Spinner's Alphabet: What Begins with P? Ply!

By Amelia © September 7, 2026

My Ply stack in 2021

P

is for Ply. It's not only a fun magazine (waves!), it's how we can bring our yarn into balance, or force it out of balance. Plying adds structure and strength to fibers. Usually, plying is taking two or more spun singles, and twisting them together in the opposite direction they were individually spun until they balance each other out. But that is the tip of the plying iceberg. Come join me, the water's warm! There's B for Boucle; C for Cable, Chain, and Crepe; H for Hawser... We could have a spinner's alphabet of nothing but plied yarn constructions.

One of the most interesting things about plying for me was recognizing that twist in singles goes dormant when they sit. So what seems balanced when you ply is actually underplied. The best way to make sure your plied yarn will be balanced (or, intentionally, not balanced) is to have a fresh sample plied back on itself. You can even make this out of dormant twist by making the ply structure you want, and then putting it into warm water. This awakens the dormant twist in the singles and the length will wriggle into balance. Take it out of the water, press it in a folded towel - or edge of your shirt - and wa-la! a fresh sample shows you what balance looks like. Ply to match that sample, and you will find your skein wet finishes into a balanced result, despite acting overplied while being made.

This warm water method is a bit more difficult with multiple step constructions like hawser, crepe, cable, and boucle. With those I often guess and then if needed use rough finishing to lock in the result if I guessed wrong. I have plans to spin a balanced two-ply yarn, gently wet finish it to wake up the dormant twist in the singles, and then once dry, make a cable. I'd like to see how the cable looks at different levels of twist in the singles, knowing what I actually had for a balanced 2-ply yarn: the puffy 2-ply from low-twist singles to the dense 2-ply from high-twist singles.

And returning to my opening remark - Ply is a remarkable magazine about all things spinning. The photography is both stunning and informative, the articles are all organized around a central theme for each issue, and it has continued to deliver great content since its kickstarter beginning. They even had an issue on Plying! I enjoy being both a reader and a contributor to it. If you haven't checked it out, I highly recommend it! They now have two sister magazines as well, Purl and Weft, as well as an online spinning guild. Lots of great information about fiber arts!

There you have it: plied yarn and Ply magazine, a dual-purpose letter this week. What's your spinner's P? Do you read Ply or participate in their online guild?

See the whole spinner's alphabet series.

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© September 7, 2026 by Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.com/

Spinner's Alphabet: What Begins with O? Overplied!

By Amelia © August 24, 2026

3-ply sock yarn

O

is for overplied yarn. I usually overply my yarn when I'm spinning for socks, and then rough finish it, which lightly felts the strands so that it will behave like balanced yarn in the knitting. It's doubly durable from the active surface twist and the light felting.

Another situation that calls for overplying is when you are constructing a more-than-two-step yarn such as a cable. Here's a recipe for making a cabled yarn:

1. Divide your fiber into 4 equal parts
2. Spin each part into Z twist singles on its own bobbin. You get to decide how much twist you want - ply it back on itself and if you like it, use that amount throughout. So you can have a puffy 2-ply or a tight 2-ply (that's coming next).
3. Ply two bobbins together with S twist into a balanced 2-ply yarn. If at all possible, do this step, let the yarn rest, then move on to the next step. Lots of folks (myself included) don't do that - we do both steps in one pass. I want to experiment more with separating the steps, letting this balanced 2-ply sit on the bobbin for a while to rest so it acts balanced - i.e. the plying twist becomes effectively as dormant as the singles twist became before plying happened. You now have 2 bobbins of 2-ply.
4. Overply the 2 bobbins, i.e. add more plying (S) twist. How much? So that the ply-back looks like grains of rice / strings of pearls. This is most obvious with 4 different colors in play, so that's a good learning tactic, frankly. I'd note most of my singles tend to be fairly strong twist as I'm doing this for socks, so my ply-back is also fairly strong feeling. I usually overply until the yarn compresses down to look like a single strand again, i.e. not much visible curving of the two strands around each other. It's a good idea to let these bobbins rest a few days so that extra twist can go dormant and not drive you crazy when you do the next step... just saying...
5. 
   Now cable-ply: take the 2 bobbins and ply them on each other in the Z direction until they are balanced. What's balanced? so they match the ply-backs you made in the previous step. That grains-of-rice look.

Whew! If it all works out the final skein washes up balanced. To be frank, it is a strong twist typically. If you met the grains of rice look but it's acting over- or under-plied after wet finishing, rough finish it by lightly fulling the yarn. I hope that's R! If not, see this post: When do you set the twist?. That will lock it all in place and make it act balanced.

A note on direction - the usual final twist direction of commercial yarns is S. If you want that, then spin the singles S, ply Z, and cable-ply S. There you go, final twist direction S. I will note, spinning singles S feels odd, as our hands get so used to feeling that Z spiral as they draft. Stick with it, and S singles will feel natural as well.

The great part of making a 3-ply sock yarn is that a cable from the leftover singles will have the same final diameter as the 3-ply yarn due to the extra compression it has. Great for heels and toes! A lovely friend told me that one day and it has proven itself true at my wheel as well.

Other fun O's: Optim (stretched merino, so soft!), Opposing Ply (another great yarn structure!), Ombre (shifting from one color to another over a long distance/in a single skein).

What's your spinning O? Have you overplied on purpose? Let me know in the comments.

See the whole spinner's alphabet series.

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© August 24, 2026 by Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.com/

What makes a skein stand out to judges?

