Plying Yarn Three Ways

[Music] hey everybody welcome back to my channel I am so glad you're here today I am hopping on today to talk about plying yarn um this isn't going to be Angora specific this is just a spinning video so I hope you enjoy it uh let's jump right into it I so this is a do as I say don't do as I do kind of thing um I am working on getting ready for my uh conference this weekend and packing everything up and I happen to notice on the shelf that I have a full basket of full bobbins from my Ashford traveler Spinning Wheel which means that these bobbins have probably been plied quite a few years ago now um and they're all Angora I can tell just by the um you can see some of the Halo some of this is just fiber but they have some Halo on them they're not all full but there are a couple here that have some Fiber on them um this one is something different I do know that that's uh CMV CVM get CVM um but so there's quite a bit of fiber on these yarn um one ply and shame on me you don't usually want to you don't ever want to leave um yarn on a bobbin for a long period of time it's going to get set and actually this is not Angora this is I think this is alpaca um it will get very uh set in its in its ways on these um and I don't use my Ashford traveler anymore I have become a spin uan girl um I did start out on the Ashford traveler I loved her um I still love her I will not get rid of her I actually have two Ashford Wheels I have the Kiwi one or kiwi 2 um my daughter-in-law has that right now and then I have the Ashford traveler which was my very first wheel 20 years ago um and so I still have all these bobbins and I have become a spin uan girl um I love the spin uan wheels uh and so I thought that we would have a little fun today um this isn't going to be any fiber that I am going to sell or make anything for anyone um just because it has been on these bobbins for so long so that's the first lesson in today's video don't leave your fiber or your yarn your Plies on your bobbins for extended periods of time um but there are three techniques that I want to show you uh how to um ply your fiber and we're going to start with the basic first one um I will be Shifting the camera to get a good look on the top of the spinning wheel so bear with me as I do that but I am going to take let's see I think these are the three fullest I'm going to take these three two of them are Angora and I am almost positive that this one is alpaca um just by the looks of what's on here so I don't think y That's Angora so I've got three bobbin so the basic ply method is to take two three maybe even four bobbins put them on your lazy Kate and ply them together um my General way of doing it is to ply almost all of my fiber is to ply uh but I thought today for fun and just to kind of show you how to do it we would do a three ply yarn so I have three bobbins um just because I'm using my spin uan wheel and I should have checked before I say this yes okay so these do fit on my lazy K Kate that goes with my spinolution wheel um just because we're using the spinolution wheel does not mean we can't use these B full so I have my Monarch here um and it has the lazy Kate on it I will kind of show you that too because it's kind of a cool design and I'm going to show you how to three ply basic bobin um plying we're also going to do uh Navajo plying today and I'm going to do plying from a ball so it's a um ball with the inside and the outside and you apply it together but we'll get there in a minute first let me pause this and I'm going to turn you around so you can see the top of my wheel and how I'm going to spin this hold on okay I think this is going to work um I wanted to show you first this is my Monarch um I got the studio package which came with the lazy Kate and the um yarn Winder um the nitty nauy and I don't have that here but um this is a package deal the cool thing about this lazy Kate and it does it did take me a little getting used to it because my um Ashford had the lazy Kate built in right in front of my knees here and so the yarn came right up this obviously is on the back side of the wheel there is a little technique that you have to learn to figure this out not learn but it it is different for me um and so it took me a while to get used to it but the cool thing about this is you can take this right off and it has legs that you can open up and so you can position this um you know off to the side in front wherever for today's purposes and for videoing and there's a little slot if I can find it oh I'm too high um there's a little slot you turn the knob and it's attached so for today's video purposes this is probably going to be the best view that you're going to get um yeah so I am going to pull and of course I have a full bobin because I've been working um I always have a full bobbin um so this is alpaca and this is white Angora and this is a gray Angora I am just going to blend these all together so again if you're going to ply um and this this bobin becomes my leader this is my leader that I'm just going to use I'll know where it's connected uh I do this often um I don't always have empty Botts because I'm always working on different fibers I purchase Farm fibers from different places I have Angora goat so I have mohir I have my angor rabbit um I have alpaca still left so whatever I have on my bobbin this is going to end up being my leader which is what you're going to connect your bobbins to I typically you can put a loop in your leader um let me see you can put a loop in it a lot of times I will just connect it by and I'm trying to get you in the