Plain Vanilla Two-Plying And Balanced Yarns

"My idea of heaven is a great big baked potato and someone to share it with."
~ Oprah Winfrey.

Thus was the sentiment on the front of a card sent to me in celebration of the upcoming, and now upon us, Summer Solstice by Jenna. Happy Litha! May your gardens grow lush and beautiful.

Speaking of potatoes, do take a look above at how my tater plants are happily flourishing. I was pondering a bit the other day about my obsession with potatoes. I surmised that readers out in Idaho, Maine or other prolific potato-growing areas might think I'm slightly off my rocker, going on and on about my little patch. And if truth be told, I do go out each morning and check the growth progress, applauding each new leaf and checking for marauding insects that might need to find homes elsewhere. There's something so honest and earthy about potato plants and the resulting crop...feels to me like a direct connection to Mother Earth herself. Last Sunday, "Father's Day" here in the States, Alexander (youngest of the spider) joined Chris and I on a little one-day trip to NYC. David (oldest of the spider) was due to come in from Toronto on a Greyhound bus that evening. Our plan was to meet Dave at the Port Authority around 8pm-ish. That left the three of us to figure out just how we'd like to spend the rest of our afternoon . The beach at Coney Island won out for much of the day, and above you'll see Chris and Alexander, with wind-tussled hair, hanging out on the boardwalk...a nice Dad and son pic, me thinks. Another activity that occurred this past week was hooky-stick-making. I saw my first hooky stick when Celia Quinn, longtime fantastic spinning instructor and author, passed them out to our class years ago. Simply said, they are a spinning tool on which the three things necessary to make yarn can occur: drafting, spinning and storage of yarn. Eagle-eyes will note that a hooky stick is nothing more than a wire coat hanger with a hook bent into one end and the rough, cut edges smoothed down. Over the years, I've made dozens upon dozens of these wonderful spinning implements for my own students. Would any of you readers like me to show how to use a hooky stick in an upcoming post? Last week I mentioned the Akha spindle from Thailand. Above is a pic of such a spindle. I purchased mine quite a few years ago from Lynn DeRose Mason. Included with the spindle was a printed sheet of instructions, where Lynn wrote, "This is a hand-supported spindle from the Akha Hill people in Southeast Asia. Twist is inserted with a flick of thumb against forefinger; the support comes from the cradle made by the remaining fingers being held in a relaxed curl. The hook off the spinning tip allows drafting at 180 degrees. I occasionally use it as a drop spindle."

Connie Delaney has a great, online article on the Akha Spindle, clearly demonstrating her love and fascination with the spindle and the people who make them. Also, be sure to check out Connie's excellent "SpinCraft" patterns for sale on her site.

Before I move on to the spinning topics of this week's blog post, a bit of this 'n that is in order: Dyers, come one and come all, to the annual "Brighid's Dyers" gathering in Brattleboro, Vermont. Date: Saturday, June 30, 2007. Location: Bickford's Restaurant on Rt. 5. Just look for a table of enthusiastic fiber artists waving colored stuff around. Time: 1:00 pm. Bring: Any show and tell focusing on dyeing. Many of us in Brighid's Dyers are solar dyers, but ALL dyers are welcome...synthetic or natural...on cloth, yarn, fiber, etc. Please do go to our newly updated webpage (with its own URL!), Brighid's Dyers, with many thanks to our Elizabeth, of Hemlock Haven Llama Farm. On the left sidebar of that site, you'll find links to my blog posts devoted to solar dyeing. Can't wait to see YOU and what you've all been "dyeing" to chat about!