By Amelia © August 3, 2026

A pile of handspun after the fair,
waiting for their owners

Welcome to the final post of the handspun judging series ... in it we will detail the Finished Execution category on the score card. If you've just found this series, start with part one: How is handspun yarn judged at fairs? We've been working our way through the score card:

1. General overall appearance.
2. Preparation for exhibit — clean, properly skeined and tied, of listed yardage and/or weight, blocked if necessary
3. Suitability of fiber to yarn—amount of twist, diameter of yarn
4. Technique — twist evenly executed, appropriate plying twist, diameter consistent throughout, structurally durable, yarn designs consistent, dyeing/blending consistent
5. Suitability of yarn to use—direction of twist, amount of twist, diameter of yarn, handle of yarn, appropriate number of plies
6. Finished Execution – originality, creativity, complexity

The final category is Finished Execution, where the judge gets to consider originality, creativity, and complexity. This is often what bounces items into Best in Class and Best in Show awards. Dye the wool yourself, card or comb it yourself, do something more complex or exposing than a 3-ply - the judge recognizes you are showing an extra layer of skill. Yes, I said 3-ply. 3-ply hides mistakes in the singles better than a single or a 2-ply. Putting that extra effort in makes your yarn unique.

I loved sourcing rare breed fleeces to process myself, and will always state that on the submission for this reason. We are lucky now to have mills that produce specific breed yarns - I love seeing them in yarn stores!

Deneb, my Soay - I raised him, roo'd him,
washed, carded, and spun a 2-ply.
My most complex project!

This area is really where notes from the spinner can help. You tell me what makes this creative, complex, or original. Did you feed the sheep? Source it at the judging of a wool show? Develop the colorway to match a photo or flower? Generally spinners don't tell me this sort of thing and so I have to evaluate on what I see. Is it "wool" or a particular breed or blend or non-wool fiber? Is the yarn structure appropriate to use and more complex than basic singles or plying? Is there something special in its appearance, content, or structure that says "creative skein here"?

This category truly leans in to the creativity and effort of the spinner. If the skein is "just" a 2-ply, it can still excel in originality; perhaps the spinner used a suint wash on the wool fleece, or dyed the fiber or handspun with natural dyes they grew. I've had a future project planned for a while, where I "write" a poem with beads with words on them - like the fridge magnet poetry - spinning the beads into the yarn in the appropriate order to read as the poem, to be knitted or woven into a "page". The planning, inclusion of beads, and effort would definitely take the project up a notch - all I need is for it to pop to the top of my "most interesting future project" queue to be the next project.

That said, I do also love to see any entry - even the store-bought solid color top spun into a 2-ply yarn has a place. I've sometimes made an effort to cover all the categories in the fair with my submissions; it's a fun challenge. Some fairs only break up the entries by yarn structure, where others may have categories for tools used, preparation, or intended use. As a judge, I enjoy seeing when every category has several-to-many entries. It makes my job more interesting to have that variety, and I know I am going to uncover surprises as I work through them all.

At my local fair, it's the handspun items
that tend to take Best in Class/Show

Once all the entries have been judged, my job isn't done. I get to lift one item from each class for "Best in Class", one item overall for "Best in Show", and my favorite one of all, "Judge's Choice". The Best ones often are the highest points unless, for example, there's a stunningly spun simple skein that has fewer points than a more complex one in the same class. Choosing from among all the entries for Best in Show often takes me a while. I go take a walk once I've done all the judging so I can contemplate what I've seen. When I return, the Best in Show item often leaps out at me. Judge's Choice doesn't have to have top points. It is my favorite one. For me, it's easy to find it - I lay out all the skeins and run my hand above them - I will reach for just a handful, sometimes only one - and Judge's Choice comes from that pool. I don't consider the points I assigned, errors are even less important. it's the one I most want to take home with me. Though I never get to!

I hope you've found this series intriguing, and that it encourages you to enter your local county fair. I'm looking forward to fair season, and aspire some day to enter an item in my state fair as well!

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© August 3, 2026 by Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.com/

How is Suitability evaluated by a Fiber Arts Judge?

By Amelia © July 6, 2026

A felt hat from my first handspun.
Gently judged with great feedback!

Welcome back to the handspun judging series ... this is our fourth entry of five, and in it we will detail the Suitability category on the score card. If you've just found this series, start with part one: How is handspun yarn judged at fairs? and then read part two: How are Skein Appearance and Preparation Evaluated? and part three: How is Technique evaluated by a Fiber Arts Judge? before continuing on with this part. We've been working our way through the score card:

1. General overall appearance.
2. Preparation for exhibit — clean, properly skeined and tied, of listed yardage and/or weight, blocked if necessary.
3. Suitability of fiber to yarn—amount of twist, diameter of yarn
4. Technique — twist evenly executed, appropriate plying twist, diameter consistent throughout, structurally durable, yarn designs consistent, dyeing/blending consistent
5. Suitability of yarn to use—direction of twist, amount of twist, diameter of yarn, handle of yarn, appropriate number of plies.
6. Finished Execution – originality, creativity, complexity.

In this post we address the two Suitability categories. I can evaluate suitability of fiber to yarn without knowing the planned use. However, if the spinner hasn't told me what they intend to use the skein for, I usually have to make up a use for the yarn to evaluate it. Of course, being a kind judge, I make up a suitable use, and mention that in the evaluation. Do they end up making what I've evaluated it? I never do find out.

The third category is suitability of fiber to yarn. Often I skip over this one and do the fourth category first as it helps inform me for this category. So I've done the same on my blog.

After evaluating Technique, I am very familiar with the skein and can return to Suitability of Fiber to Yarn. In some ways this is driven by intended use as well - does the fiber suit that use? First, I look at amount of twist. Generally acceptable: low twist for knitted hats and scarves and weft and decorative yarns, high twist for socks and warp and durable yarns. You may see some cross-over, and when I see it I lean into what the spinner told me to look for justification.

Something that is never acceptable without clear justification in the notes: corkscrewing in the singles. This can occur in thick and thin yarn, as twist gathers in thin spots, making them likely to curl up in pigtails. Without careful monitoring, those pigtails may sneak into the plied yarn as well.