frame here I will disconnect it by putting a knot um and that's what I'm going to do today I don't know if that's technically Savvy but um that's what I'm doing so and I'm going to get this set the spinolution has the pegs which is super nice to work with um they don't have the hook so everything just kind of slides over now remember you could do this with two ply you could do this with three ply you can even do a four ply I do have another pin here um it's in my Jeep somewhere I have to find it um so I could actually put a fourth Bob in here if I want to make four ply yarn but the idea is all the same um we've talked about uh clockwise and counterclockwise spinning these have all been spun typically all of my spinning I do clockwise on single um these are all clockwise so I know in order to ply these I want to reverse that and go counterclockwise that sets the twist in the yarn so I'm going to try to see let me get this started and all I'm going to do and I know you can't see I've got you on my wheel more so than my hands but uh let's see I am just taking these and they are just being plied into all together into a three ply yarn the thing with this setup compared to having it in front of me is you have to watch these lines coming so that they don't get hooked as they're spinning um that's the only thing that it took me to get used to and I am in order to film this is sometimes hard for me to get a good um view in order to film I am kind of scrunched up here typically um I would be a little bit further away but I want to make sure you can kind of see everything and actually I'm going to move you up just a touch just so you can see my hands a little bit better and what I'm doing so and again this would all this is all going to be the same whether you uh two p three ply four ply it's all going to be the same thing and so I am just twisting and there is um again these bobbins have been this this ply the single ply has been on these bobbins for quite a while so there's some they're definitely not new spun um and again I won't this will be for my own use use I might do some earrings or something out of this I don't know for myself um I won't sell this just because it's not you can kind of see let's see can you see on this one um it's very I don't know if the word is limp uh but you can tell that it's just been on this bobbin for a very long time but for today's purposes it works perfect and I can get my bobbins cleared um I am hoping I would like to do some classes here at our house this summer some spinning classes and even though I am very much a spin ution whoops okay so that was a perfect example of what happens sometimes and I'm just going to slowly this is why I prefer to put this down in front of me um it did catch just a minute it did catch so typically I'm going to put the um and it's more difficult with uh two or three bobbins instead of the two bobbins plus I'm talking and not paying attention so and I just lost my pin let me pause you really quick and re adjust everything okay we are back so yes typically I will either be paying better attention and not trying to talk to the camera or I will put my knitting or my uh lazy Kate right in front of me so you do have to watch this one here if you're doing um three ply and just to make sure that it's not getting caught in here and that's what just happened to me so just kind of give you it's a good lesson in what not to do this is a lot of what not to do today so I am going to just continue feeding um feeding the yarn in the wheel does a majority of the work here and these uh singles are all plied um they're pretty thin they are not a thick yarn and they're pretty consistent um so my three ply that's going to come out of all of this is going to be um a pretty I don't have my card here to show you how heavy it is um but it's going to be a fairly thin yarn a fairly thin three ply yarn uh again I tend to um I don't always stick to the rules so a lot of times people do spin Angora thin and I got in the habit many years ago of spinning thicker Angora um because I was working with someone who was buying my yarn and she wanted it thicker and so I just I am in the habit of spinning thicker angor typically but this is definitely bobbins that I spun um thinner along the way so and again these bobbins are probably oh I've had my spin uan wheels for I think it's three or four years now so these are going to dat back three or four years um and so that's how you are going to ply simple two three or four ply yarn again the the principles are all the same no matter how many Plies you're doing um and your choice in whether or not you ply two three or four is going to depend on what kind of yarn you're wanting if you have a specific project in mind um like I said I usually only ply to ply for the most part um it's just what I'm used to doing and what I've always done and what I've always used so that is three ply yarn and let me see if I can do this without ruining the whole thing these are all magnetic too so they just pop in and out which is super nice let me instead of adjusting the camera let me see if I can get you yep I sure can that's three ply the white um is my three ply that I just did so I am going to uh pause the video and I think I am going to um switch out and do uh ball Center pull ball PL so let me readjust everything and I'll be right back okay the next Technique we are going to look at is Center pull ball plying um why might you want to use this technique well if you're like me who loves to load bobbins up really full and multiple bobbins are full and you don't have anything to