How do I stop my yarn from being overspun?

As far as being overspun, do you mean the singles are too tight for the ply, or the ply is too tight for the singles? Are you aiming for a balanced yarn?

The best way I've found to make a balanced yarn is to save a fresh sample of the freshly spun single self-plied into whatever ply I plan for it; that is, if I want to Navajo ply (a method for making 3-ply), I'd take a freshly spun length, about a foot long, and fold it back on itself into thirds and let it twist up as it wants to. This freshly spun "self-plied" 3-ply shows me how much twist to put in when I'm Navajo plying. Really. (I keep telling myself "really!" as I ply ... it helps!)

Then once it's all plied up and I'm feeling like I've overplied it yet again, I wash it in a sink of warm water, rinse it, wring out the water, and hang it to dry. Amazing! the warm bath lets the single twist work with the ply twist and Ta-Da! a balanced skein. Works like a champ. Really!

(posted by me this day on livejournal\spinningfiber)

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