Second I look at diameter of yarn. Finer fibers are more suitable for finer yarns, however only the single need be fine - for example, I had a friend make a 6-ply of a merino/mink blend to get to a worsted weight yarn, where the 2-ply might have only been laceweight. Coarser fibers may be seeen in a variety of diameters, and work well for thicker singles. If the spinner hasn't stuck to this, then diameter plays against twist - a thicker single in fine wool needs more twist to hold together well. There is also Anne Field's notes on spinning to the crimp, where the crimp in wool drives yarn diamater. Finer fibers tend to have tighter crimp. (Her notes are explained in Spinning Wool: Beyond the Basics, an excellent book [affiliate link but at those prices, get it from your local spinning guild's library]).

It's a natural transition to move from suitability of fiber to yarn, to suitability of yarn to use.

The hat with its skein and some newer skeins and hat.
I do like spinning for hats.

Our fifth category is suitability of yarn to use. In premium books that don't require the entry to state intended use, or when the spinner failed to provide the information, this can be tricky. If the information is missing, I usually provide a recommendation in this space and then grade against that at a reduced level. There are several sub categories to evaluate here.

• Direction of twist - usually we spin Z, clockwise, and ply S, counter-clockwise. Knitting likes a final twist direction of counter-clockwise, though, so a cable yarn ought to be either spun the other direction or rough finished to avoid untwisting. Some techniques, like tvandstickning (twined knitting) want a final Z twist.
• Amount of twist - durable yarns need more twist. Soft puffy hats need low twist yarn.
• Diameter of yarn - socks need fine yarn; lace usually uses fine yarn. Scarves are usually thicker yarns, but if they have a pattern specified, then the yarn needs to be close in diameter (and fiber, and structure) that the commercial pattern uses. Luckily ravelry provides many of those details. Unluckily many county fairgrounds are in low- to no-cell signal zones. So I make a list to check during lunch, off-grounds.
• Handle of yarn - how does it feel? scratchy yarn as a scarf or hat is not good. Super soft easily destroyed fibers in loosely spun yarn is not good for socks.
• Appropriate number of plies - nalbinding with wool, a single is best but 2-ply is not uncommon; warp is usually plied, so a good reason must be supplied for a warp yarn that is a single; more complex structures need reasonable uses for them suggested.

Whew! At this point I am close to done on the form and beginning to come up with some general positive comments I can write on the bottom of the judging slip. I want to see more entries each year, and will encourage spinners to re-enter and perhaps to give additional categories a try as well.

This is being posted in July, and County Fair season is fast approaching ... are you entering? I'd love to hear what you are preparing or, if you are reading this in the fall, how things went.

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© July 6, 2026 by Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.com/

How is Technique evaluated by a Fiber Arts Judge?

By Amelia © June 11, 2026

This small thick/thin cable skein needs
spinner notes to explain the goal
and technique used

Welcome back to the fiber arts judging series ... this is part three of five. If you've just found this blog series, I recommend starting with part one: How is handspun yarn judged at fairs? and then reading part two: How are Skein Appearance and Preparation Evaluated? before continuing on with this part. We've been working our way through the score card:

1. General overall appearance.
2. Preparation for exhibit — clean, properly skeined and tied, of listed yardage and/or weight, blocked if necessary.
3. Suitability of fiber to yarn—amount of twist, diameter of yarn
4. Technique — twist evenly executed, appropriate plying twist, diameter consistent throughout, structurally durable, yarn designs consistent, dyeing/blending consistent
5. Suitability of yarn to use—direction of twist, amount of twist, diameter of yarn, handle of yarn, appropriate number of plies.
6. Finished Execution – originality, creativity, complexity.

In this post we address the largest category, Technique. At this point I am ready to get deeply familiar with the skein, having already had an initial look for the overall appearance and read the spinner's comments provided with their submission to help evaluate suitability of fiber to yarn.

With the fourth category, spinner-provided backstory can help alot. Listening to skeins is possible, but words from the spinner add invaluable insights I might miss even with my experience. I look for consistency in twist and diameter, unless the spinner has told me why those are not consistent, and thus what I should be looking for. Let's keep this simple to start. One piece of feedback I often provide is "inconsistent twist/diameter in the single has led to inconsistent ply twist". Maintaining the same twist and diameter takes skill. I know many spinners don't want their skeins to look commercial-perfect and I do honor that, but I have to grade on the criteria. So if they tell me they spun it long draw, I can weigh that it is harder to spin consistent diameter with that method and grade accordingly. I have had posts on this blog about consistency, but let me add one more - you can even out twist along your single by putting the bobbins at some distance from the wheel when you ply (or similar for spindles). This might even be a case where rewinding bobbins while the singles are fresh can help - rewind with the source bobbins farther away to allow twist to move along the length as you rewind the bobbins.

Next in Technique I evaluate "appropriate plying twist". This ties in to intended use - socks, warp, and other durable yarns need high twist while singles for knitting and crochet need lower twist. There also needs to be a viable reason for over- or under-plying. Lace benefits from underplying, while durable yarns benefit from overplying.

Structurally durable also relies on intended use - a loose ply may be fine if the use won't lead to snags, while yarn with alot of very thin bits that are mistakes may end up snapping under tension such as when used as a warp.

Yarn designs consistent relies on the yarn structure, and in an art yarn category on information provided to see if it is infact art yarn. A cable, when done properly, looks like little dots of rice. Coils should appear at regular intervals unless it's been stated that irregularity was part of the design - then they need to be mostly at irregular intervals. Tell me what yarns you've designed in the comments, and I will add some thoughts about what makes their design appear consistent.

Finally for Technique, we evaluate if dyeing/blending is consistent. This may often not be applicable, in a naturally colored single-source fiber. So if there are points per sub category, I often struggle with this one. Also, information on who dyed the fiber and who blended it can matter - commercial dyeing and blending really lean to "appropriate fiber for use" more than effort the spinner put into the Technique. I'm not supposed to grade Louet on their blends, it's the spinner's work we want to evaluate.

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© June 11, 2026 by Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.com/

How are Skein Appearance and Preparation Evaluated?

