Storing Takli-Spun Singles For Plying

After filling a takli with singles - now what?
You can use it as singles, but because I'm a knitter, I often prefer a plied yarn. Not always, but often.

Well, maybe you have two or more taklis and you put them into a make-shift-shoe-box-lazy-kate, and ply directly from the horizontal, rotating, taklis. I admit, I've never found this idea to be very satisfactory for me...sounds great in theory, but lacking in the results I'm looking for.

I prefer another way, where you only need to own one takli. Also, I tend to like to ply from repackaged singles as I feel I get get smoother results in my plied yarn. I could rewind the singles onto spare bobbins. Or I could use some of the old weaving bobbins that were once gifted to me - these fit nicely on one of my tensioned, lazy kates. Or I might use a cat ball(s).

Shown in the photos are a felted, "cat" ball. Ever make these useful spinning tools? Here's one way: Take commercial, 100% wool roving and roll it in a small (walnut size), tight, core of a ball. Once there's a core of dense wool, take about 6" pieces of the same roving, opened up a bit to add air, and layer it over the initial ball of wool - sort of crisscrossing the roving over the ball - this helps the wool to felt well. Make your ball bigger than you want because it's going to shrink down in the felting. Next, wrap wool yarn, tight-ish, again crisscrossing, over this ball in order to help it keep its shape. You can then put the yet unfelted ball into a toe of a sock or nylon stocking (at least there's some good use for nylon stockings in my house!) or a piece of tulle netting. Tie the sock/stocking/netting closed and pop it into a washing machine wash load with other clothing. Afterwards, it goes right into the dryer for further felting. One wash and one dry does the trick pretty well. I've been known to make 20 or more of these balls at a go for classes and my own use. Chloe and Al, black cats both, have their own ball stash as well.

Shown in the top photo is a takli and cat ball, with the singles being wound onto the ball for storage. When winding, hold the ball in one hand and hold the takli, sideways, in the other. Let the takli turn freely as you hold onto the shaft and wind the ball.

The second photo from the top shows another trick of sorts (taught to me by Rita Buchanan). This is where you've filled the ball with a takli's worth of singles and now you want to add more to the ball (without a knot, of course). My general joining method for spinning any yarn is called "Fluff On Fluff". This is where you overlap one fluffy end with another fluffy end, draft it to be the correct amount of fiber for your established size of yarn, add some twist and an invisible join occurs (if you did it well! Practice makes perfect!). The second photo from the top shows a fluffy end on the takli's singles and a fluffy end on the ball. If it's not fluffy, you can always make it fluffy with your fingers.

The third photo from the top shows this join after I inserted a bit of twist by twiddling the takli. The bottom photo shows the finished join. It's wise to do a test by gently tugging on the yarn, holding one hand near the ball and the other near the takli. If you feel slippage, it's not a stable join. Add more twist with a twiddle or more, in that case.

Can you envision a REALLY BIG BALL from unloading the singles after filling your takli several times? A great lazy-kate-of-sorts, that will keep the cat ball from travelling when plying, is an upside-down clay, flower pot. Bring the singles through the hole in the pot's bottom (now on top), and Navajo ply it with a larger spindle or at your wheel. You could use your takli to ply, but there's not much room on it, so a larger spindle is more practical. You could fill two balls and pop each under its own flower pot, and 2-ply to your heart's content. More plies? More balls and pots....

I love takli spinning because it's the ultimate spindle for portability. I can put a small tin holding my takli and fiber in my purse for spinning anywhere & anytime I choose. That said, I generally save the plying for home. As a passenger in a car, I can spin on my takli as long as I do a more vertical style of drafting. Chris definitely appreciates it when I don't hit him in the face with my drafting hand as he's driving Ms. Jenny.