On another note, received this lovely e-mail from Drea the other day:
Dear Spinning Spyder:
I am a baby beginner spinner here and I stumbled upon your site. Although I have a friend who's been spinning for nigh on 30 years who's taught me the basics, she's far away and I've had to do most of it on my own. Your site has helped me tremendously. I've only just begun to spin and after reading your site with its suggestions, I have been able to spin a nice Romney (quite dry, by the way, which I prefer) roving into (almost uniform!!!) singles yarn. I also spun two bobbins of 'funky' orange and purple coloured yarn from roving I drafted together (super super dry). I've been spinning for two weeks come this Saturday and I'm already addicted to it. Thanks again for your great site -- you've just answered all my questions on washing and 'twist setting' and so forth (I'm about to ply - zoiks!) For a week I spun on my friend's ancient Country Craftsman Saxony (her re-enactor wheel). Wow is that hard. Then I bought myself an Ashford Traditional Saxony - double drive - single treadle - and it's much much easier - but she told me that after a week on that Country Craftsman wheel - if I could spin (yeh I could, but badly) I'd be able to spin on anything. After years of knitting, it's fun to be able to actually make the yarn!

And in a second e-mail from Drea, after I mentioned that I'd address plain vanilla 2-plying in this week's post:
YAY !!!! I can't wait for the post on vanilla two-plying. Pam (my spinner friend) told me the basics ending with her usual, "Now you'll just have to get the feel for it yourself" admonition. (And she's right about that - I just had to 'get the feel' on my own for the spinning). However, your posts about forward drafting (Pam taught me the backwards pull) and drafting zone and allowing the yarn to feed and all - well - it make made the lightbulb go 'click'. (Doing the forward draft taught me how to control the drafting zone, how to allow the yarn to 'feed' and hence greatly reduce the over-twisting, Now I start out with forward draft, segueway into back pull drafting and when I'm at the end of the roving, I let go my left hand and just pull back with my right hand out really long and it twists to the end beautifully (and then I add onto that with a fresh roving which I draft myself into a pencil draft).

All the best, Drea
Note from Spider: Thank you, Drea. I sure do appreciate knowing that some of these tappings help spinners. Thanks so much for your wonderful e-mails.

Now for a little hiccup again, with mention of a conversation I had had a few days ago with Leslie. She and her husband, John, recently came back from a fantastic camping vacation in Eastern Canada. Whilst travelling through Maine, John, good man that he is, noticed a sign for "The Purple Fleece." Leslie, who hadn't seen the sign due to being busy with her own knitting, was asked by John if she'd like to stop into the store? She did. They did. The lovely, well-stocked shop was next to the home of the shop's proprietress, Debbie. Even if you're not planning a trip to Maine soon, do go to The Purple Fleece, Debbie's website. Debbie found out that Leslie was a knitter, spinner and dyer and took the couple to see her personal, upstairs studio...filled with looms, wheels, etc. What a nice woman Debbie is (I called and chatted with her myself)...in many more ways than one! Funny how goodness prevails and things have a way of balancing themselves in the cosmos... Now, onto balanced yarns...as a lead-up to plain vanilla 2-plying... First, just what IS a balanced, 2-ply yarn? A balanced, 2-ply yarn is a yarn in which within the singles and the final plied yarn there is no excess clockwise (Z or to-the-right) twist; nor is there excess counter-clockwise (S or to-the-left) twist. In other words, the amounts of twist either way are balanced with each other. When a plied yarn is balanced, it will hang, as shown above, in a relaxed donut shape...showing no sign of twisting one way nor t'other...that is, after the skein has been washed and dried.

Sometimes spinners are alarmed when they see a "just plied," but not washed, skein twist off in a direction rather than placidly hanging open. Do keep in mind that if the plying was just completed, that ply twist is very much alive and active...wheras the singles that you plied were completed prior to the plying...be it a few hours before, a week before or even years before the plying took place. The singles, in those cases, have more-or-less sleeping twist, also called dead twist...the twist is still in them, right where you put it, but it's asleep, waiting to be awakened. How to do that? Wash the yarn! As a knitter, I rarely ever feel my yarn is ready for use unless I wash it first. Once the skein is dried, check again for balance by hanging it off your hand. Does it hang like an open oval? Then it's balanced.