By Amelia © May 25, 2026

My Akha-spun skein and
the tools used to create it

This post continues my review of fair judging steps when evaluating handspun skeins. As you may recall from the first post, the forms used to evaluate handspun skeins typically have these categories:

1. General overall appearance.
2. Preparation for exhibit — clean, properly skeined and tied, of listed yardage and/or weight, blocked if necessary.
3. Suitability of fiber to yarn — amount of twist, diameter of yarn
4. Technique — twist evenly executed, appropriate plying twist, diameter consistent throughout, structurally durable, yarn designs consistent, dyeing/blending consistent
5. Suitability of yarn to use — direction of twist, amount of twist, diameter of yarn, handle of yarn, appropriate number of plies.
6. Finished Execution – originality, creativity, complexity.

I gave an overview of the process in my earlier post, How is Handspun Yarn Judged at Fairs?. In this post we will look at the first two items, general overall appearance and preparation for exhibit. Come back for later posts as I work down the form.

First, I group the skeins into the categories that fair uses; some fairs divide by spinning tool, some by yarn structure, some by fiber content. Then I take a category and dry-run a few entries; that is, I evaluate but take no permanent notes to get a feel for that county's spinners. Once I'm warmed up, I choose a random skein in a category to start with - in fact, I might have the scribe, if I'm assigned one, hand me skeins one by one.

I take the skein, look for its information tag, and read that. Anything the spinner can tell me is useful - first off, the premium book may have requirements, but in particular any background on why they chose to spin that fiber, how they made the choices they did in spinning it, and what they might use it for is all super useful but all but the last are seldom required by the premium book. I do check for any required information; some require yardage, fiber content, intended use, and perhaps even a swatch. All of that provided information is part of general appearance. It also feeds well into the other categories on the score card.

At this point I take a look at the skein to fully evaluate the first category, general appearance. A tidily wound skein with sufficient skein ties (4 is usually enough, maybe 3 on a small skein - or the number the premium book requires). The ties must not distract from the skein - I'm embarrassed to say the first skeins I entered had thick white cotton ties (oops) but later ones would use lengths of the yarn itself, unplied to use as little of the handspun as possible in the ties. Basically, anything that does not distract me from the skein is fine. The skein should also have no odor or dirt. I do not grade on the color of the fiber as my personal preference in color choices only comes to play in assigning Judge's Choice to my favorite among all the entries.

Ouch! those white ties!

I tend to write notes on the feedback card, generally positive and supportive with gentle correction, but avoid assigning points right away. I'll make notes all down the card and once done, assign points as appropriate for each category.

Some of the appearance items apply to the next category, preparation for exhibit. Here I focus on what the premium book required and what information was provided. Having extra information is a plus here. If yardage is provided, I have to do at least a rough check that it's in the ballpark - I will be more exact in a smaller fair but if there are a huge number of entries, I have to estimate with a partial count.

This category says "blocked if necessary" which means I do need to know how the yarn will be used to determine if blocking makes sense for that use. Knitting yarns generally wouldn't be blocked unless they were singles or were purposely over- or under-plied; weaving warp should be blocked unless the notes call out the loom used as a rigid heddle; weaving weft might be blocked if it was high-twist singles, though that twist can also be managed on the weaving bobbin; crochet yarn tends to be similar to knitting yarn. I have explored several other yarn crafts and so tend to apply what I know about them to the yarn I'm presented with - if you have one you're interested in, drop me a comment and I'll reply there. But I'd say those 3 uses are 98% of the entries I've seen over the years.

How do I know if a skein has been blocked? Generally if a skein is balanced or blocked, it hangs in an open O when it is opened and hung from your hand. So if it twists on itself more than 2 times, it likely has not been blocked. I can check the yarn itself, if it is plied, for some elasticity - wool will have a little bounce, if balanced and not blocked. I can also twist the plied yarn more and less to see if that open O is a balanced skein or not. Plied yarn is balanced at the point where the plied yarn is thickest - so if adding twist or removing twist makes it thicker, then the skein was not balanced and thus was blocked. Singles can be a little more tricky - sure, if the skein of singles hangs in an open O, it must have been blocked. But if it does not, the question is was it blocked but not to straightness. Typically then I check the twist angle in the single. Usually if the twist angle is more than 15 ° but the skein only twists a few times, it's been blocked.

One last comment about blocking - another finishing that has a similar effect is rough finishing. The only effective difference is that I can undo blocking by rewetting or resteaming the skein, but I can't unfelt it after rough finishing.

Whew! alot goes in to those two seemingly straight-forward categories. And yet, even the later categories will inform my evaluation of these two. So the form is never complete until I come to the end and review all the notes I've written on the skein, to assign points as directed by that fair's evaluation form.

I'd be curious to know how you prepare skeins for the fair, and what information you like to include with your submission, regardless of what the fair requires.

Check back in a few weeks for the next post where we will tackle evaluating technique in handspun yarn.

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© May 25, 2026 by Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.com/

Spinner's Alphabet: What Begins With H? Hawser!

By Amelia © May 18, 2026

H

is for Hawser yarn construction. This is a fascinating 4-strand yarn structure used in rope, and made popular by Sarah Anderson's The Spinner's Book of Yarn Designs: Techniques for Creating 80 Yarns (Storey Publishing, LLC, 2013) (affiliate link, thanks!).

To make a Hawser yarn, you spin singles Z, ply Z (crazy I know), then finish by plying S the 2 Z-plied 2-plies. It looks like a 2-ply yarn in the result from a distance, but up close it looks a bit like a sloppy 4-ply (ok, mine did!). Fun/chaotic to spin and a great way to get out of my "ply S" rut!

From a whole-skein view, it looks like a 2-ply; but that close-up above shows some "messy 4-ply" vibes!

To help myself understand the steps involved, I like to draw a flow chart for the structure. All the letters are spinning direction, and if lines lead into a letter, it's plying those lines in the direction stated. Here's my Hawser chart:

The main thing to understand is that the goal is balance, but along the way it can get very unbalanced - plying Z-spun singles Z for example - that's crazy yarn! But the final S twist here is to bring everything back into balance. The Hawser 2-ply look is best served by that Z-ply step making the yarn look plied when under tension - but when you relax it, it curls on itself like crazy trying to find balance. So you want a good plying setup with a sturdy kate, and if you can let those Z-plied bobbins rest a while it will help.

