Plying Comments

One of the most important things that I learned about plying when I started to spin is to hold the different elements (plys) of yarns between different fingers of my left hand, and then to control the actual plying with my right hand (closest to the orifice.) Use whichever hands you're comfortable with, but the hand closest to the orifice is the one that controls the actual plying.

In my case, if I was making a two-ply yarn, I would use the following set up...

I would first sit in chair at kind of a funny angle and rest my left elbow on the back of the chair. The chair is not a high-backed chair, so my elbow is slightly below my shoulder. This is mainly to remind me to leave my left arm STILL. Don't move it. Moving this hand back and forth is the main cause of getting the singles to unwind unevenly.

I would then place my left hand palm down, and hold one single between my thumb and forefinger and the second single between my forefinger and the middle finger. I would take my right hand, hold it palm up, attache the singles to my bobbin lead thread, and hold both singles between my thumb and forefinger -- but this time bring an extra finger or two up from underneath between the singles. (I usually use my middle and or ring fingers.) This serves to help keep the singles separate until just before they ply together between my thumb and forefinger.

I hope this helps.

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