But what about this whole balance thing...is it necessary? Well, knitters often like balanced yarns because their fabrics won't skew off (bias) into directions they didn't want. 'course if you use excess twist, often called "energized" yarn, in your designs and plan for it, then that's different and a whole 'nother ballgame. Kathryn Alexander is a knitting designer/fiber artist who has become known for her work in this energized arena. But if you were making...let's say a plain vanilla stockinette cardigan...perhaps you'd like the lower edges to hang straight and expect the fabric to behave as you planned it to...then perhaps a balanced yarn needs to be in your equation for success.

Crocheters, are balanced yarns important to your work, too? And how 'bout you weavers? Outrageously fun collapse fabric comes to mind when energized singles are used in weaving. Do you weavers worry as much as knitters about balancing your handspun yarns for use in your regular fabrics?

***Before I move on, it's important to note right at the beginning of this discussion that just because your yarn is balanced doesn't mean it's the perfect yarn-of-choice...the creme de la creme...for your project. Being balanced isn't enough. Does the plied yarn look sleezy? Are there holey gaps between the singles? Or, in the opposite scenario, is the plied yarn too tightly twisted? Did you lose the "hand" of the fiber...literally squash out all the good qualities inherent in the fiber(s) chosen for the yarn? If so, some planning needed to go into how much twist was necessary to put in the SINGLES. Yes, that's right...a spinner can quickly test how their plied yarn will look balanced as they begin to spin the singles. You do not have to spin up gobs of yarn only to find it all won't work as you had planned. Have YOU been disappointed with your plied yarns once they've been washed and dried and are ready to use? If so, read on....

What follows first is a pitstop to demonstrate the same, balanced skein pictured above, as a highly unbalanced skein, produced by my own exaggerated twisting. In the above pic, I've highly twisted the skein for demo purposes only, so that the whole twist angle for the skein reads Z (look at the diagonal connecting the two horizontal lines of the Z to see that it matches the diagonal of the turquoise line above it, which was drawn over the skein's exaggerated angle of twist.)

Here's something incredibly valuable I learned from Rita...if we read the skein that's pictured above, we see the skein is reading Z. If a skein reads Z, it WANTS Z. What does this mean? It means that the plying twist in the yarn itself (S or counter-clockwise) is too much for the singles twist (Z or clockwise) to balance with. So, in order for that yarn to balance, some of that S plying twist needs to come out.

Now mind you, I exaggerated the twist in the 2-ply skein above for this demo only. As you saw earlier, it really is a balanced yarn. BUT, if your 2-ply skein twists as above, after washing and drying it, you'll do yourself a favor by swatching it up to see if the swatch itself skews off into a direction. Knitters will see this happen when stockinette is used...a stitch that shows biasing in all its glory. There are other stitches that can actually hide minor skewing, so I encourage you to try swatching some (such as basketweave, etc.) Going down in needle size can also help minimize skewing...but be careful of how you may need to adjust the knitting pattern when your knitting gauge changes... Or, if the yarn isn't too hairy (such as yarn with a high mohair percentage,) you could try running the plied skein back through the wheel in the clockwise (Z) direction to remove some of the plying twist. In general, I try to steer clear of those kinds of hair raising methods . I prefer to test my singles for how much twist is needed BEFORE is spin them all up for the project of choice...more on that a few paragraphs down. Above is a pic of the opposite situation from what we've just discussed. Here's that same 2-ply skein where the exaggerated twist was added so that the skein reads S. Again, take a look at the diagonal that the turquoise line makes...it's the same diagonal that joins the top and bottom "hooks" of the S. Thus, this skein now reads S. Again, thanks to Rita, I understand that if a skein, after washing and drying, reads S, it WANTS S. This means that there's not enough plying twist in the original yarn (S or counter-clockwise) to balance the amount of twist that was put into the Z-spun, or clockwise, singles. Running the plied yarn back through the wheel in the counter-clockwise, S, direction will add more plying twist to aid in the balance.