It can be fun to break the "rules" on spinning - try spinning an S single. It definitely feels different! You'd think you can't ply S and Z spun singles together. As a 2-ply, it's really elastic, but as a 3- or 4-ply it makes a very durable yarn to have one single spun opposite to the others. That's in Sarah's book too!

Here's a peek at the deck from The Spinner’s Book of Yarn Design by Sarah Anderson (Storey Publishing, LLC, 2013). I travel with the deck so whenever I want to try something new, I can shuffle it and draw a random one to challenge myself.

My other H is perhaps the obvious: handspun! ... What's your spinner's H? What explorations have you made in yarn constructions?

See the whole spinner's alphabet series.

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© May 18, 2026 by Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.com/

How do you measure twist angle?

By Amelia © April 13, 2026

I much prefer to measure twist angle in my yarn instead of twists per inch.

Part of this stems from my unwillingness to count treadles when using a wheel, perhaps because neither my spindles or my espinners have a treadle. The other part is that twist angle has the same impact on yarn whether I spin thick or thin, while twists per inch (TPI) change as wraps per inch change, to get the same feel.

I am a huge fan of Mabel Ross - to the point of having two copies of her book Essentials of Yarn Design for Handspinners, and one of each of her others, Encyclopedia of Hand Spinning, Essentials of Hand Spinning, and Hand Spinners' Workbook: Fancy Yarns. (All links are affiliate links - I may benefit from you using them to make your next purchase.) She has lovely tables in her books of WPI, treadle counts, TPI, and twist angle. I distilled it down for myself, filtered through my experience, to:

• 15° → very soft fluffy yarn - usable but easy to split when knitting
• 25° → medium knitting yarn - great for hats and scarves
• 35° → durable yarn - lowest twist I like for socks
• 45° → crepe yarn - high twist weaving yarn that will crinkle the fabric woven to a balanced sett

You can buy specialty tools for measuring twist angle, or simply use a protractor. I've done both. In fact, Mabel Ross's book has a twist angle tool printed on cardstock in the back. The tools are handy because they contain the typical twist range, so you aren't going to measure in a way that mis-reports twist angle as 75°.

Protractors, however, are much easier to find in your local school supply aisle or online, like the one I found here. I can display it on my phone when I want to measure twist angle. With the protractor, I line my yarn up on the 0 line at the flat bottom, and keep it parallel to the 0 line as I slide it across toward the 90° on the other side.

The angle lines on the protractor tell you what twist they measure - those slanted like the middle of the S measure S-twist (counter-clockwise twist) and the other half, slanted like the middle of the Z measure Z-twist (clockwise twist). What about the 90° mark? I like to jest that it is for measuring corespun, as that has the fiber wrapping a core, perpendicular to the length of the yarn.

In the series of pictures that follows, you see me moving the yarn across to measure the ply twist, which here is S-twist. I am looking for the angle line that matches the angle of the strands twisting around each other.

If you agree with me, you will say this twine (it's what I had to hand for these images...) has a twist angle between 25° and 30°

I would use the other half of the protractor for Z twist.

I recently posted on twist in singles vs. twist in yarn plied from them. I usually use a ply-back to see the ply twist and help me decide on the appropriate amount of singles twist, rather than trying to directly measure twist angle in singles. I invite you to check out your current spin against a protractor and free yourself up from counting treadles.

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© April 13, 2026 by Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.com/

How much ply twist is "balanced"?

By Amelia © March 30, 2026

Typically we tell new spinners to seek balance in their plied yarn ... see How Much Twist do I Need When I Ply? for that advice. If you let singles rest, the twist in the single is still there, but dormant. Don't wake it up before plying! Instead, keep a fresh ply-back from when the singles were spun to guide plying twist and realize that the dormant twist will show up when you wet-finish your skein after plying.

However, I would really like more specific advice. Some authors talk about counting treadles - clearly not spindle spinners!

What follows is from an old Ravelry post of mine:

"Mabel Ross’s theory, in Essentials of Yarn Design, is that ply twist is 2/3 singles’ twist. So, your final yarn has 8 TPI [twists per inch] in the 2-ply and each single has 4 TPI remaining in it. But why would two, skinnier, 4 TPI singles “balance” with an 8 TPI 2-ply? I know, 4 + 4 = 8, but does that hold true here, isn’t it more like 4 and 4 in parallel, not in series, pulling against 8? Clearly I’m thinking about this too hard, muddying my ability to understand what I’ve always taken as fact in my desire to get at its underpinnings.

"Alden Amos’s theory, in The Alden Amos Big Book of Handspinning, states that ply twist is 1/2 singles’ twist. I read that 10 times last night trying to figure out what he meant. Does he mean, once it’s plied, that your 2.5 TPI 2-ply has singles that each still contain 5 TPI? or that your 2.5 TPI 2-ply has singles that when not plied were 5 TPI? And do either of those things match up to Mabel Ross’s statements?

"Anne Fields (Spinning Wool: Beyond the Basics) quotes Mabel Ross, so she’s taking her numbers as a given. And Peter Teal (Wool Combing and Spinning, the original version) doesn’t really discuss balanced yarn, since he wants to be aware of what the twist is in his singles, and he wants there to be a certain amount, so he discusses plying twist in those terms."

End of quote

Well, that didn't really help. Especially the TPI of the single after plying - I want to know how much twist to put in the single and then how much twist I put in the ply.

These days, I do still use the freshly spun ply-back sample as a sample to match to when plying. And rather than TPI, I use twist angle to let me know what type of yarn I'm spinning. Medium knitting yarn wants a 25° angle of twist while durable sock yarn wants a 35-38° angle of twist. This is true no matter what my yarn diameter (WPI, wraps per inch) is.

