate and your front hand controlling the twist and feeding the plyed yarn onto the bobbin. The back hand remains basically stationary, and is used to tension the singles that are being drawn forward by the front hand.

While learning, check frequently to make sure that you are balancing your yarn. Before feeding a section of your yarn onto the bobbin, stop the wheel and relax the back hand forward holding the yarn and bring it to the orifice of the flyer. If the yarn hangs in a relaxed loop, well done! You are creating a balanced yarn. If it twists in a clockwise direction then you are over plying. Try to treadle faster OR move your hands faster to adjust the amount of twist taken out. If it twists in an anti-clockwise direction, then you have underplayed and need to slow your hands down, or speed up your treadling a beat or two. This will come with practice.

What Happens if I Simply Can’t Get it to Balance?
Plying comes with practice and you will find that this stage of your yarn creation will be very satisfying, as it’s the final step! However, there are a few reasons why it sometimes doesn’t gel.

If you are using raw wool, then this tends to “hold” the twist of the single and can be reluctant to release it. When plying, the yarn just doesn’t seem to want to balance. In this instance try for a reasonable looking yarn with as little snarl as possible. Then wind into a skein and wash it and you will be stunned at the result. Without the grease the yarn will settle and balance. The same is true for singles that are stale: that is, they have been on the bobbin for some time, and the twist has set in the fibre. Once plyed and washed it should be much improved.

You will find that as your spinning improves so will your plying. This is because your initial efforts will have uneven twist along the length of the spun single. This makes it difficult to balance the ply, but will be improved by washing.

If you are plying two very different singles together (for example, silk and mohair), you may have trouble getting a balance because of the different amount of twists per inch in each single. In the design phase of your yarn aim to put slightly more twist in the softer single (in this case the mohair), to allow twist to be removed in the plying cycle.

Washing of Yarn
I use and recommend Unicorn Fibre Wash for yarn made up of scoured fibres, and Unicorn Power Scour for yarn made up of unscoured (ie raw fleece) fibres. These products are very effective without damaging the fibres and are completely biodegradable. They are available online in our shop.

Heather Dunn
Phone: (02) 6337 5774

Shop online at www.braesidealpacas.com.au