I finally had the chance to get my daughter to help me so that I could make one more video, about plying, so that I could continue this series about spinning.
Let's get the singles ready first.
When spinning you're going to need to start again, without it showing. It took me a while to figure this out, I often ended up with a loose end in the middle of the single and I just cut it off after plying.
Now I draft the end to get it thinner and let it run into the yarn like I show in this video. I think the video shows more than I can explain, but I put the end into my hand to keep it from getting tangled into the wool.
The next video is just to show more of how I spin, adjusting both wool and the yarn and starting again. I can let the wheel continue to spin even if I need to adjust anything as long as I keep the pinch! When I started to spin I had to stop the wheel, but the more I spin the better I get at adjusting while the wheel continues to spin.
I also want to mention my wheels ratio. When I treadle the flyer is going to turn at a certain ratio. I can adjust my wheel from ratio 7 to 17. Ratio 7 means that every time my big wheel turns the flyer turns 7 times. The lower ratio works for me, I couldn't keep up if I had any higher ratio. You need a lower ratio to spin thick singles that you don't ply, to make thinner singles to ply you use a higher ratio. If you're thinking about buying a wheel, the ratio and the flyers ability is something you need to look into more. I could buy another flyer to this wheel to get more options, but I'm content with it the way it is. If I was about to buy a wheel I would choose a wheel that gives me more options. If you want to read more about different wheels you can do it here: https://woolery.com/spinning-wheels/selecting-a-spinning-wheel.html
Let's move on to plying. You've now got two bobbins with singles that you need to ply to get a yarn. I use a lazy Kate without a brake that takes three bobbins. I always put the lazy kate on the floor while I'm plying.
I put a bobbin with a starter yarn in my wheel just like I did when I started to spin, only this time I attach the two singles to the starter yarn with a knot. When plying you turn your wheel counter clockwise.
I use my right hand to keep the singles apart and then I pinch with my left when I'm letting the yarn wind up on the bobbin. Once I get the yarn on the bobbin I let go of the pinch and let it twist again in front of me. I can see how much twist I got when I'm doing it like this, but you can also ply using the pinch like you do while spinning a single allowing the yarn to twist above the pinch. I've done both and I get a more even yarn when I let it twist in front of me so that I can see. I think that it could be easier if you move back from the wheel just a bit if you're going for the pinch, you need to keep the singles apart either way.
I overtwist my yarn when I ply, that means that I put more twist than what is needed to make a balanced yarn. I let it rest on the bobbin for at least a couple of days so that the overtwist settles more before I make a skein and wash it. In the beginning I was plying with less twist and then I ended up with a yarn that wasn't even and sometimes it looked like it wouldn't hold together, that's why I let it twist a bit to much. Making a skein and washing it is the last step to finish the yarn and I'll tell you more about that in the next part.
I hope you enjoyed watching this and that you'll stay tuned for the final part!
Until next time, be well.
//S