If I don't have a sample, I can make one by folding a length in half and knotting the ends, being careful not to let any twist come out. Put it in warm water and the dormant twist wriggles the sample up to show what balance is in the 2-ply.

If I have no access to warm water, I can visually inspect the plying. When balanced, the fibers in the singles area straight, and the plied yarn is at maximum diameter. Before it's balanced, the singles are compressed and after the balance point, the plied yarn compresses.

You can find many posts on this blog about balance in plying if you'd like to dive into the topic further.

I may never get to the bottom of the singles-vs-plied twist question - but perhaps someone else will rig up an Alden Amos-style twist counter and then we'll all know. Will it be you?

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© March 30, 2026 by Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.com/

How can I get more on my spindle?

By Amelia © March 2, 2026; originally written October 9, 2012

Preface (in 2026): I have been blogging again, did you notice? and in reviewing the blog's back stage I found many unpublished drafts. This is one. It is a topic I have written about on the blog over the years, but this gives yet another view on the topic. And now on to the Amelia of 2012...

Getting more yarn on your spindle requires great skill. Luckily, it is a skill we all possess: recognize natural beauty. A balanced spindle-full of yarn looks nice. It's naturally appealing in its tidiness, order, and symmetry.

Okay, I hear some of you groaning. You didn't like to tidy your room, and you still don't like housecleaning. But this isn't that. It's winding yarn on the spindle, which is a celebration. Each time you wind on, you have created a new length of yarn.

For the past year, I have lived with wood stove heat. I like being warm, so I chop wood. I have a choice I can make -- I can throw the wood in an untidy pile that falls and expands when new wood hits it,or I can stack the wood in an organized wall that leans on itself and stays put. The organized pile looks better. Beauty of the woodpile translates to compactness, keeping more wood dry, and giving easy access to wood. With summer arriving July 5th here, we've worked through several cords of alder this spring, all chopped by me. I feel quite accomplished, taking my messy piles and putting them neatly inthe woodpile for use in keeping my family warm.

Similarly, as I work through a spinning project like the merino/yak/silk blend I spun up at Black Sheep Gathering, I feel quite accomplished as I get 1 ounce, 1.5 ounces, and then the full 2 ounces on my top-whorl spindle with no appreciable wobble.

How far can you take this? The most I've put on a spindle is 4 ounces of singles (picture in this post) and 4 ounces of plied yarn. I've seen flickr entries with 7 ounces of singles on a spindle, and Andean womens' spindles seem quite a bit fuller than my 4-ouncers.

Practical advice to achieve beauty in your spindle-full:

Wind on tightly, maintaining tension between the newly formed yarn andthe yarn already on the spindle shaft. If you wind on in a closely arranged series of rounds on the shaft, every once in a while switch over to an X-wind on to hold down the rounds and keep the rows from collapsing into each other. You can look for artistry in your cop like the Turkish spindle windings that appear on flickr, or you can strive for a balanced shape and surface of the yarn on the spindle without laying bands of color on the spindle shaft.

I like to put 2 ounces on spindles as singles, and then ply two of them together into a 4-ounce spindle-full. If I'm spinning thinner, I mayput less on the spindle. Consider the final spindle weight. I spin fine yarn on a 1/2-ounce spindle, and I don't want it to get much over an ounce in total weight, so I only put 1/2 ounce on it. I spin thicker yarns (DK singles and thicker) on a 1.5-ounce spindle; after there's an ounce on it, it's 2.5 ounces, which starts to feel heavy. At 3.5 ounces it's heavy enough that I'm done, even if the spindle isn't wobbling.

You may be able to tolerate a heavier spindle - or you may want to stop at a lighter final weight. It's a matter of preference, part ofyour spinning personality.

Plying goes so quickly that I don't mind doubling two 2-ounce spindle-fulls of singles and piling on 4 ounces of plied yarn. It's satisfying to see how closely I can match the length of each half of the fiber, a bit like trying to see how few blows it takes to chop around into burnable logs for my woodstove. And it's really satisfyingto see that huge cop of yarn on the spindle!

(returning to 2026...) I have to say, all of this rings true, except I'm no longer chopping wood for a woodstove. It was a really good workout!

For more on this topic, and pictures describing much of what was described above related to spindle wind-ons, see these posts:

• How much yarn can I spin on my spindle?
• When is the spindle full?
• How do you get 4 oz. of fiber onto one spindle?
• How much yarn can you wind onto a Turkish spindle?

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© March 2, 2026 by Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.com/blog

How do you make joins when plying?

By Amelia © February 9, 2026

Have you ever had yarn drift apart when plying? That can happen when you hit a slightly thicker part with less twist in it, and the plying twist becomes enough to undo that part. It slips apart and you realize you no longer have 2 strands in your hands (or, one less strand if you are doing a higher ply). Uh-oh.

Or, have you had yarn snap and break when plying? This can happen if the tension on the bobbin combines with the yarn on the bobbin having uneven or irregular winding to increase tension enough for it to snap the yarn. It breaks apart quickly and you realize you no longer have 2 strands in your hands. Uh-oh indeed.

Now you have two issues.

First, you have lost twist out of the two broken ends. So you need to somehow add twist. I do this by capturing one end - usually the one involved in plying, coming from the wheel or spindle first - and twirling it in my fingers to add back in the twist that was lost. I can do a quick, short ply-back to verify the level of twist has returned, and then I guard that end by keeping it pinched so it will not lose twist again. We will call this the "plying end".

Now, while still holding that first end, I rescue the loose end on the bobbin or ball of singles (or spindle of singles if you are using a spindle kate) and perform the same twist-adding operation to it. Yes, this is tricky. Yes, you will wish you could sprout a third hand. But with time, or extra clips to hold things, you will manage this. Once you have twist in it, you also need to guard that end with a solid pinch. We will call this the "singles end".