ply with or you don't have anything to ply them on to um and I am so guilty of this I've talked about this before even with my three wheels that I use um and I have three bobbins for each one of them I'm always spinning something different or putting something on um the wheels and I get very guilty of loading all of my bobbins before I do anything with them so this technique is what I use when I have um and and sometimes if I have a full bobin of just one rabbit I know it's very specifically to that rabbit I may just keep it on one bobbin and use this method it's easy enough to do it just takes a little hand work um and I will show you how to do it so I have my I have pulled my um lazy Kate off it's sitting on the floor with the little legs fold it out these fold in to hang it on the wheel they fold out and I have another one of my um I think this is also alpaca so I have that um and that is an Ashford bobbin I set up my uh ball Winder right here so I am just going to make a center pull ball and this will just take me a second here because it's not a lot of yarn and the trick to this is you want to make sure that you have I have that Center whole line out already oops I don't want to lose it um this does take a little bit of getting used to when you're spinning uh just the hand um holding it in the motion other than that it's a real simple way to ply and I use it quite often just because of my really bad habit of loading up bottle and I think there's actually I may pull all of this fiber rate off this bobin looks like there's some dark gray Angora underneath yep and there it was so this is going to be it might turn out kind of cool this is going to be half Angora and half alpaca and this might be a technique that you use there's some white yarn as my leader in the bottom so we have a ball these make really nice balls and I am going to find my Center which it should not be this hard where did it go so let me find the center there it is and um I'm going to grab a different wheel and I'll be right back okay I have grabbed my polywog which is our smallest wheel but she's a Powerhouse um you can see this is it she's about knee height to me a little bit more um she has a built-in lazy K also um and she she is this is it if you want a small portable um wheel for whether it be a small house I always think if uh Scott and I started traveling in a trailer or camper um if we ever started doing something like that at some point in our lives she would be the one I would want uh she also has accessories to um she has an accelerator and you can make her into a little bit bigger wheel but she does a great job all on her own so I love my little polywog um she's great to take to shows and stuff too or if you're going to spin somewhere she would be your traveling companion and I know she fits in a suitcase so I have my ball that we just made I have my alpaca which is white coming out of the center and then the angora and I'm not sure if this is equal parts or how close it's going to be to being equal I know there's probably less Angora but um if you did not have another thing I just thought of is if you didn't have a lazy Kate for your bobbin this might be a great way to ply yarn to make it easier there are other options but this would be a great one so I'm going to pull the each of the ends out let me just straighten you here um and I'm going to do the same thing I'm going to this is some moh hair on here and some Angora red angor some more hair and I'm just going to tie a knot in the very end so that is my leader and um the polywog is a tow driven so it's not my whole foot I just have to use my toes on her so she's a little bit different um it did take some getting used to but I love uh as a fast spinner um I actually like this because I tend to slow down my Petaling with this uh which which helps my yarn it's it's just makes everything go a little bit smoother so I do like the tow traddles um so again everything is spun clockwise so I'm going to counterclockwise to ply and all I'm going to do is I am going to and again it's hard to get there okay everything's in the screen I am just working the inside of the ball with the outside of the ball taking it nice and slow and as long as you have a nice um I don't know if I'd recommend doing this without a ball Winder because you definitely want some symmetry to your to your your ball the way it's on here just so that it kind of comes off they the B the ball winders wind this in such a way that it moves up and down and creates this pattern um on on the ball I think those of you who who use ball winders know what I'm talking talking about so that's nice to have and if all goes well I will just sit here and spin right from this ball you just want to every now and then you might have to turn work the ball through your fingers and again this won't be yarn that I do anything with this will be for teaching purposes like this video or I'll use it for something personal um maybe I'll spin off all of this stuff into some different skin there's not as much here as what I thought there was but maybe I'll make a a Shaw or a cowl or something with all of this from for myself cuz I know there's alaca in here I think there's a little bit of pyora there's that CVM um that is a Heritage breed CVM and something else I got some hay in [Music] here just need to pick that out I'm not sure if that came from the yarn ply or if that was just in my office sometimes yarn comes in the house or sometimes hay comes in the house and gets in yarn so this is a really simple easy there's no like I said there's no lazy Kate needed to do