***But let's go back to the first words of caution, so to speak, given: LOOK at your yarn. Does it look good to you? Will it work in your project? Have you swatched it to see if the swatch biases? Remember, just because a yarn is balanced doesn't make it great. Read above, at the ***, once again to clarify what I mean.

A pleasant thought to ponder: When your skein reads only slightly S or Z, you may be able to get away with not having your work bias. Some fudging is not only possible, it's acceptable. Only swatching will tell the truth.

Another thought: Here in much of North America, many if not most spinning mills and individual spinners often make plied yarns by spinning the singles clockwise (Z) and plying (S). It is not wrong to do the opposite: spin the singles S and ply Z...in fact, in some cultures, this is the norm. And even neater, in some cultures, twist is a downright magickal thing. I've been told that some folks in the world might even add into a project a bit of yarn twisted in the opposite direction from that of the main yarn, for very interesting reasons. Can any of you further elaborate on this? Remember when I mentioned a few moments ago that you, as a spinner, could design and learn to balance your 2-ply yarn at the singles stage? Well, you can. The best way to do this is to make a ply-back from your freshly spun singles. If you're spinning those singles pretty much consistently, when you fold the singles back on itself (called a ply-back,) the singles twist you put in balances with plying twist, to show you how that yarn would look as a balanced 2-ply. If the ply-back looks sleazy (a very technical spinning term, don'tcha know?) you need more twist in the singles. Thus, put more twist into the singles and make another ply-back. Look good? Great! Look too overtwisted? Then you need less twist in the singles. Check the ply-back again.

BTW, to save your ply-back of choice, simply separate the ply-back from the singles yarn you were spinning and knot the ends together. I like to save the ply-back by threading it through a hole punched into an index card. I also like to notch the index card and save a sample of the singles yarn, making sure the twist doesn't escape by putting the ends into the notches and tying the ends together on the back of the card. The whole card, along with anything written that is pertinent about the spinning of the yarn or where the fiber came from, etc. goes into a clear, sandwich-sized baggie, along with a sample of the unspun fiber. That baggie gets hole-punched and put into a binder for later reference, as needed. Documentation? You bet, baby! I don't want to be caught with my pants down, not knowing how I made a yarn or what fiber(s) went into it!!

In the above pic, you can see what to do when you've NOT saved your ply-back of choice from your freshly spun singles...or if you never made one to begin with. All is not lost, in that case. From Rita, I learned "the water trick." Just look at that limp, flaccid ply-back above. But I'm not blaming the poor, presently-sleazy, ply-back, after all...the singles had been sitting on bobbins for months or more. The singles twist is sleeping, but it can be re-awakened. Just knot the singles together and.... Pop the knotted-together singles in a cup of very hot water. Abracadabra ~ the twist comes alive again. It's neat to watch the ply-back squirming around and waking up. Dry the ply-back completely. One black cat I know just had to make an appearance in this shot... This water trick works wonderfully well and shows a balanced yarn if the singles yarns are more-or-less similar, especially in twist rate, but also regarding the size of each singles. If this ply-back looks good to you - great! If the re-awakened, "subjected-to-the-water trick" ply-back doesn't look good, either because the singles yarns are very different or otherwise, add or subtract twist in plying to your taste, but note that the end result may or may not be balanced. Only by swatching can you truly tell if your ply-fudging will or will not result in biasing. But in this case, lookee at the plying twist! No flaccid plying twist is that!! I love that word, "flaccid, "...can you tell? Now I can use the alive ply-back as a visual reference to ply for a balanced yarn. If your singles aren't incredibly consistent in the ply-back or even throughout your bobbins, pick the area of the ply-back that you want to match. It's that simple. Because I use a leader that has a loop on one end, I can put the two singles, coming from bobbins set in a tensioned Lazy Kate, through the leader's loop, fold the singles back on themselves, and add twist via treadling in order to secure the two singles to the leader. Nary a problem ever occurs with the singles slipping off the leader when this method is used. 'course you could tie the singles to the leader instead.