Second, now you need to reconnect them in the yarn. This is not a knot, but "simply" laying them next to each other without losing twist out of the ends. While pinching both of those ends, you will overlap them by about two inches and hold them against the other single involved in the plying. Note, I'm assuming a simple 2-ply here, but this also works for more. You can now pinch all three strands at two places - the singles end and the plying end. Note, the singles end is closer to the wheel/spindle and the plying end is closer to the singles' sources.

Once you have them all secure, add twist to the plied yarn and once it's built up a little bit, let it enter the area of the plying join where the two broken ends are held next to each other. Yes, for a short length of your yarn, you will have a 3-ply instead of a 2-ply. But it will be very hard to see in the finished yarn especially if you manage to have the two ends held well in the plying.

When you wet-finish the yarn, reskein it once it dries and look over the skein for any popped-out ends of plying joins. If you don't find any, give yourself a pat on the back. If you do find some, you can try opening up the ply, pushing the end into the center, and letting it reply on itself. Or, you can carefully take small embroidery scissors and trim off the bit that's sticking out. I've used both techniques.

Weavers may recognize this join - when you reach the end of yarn in your current shuttle, you typically lay the beginning of the next shuttle full of yarn against the end of the last shuttle's yarn to do a "weft join". Well, it's not called that by any weaver I've met, it's just how to continue weaving between shuttles.

So there you have it - no knots, no fancy technique, it's about ensuring the broken ends have the right twist in them to match your yarn, and then you overlap the two ends within the plied yarn. Hard to spot in your finished skein for most yarns.

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© February 9, 2026 by Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.com/

Keeping Leaders Straight

By Amelia © January 20, 2026

If you spin on a wheel or e-spinner, you put leaders on your bobbins. I have a great post on a no-fail leader here: How do you make a leader on your bobbin?

In this image is a bobbin with its ends removed - I do enjoy flat-pack bobbins! You might notice, the red acrylic yarn used in the previous post is not present. I am happy to report that it is all used up - I now work through balls of thrifted #10 crochet cotton for making leaders. You may also notice the leader is twisting on itself due to repeated use.

I mentioned in that previous post, replacing the leader when the twist gets too annoying. But that's only one possibility. Here are things you can do when twist builds up in the leader:

• You can use the leader for plying to twist it the other way, but you will never ply as much as you spin singles, so that's not going to undo all the singles twist you added to your leaders.
• You could remove the leader and steam out the twist — since it was not curling on itself initially, this will wake up the balance in the leader and return it to balance. Just be careful not to steam your hand in the process! I've done this when a boiling kettle was handy, dangling the leader from a metal hangar or holding it with tongs.
• You could replace the leader when it gets too curly for your liking. It's going to have to be replaced anyway, so this seems reasonable and was partly how I got through all that red acrylic I used for years as my leader.
• Or, leaning into your personal level of thriftiness, you could flatten the leader around the bobbin and wind it tight around it, tucking the end under, so that it self-resets into balance again. That way you don't need to replace it until it snaps — though I have at least one leader with multiple knots in it, as my personal level of thriftiness is up there.

Here's another fun bobbin-related read, a question that comes up now and again in beginning spinning classes: How many bobbins do I need?

What's your solution to the built-up semi-permanent twist in your leaders?

p.s. you can find me teaching online through HansenCrafts - a wide variety of e-spinner topics, offered around show and holiday seasons as well as at fiber shows across the US. All makes of e-spinner are welcome!

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© January 20, 2026 by Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.com/

2-Ply and 3-Ply: By the Numbers

By Amelia © January 1, 2026

When teaching plying I usually pass along a few facts about 2-ply vs. 3-ply:

• From the same single, the 3-ply will be thicker than the 2-ply — yeah, this one is pretty obvious.
• From the same single, the balanced 3-ply will have a steeper twist-angle than the balanced 2-ply — less obvious, but consider that 3 singles are contributing twist in the 3-ply, but only 2 singles contribute in the 2-ply.
• From the same single, to the same finished weight, you will get less finished yards in the 3-ply than in the 2-ply — also fairly obvious, since you are taking 3 at a time rather than 2 at a time.

Recently, I got to do a little exercise in 3-ply vs. 2-ply as I was preparing singles for my class Spindles Can Ply! at SOAR and SAFF this year. I had extra color kits from another class so I used them to play some color games with known weights of fiber — I had a ½ ounce ball of each color. Now, do note, I was chain plying one of the balls of singles — it's a structural 3-ply for the purposes of our comparison.

Here are the turtles, all spun up:

In pairs, left-to-right these are:

• 3-ply solid color
• 2-ply two solid colors — often called "barberpole"
• 3-ply keeping color changes clean (remember, it's a chain ply)
• 2-ply with fractal plying — one single changes color faster than the other
• 3-ply candystripe single — two colors spun side-by-side into the single, a 3-ply marl
• 2-ply candystripe singles — a 2-ply marl
• 3-ply keeping color changes fairly clean
• 2-ply with the same color orders — I usually call this "spinning to the grist" — if spun the same, all color changes are clean; that almost never happens so there is heathering as colors change at different times

Whew! When I spun the singles, I mostly tried to keep the diameter the same in the "pairing" of singles for 3-ply and 2-ply. That way I only had to think about one goal while spinning the singles for both. I tried to spin the first lot, the solid colors, thicker; and all the others just aimed for a comfortable default diameter for the NZ corriedale — the fiber I was spinning.

Each ball of singles was ½ ounce, so I had ½ ounce balls of 3-ply and 1 ounce balls of 2-ply.

To compare apples to apples for finished yards, I'm taking half the measured yards of the 2-ply, or a ½ ounce of it, as shown in the table.

Colors	½ ounce 3-ply	½ ounce 2-ply	ratio 3:2
greens	12	19	63%
reds/camel	26	32	81%
green/lime/yellow	22	30	73%
blue/yellow	24	37	65%

As you can see, there is a fair range here in comparing, 63% to 81%. But it does show, even with these small ½ ounce samples that the 3-ply (chain ply in this case) will result in shorter skeins from the same / a similar single than the 2-ply. The average was 70%, or to put it another way, 30% shorter.