this um as long as you're not getting knots in your ball you're it's going to be real easy and simple to do especially if you used a ball Winder to do it and see I let me see if I can finish this real quick I don't want you guys to have to sit here and watch me spin all this but I'm almost through the ball and I'll show you once I get to the end let me just pause it and let me get through this just a couple minutes here and then I'll show you how I break the end off okay I have come down to the end of the ball and I am at where we would be the middle part and typically I will cut this I didn't bring any scissors over here so I'm just going to pull it and separate it and spin it off and so that is um a center pole ball and you can see see where the colors switched over that is a center pull ball um ply to ply so that's a great technique to use if you have a full bobbin that you want to spin onto itself without making two separate bobbins this is a great way to do it so let me pause again readjust and we'll do our Navajo plying so just give me a second okay so let's move on to Navajo or chain pling um I don't typically spin this way um I can spin this way it's been a while since I've spun this way and so I'm practicing um this is the CVM CVM yes that's correct CVM um just a small amount that I had so we're just going to practice on this and I have it on the top of the lazy Kate on my polywog and so essentially uh Navajo ping is going to give you a three ply and I'm trying to get the camera angle right because there is a lot of hand work here and I'm going to try to spin really slow again we're going to go um counterclockwise on our Spin and you are making I have an opening here in my yarn and I am spinning and then letting that all spin [Music] together and I am pulling up another one and letting that spin together and another one and working through that hole and then letting it feed so you're always and this ends up being um can I get a closeup so I've got the circle here in my hand and I've got the strand that I'm working from the bobin and so what happens essentially is you are pulling it through and when all of those come together and I know you can't see my hands let me um when all of those come together as one you end up with let me see if I can show you you end up with three one two three and that's where you're getting your three ply from so it is um it is a technique that you have to perfect um that you have to kind of practice but it is a great way to create a three ply yarn and once you get your hands working together um it just kind of does its thing so if you can see how I'm holding this and pulling it through the loop that is how you chain ply and you just continue this until you have flied it all off so let me see so I have a loop here this is on my um bobbin here and then what's coming up is this third strand from my bobin on the lazy Kate I'm pulling it through and making another loop and as I spin all three of those PES come together where my hands are here and that's creates a three ply yarn it is a different um it does have a bit of a different look than my other three ply yarn I'll show you here in just a second I'm almost through but I want to make sure you can kind of see how my hands are working together and again this does take practice um I don't do it often so it took me a minute to get going again but once you have it and you're smoothing everything out it you really can't tell it is a what's the best word it looks like a very high twist ply um to me it looks very there's not it it's a very strong twist in the Navajo plying um it's almost like I can see why they call it chain plying because you're kind of making a croch if you know how to crochet chain um that's kind of what you're doing is you're pulling yarn through the through the loop is essentially what this ping method is so if you were doing a chain with a crochet hook that's exactly what this is um and that's the look that you're creating so I am almost through the end of this and then I'll show you the bobin looks like I got some Angora coming out I will end it right there at the angora oh that's a lovely color too um so let me show you what this looks like and actually it's a very it's this right here this is chain plying it's a very nice you don't you're you're making um you don't see in the yarn the loops that you're making it just kind of all comes together really nicely uh so hopefully you can see that this was our um ball ply this is our chain ply and then we had our regular plying so those are let me move you up up let me pause okay so those are three methods of plying yarn um the basic methods that anybody could use um for pretty much any yarn that you're making you can do all three of those methods so I don't know if there would be an instance where I would choose one over the other other than the things that I talked about full bobbins um or wanting to um um like the the Navajo plying you might pick up because you want to ply one bobin together also so I hope you guys enjoyed this video and I hope it was informative if you have any questions please put them down below I'm always glad to answer those I hope it was all clear um what I did today and um yeah I hope you guys enjoyed it I hope you guys have a fantastic day and I hope you get to create something today thanks for watching bye [Music]

Channel: Renee McCausey

Views: 116

Keywords: Yarn, Yarn plying, Navajo plying, two ply yarn, chain plying yarn, spinning, spinning yarn, Spinolution spinning wheel

Id: 81TJsXu0-ns

Length: 33min 21sec (2001 seconds)

Published: Sat May 18 2024