Ply in the opposite direction that you spun the singles. Usually my singles are spun Z (clockwise) and plied S (counter-clockwise.)

I'm afraid all I can say is "good luck" if you're not using a tensioned Lazy Kate. By tensioned, I mean that the bobbins held in the Kate are attached to each other via a string of some sort, which travels inside one end of each of the bobbins' grooves. This tensioning string can be tightened or loosened as needed, usually by turning a knob on the Kate, acting as a break on the bobbins in the Kate. When the tensioning string is just right, the bobbins will release their singles easily and nicely, with no taught stretching of the singles nor any "back-flapping" of the bobbins which might tangle the singles together. That said, I've always loved Rita's description of some so-called Kates that are attached right to a post/beam (be it vertical or horizontal) on the spinning wheel itself: "Yarn Admiring Racks," (and that's about all they're good for in my spiderly opinion, as well!) Here's a photo demonstrating my plying set-up. Some folks like to set their kate on a table, nearer to their elbow. I like the kate to be on the floor, to the right, and a bit behind me, since my back hand for plying is my right one. Reverse if your back hand will be your left one. I let the singles angle over my lap towards the orifice.

I tend to sit as far back from the wheel as is comfortable to treadle when I ply. I think of this as a "given" setting, allowing me to more easily replicate a yarn from my notes, knowing I'll always be this distance from the wheel. The extra distance also allows me to see the yarn as it's plying for a greater length than just a few inches, leading to better consistency in the plying overall.

Your draw-in-tension (be it Scotch tension, Irish/German tension, or the tension on your drive band for a double drive set-up) on the wheel should allow the yarn to go on easily. Avoid having to push the yarn on due to inadequate draw-in and conversely, having to hold on to the yarn with a death grip because there is too much draw-in. Adjust the draw-in tension as needed. I generally find I need more draw-in tension for plying than I did for the singles. As the bobbin fills, more oomph is needed to get the yarn on the bobbin. In that case, add more draw-in tension as necessary. Make these adjustments in small increments - no wild knob turning, please. Aim to understand how your equipment works. Another view of my plying set-up. Hawk-eye spinners will note that I have a Lendrum bobbin and some Schacht bobbins in my Lendrum Tensioned Lazy Kate (Village Spinning and Weaving website linked). You'd be surprised how bobbins from various wheels fit in other brand's Kates. I particularly like that my Louet bobbins fit into my other, much-loved, Schacht Tensioned Lazy Kate. Adjust singles through your fingers to separate strands or simply hold them together with your back hand... your choice. The back hand you use is generally the same hand you'd hold your fiber supply if you were spinning a singles. Decide where it's comfortable to keep your back hand stationary. I tend to like it directly in front of and up against my stomach. Others like it angling off to one side. Avoid going too far in back of you because your body would have to continually twist awkwardly during the plying process. A close-up view...note how the thumb of my back hand (the one that is tensioning the singles) is pushing down on my pinkie finger, and hence the place where the two singles come together, as they are drawing from the Kate. I call this thumb the "gate keeper." When the gate keeper is pushing down on the singles, it has the uncanny ability to make sure both of the singles (as for a 2-ply) are tensioned the same. The gate keeper thumb opens and closes as needed...it's closed when the plying twist is being inserted in a length of the two singles....it opens when that plied yarn needs to travel towards the orifice, to be stored on the bobbin.

Now for my directions for plying:
Your front hand pinches the yarn at the point of contact and slides backwards to meet the back hand as you treadle and plying occurs. Note that the point of contact continually moves and your pinching fingers stay on the point of contact and move with it. Once you reach the back hand, your front hand then makes the journey to the orifice, generally stopping about 4-5" before the orifice. The next round trip can then occur.

Point of contact: The place of plied yarn immediately next to the two, still-separated singles.

Round trip: A total of how many treadles are needed for one length of yarn to be plied, both out to you and in towards the wheel, so that you can then begin another round trip.

Be sure to put the ply-back sample you've chosen close by for visual reference. I put mine right on my lap.

Calculate the round trip by trying various treadle sequences (ie. 5 treadles to have your front hand move back to meet your back hand and 2 treadles in to have it do an arm's length towards the orifice = 7 treadles round trip.)

After completing two or more of the same round trip, stop and pull the yarn off the bobbin (pull off the side of the bobbin if you are afraid you'll add or subtract twist by bringing it out the orifice...this never worried me much, however...with no ill effects) in order to compare ply "bumps" per inch to your chosen ply-back. If your plied yarn matches the balanced ply-back, stay consistent with your round trip treadling throughout.

If you've found the correct round trip, but uncomfortable to achieve, adjust your in's and out's to be the same overall round trip but make it more comfortable to do (ie Say the 7 treadle round trip is correct, it can be achieved in several ways - 5 out and 2 in, 6 out and 1 in, 4 out and 3 in, etc...)

If your tried round trip does not produce the same bumps per inch on your ply-back, try another round trip sequence. If there are more bumps per inch on your ply-back, up the round trip treadles (ie you need more plying twist in order to match your ply-back.) If there are less bumps per inch on your ply-back, go down in treadles for your round trip (ie you need less plying twist in order to match your ply-back.)

For your body's sake, avoid having to bend forward too much. Consider beginning your round trip about 4-5" or so from the orifice, not right up against the orifice.

Remember to change hooks to avoid big hills and valleys as you ply. Hills have a tendency to topple over into valleys and cause tangling, especially with fine or hairy yarns.

Something to consider prior to plying in the first place: I do like to wind off singles once spun, by hand, on to a new bobbin. It seems to even out the twist. This may seem extreme to some, but I like the end results I get when doing it. See the past post, Fiber Of Gold & Leslie's Sock Solution, for more info on that.

I often get asked what whorl I use for plying? The truth is, I generally use the same whorl I did for spinning the singles. But, if for comfort's sake or you just want to use a different whorl, note that your round trip needed to get a balanced yarn will change from one whorl to the next. I also get asked whether I use a plying head or some particular wheel for plying? No, I don't. That said, one can fit more plied yarn on the usually big bobbin that comes with a plying head or if one has access to a Louet wheel, which inherently has bobbins with a big-ish capacity.

Cats and plying do not go together. Try it and you'll see. Good luck!

I dry my plied yarns flat on a towel and do not need to hang weights or go to great lengths to keep them from kinking or twisting. See the past post Finishing Handspun Yarn - Part One, for more info on that. The final pics that follow show the makings of a round trip... Back hand tensions singles and stays stationary. It was really handy when I was pregnant...my back hand could rest on the "shelf" of my growing belly! Front hand guides the twist as it runs towards the back hand. Treadling occurs throughout. Front hand continues moving towards the back hand. Front hand reaches the back hand. The gate keeper and fingers of the back hand open up to allow for the front hand to bring the plied yarn to the orifice so it can be stored on the bobbin. The back hand does, however, remain stationary. Do note that while there are three bobbins shown in the Kate, only two of them have singles that are threaded through the Kate's pig-tailed, guiding hook, in order to achieve a 2-ply yarn.

Just as folks have various ways of tensioning yarn (or not) through their fingers, I have my own way I like to thread the singles through my fingers to separate them. I do admit to liking my wheel-plied singles to be separated, but tensioned equally, in the plying process. Interestingly, in spindle plied yarns, I tend not to separate the singles for plying...go figure...but that's another story...

And finally, this is NOT the only way to wheel-ply a yarn. I do not claim it to be the best way to ply. I do claim it as the way I choose to ply and I'm pretty damn proud of my plied yarns. You can ply this way, too,
if you'd like!

Wishing you all Summer Solstice blessings!!