If you consider how folding shortens things, take 12 inches as a starting point. Folded in 2, it would be 6 inches; folded into thirds it would be 4 inches, or 67% the length of the 2-fold. So we can see that plying is a bit like folding. Why doesn't it match?

Some of that is due to the imperfection in the singles — I definitely was not aiming for perfect singles so there is some variability in the yarn diameter. These are fairly moderate twist singles, and we would expect that to impact the finished length as well. It's only too bad I didn't record the length of the singles as well — there's always next time! Then there is the fact that the 3-ply would have a steeper twist angle than the 2-ply, which means we'd expect it to be even shorter than the folded paper result. We do see that in 2 of the 4 samples — again, I'd put this down to the spinner perhaps being less consistent overall. I did ply to make balanced yarns, and succeeded, as all were wet-finished and shown to be balanced yarns.

What to do with this information? Well, now I have a ballpark number: 3-ply from the same amount and thickness of single as a 2-ply will be about 70% the 2-ply's yardage. Should I collect more data? Sure. Will I? probably not.

Speaking of numbers, I once analyzed a table in Mabel Ross's book Yarn Design for Hand Spinners. This book is so important to me I bought two copies when I realized I'd sold mine in a destash. The table held data about the WPI in singles, 2-ply, and 3-ply yarns. Her numbers were data points presented in the table. I ran ratios and averages, and what that table told me was that I can ballpark finished yarn diameter vs. singles like so:

• A 2-ply is about 1.5 times the WPI of its single.
• A 3-ply is about 2 times the WPI of its single.

Mabel Ross was assuming the same single for both singles in the plying, but I would hazard to guess you could take the average WPI and use this calculation for a ballpark finished yarn diameter. As with most estimates about spinning, the fiber used, the amount of twist used, and the style of finishing of the yarn can all impact the WPI of the result and thus be above or below these ballpark numbers.

I'm curious to know what ballpark numbers you tend to use in your spinning; tell me in the comments, I'd love to hear from you!

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© January 1, 2026 by Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.com/

Why should I care about twist?

By Amelia © July 15, 2016

My nephew is visiting, and amidst my studio spring cleaning, I found a NIB Duncan butterfly yo-yo, so of course I offered it to him. He knew exactly what it was and proceeded to rip open the package and give it a spin.

Only to be sadly disappointed because it has been sitting on the shelf for too long. The string's twist had re-formed itself, and so when spun, the string will unwind, but then the yo-yo spins at the end of the string rather than rewinding back up.

A yo-yo string looks like a very tight 2-ply but is actually a folded cable — a 3-yard length of regular cotton string is taken, twist is added (a lot of twist!), and then it is folded on itself so that it cable-plies, with a fold at one end. That fold is really important, as it is then opened up a little and the yo-yo's middle pole is put there. That's right, your standard yo-yo is operating on a specially twisted piece of string. Each one has to be made for the yo-yo, since each one has to have that fold.

But any yarn left wrapped tightly on something long enough will lose its twist, and that's what's happened to this yo-yo string. The center portion no longer wants to be twisted on itself, so the yo-yo doesn't try to wrap itself up again once it reaches the end of its string on the unwind.

I plan to recuperate this yo-yo string the same way I wake up dormant twist in singles after plying: warm water. I want to see what it takes: warm water, or hot water, or even possibly steam.

Twist is always important to me in my spinning, and this little yo-yo string exhibits exactly what I caution new students about: dormant twist. When singles sit on your bobbin or spindle for even a weekend, the plying has to take that into account. You can use warm water to figure out what a balanced ply looks like, and then ply your yarn to match that sample. I talk about this further on several posts on this blog.

And, if that doesn't work, then I will make a new yo-yo string from a cone of non-mercerized 10/2 weaving cotton. After all, there's gotta be a spindle or wheel around here somewhere ...

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© July 15, 2016 by Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.com/

What's a Dealgan?

By Amelia © July 2, 2016

One of the things I really love about spindling is that there always seems to be more to learn. I came across yet-another-new-to-me spindle type recently, the Dealgan. So, what's a Dealgan? It's an 18th century Scottish spindle. A little piece of wood, really, about 5-6" long with a knob at the skinny end and a bulb at the far end, with a flat bottom and an X cut into that flat bottom.

My first contact was the information provided by Lois Swales of Missing Spindle, who posts about them on her blog, sells reproductions on etsy, and has several handy YouTube videos for exploring this historic spindle. She's been out for a while, though, so I looked to NiddyNoddyUK (also on etsy) for one.

Now, if you've looked into spindle shape at all ... Okay, if you haven't go and read Which Spindle Spins the Best? on this blog, I can wait. So, now you know that you want rim weighting and a skinny shaft - neither of which are evident on the Dalgean. It won't spin for a long time, and generally won't go that fast with a flick, so it's best suited to spinning in limited space (seated, perhaps) and medium thickness of yarn. I've been experimenting with lap spindle techniques and drop spindle techniques, and funnily enough I seem to get the most speed by twirling it from below with all my fingers, rather than trying to flick the shaft with my thumb and index finger. I plan to keep exploring, and look forward to trying out plying.

Why this shape and size, then? Portability, durability, utility. All are possible. It's one sturdy piece, so it can be dropped, tucked away, or even thrown with little chance of harm coming to it. It forces you to wind a sturdy ball similar to that wound on a nostepinne, and the conical shape means you can pop the ball off when you are done.

That reminds me of a very interesting question asked on an Ask The Belwether post on Facebook: why wind a plying ball if the yarn comes off your Turkish (and Dealgan!) spindle as a ball? Two reasons, really: one, you can deal with singles management separately from plying this way; two, you can use speed plying techniques such as the Andean hand-roll with a Turkish, Dalgean, or other bottom-whorl spindle, or a kick-ply with a top-whorl. Yes, I was tickled pink to find out that Scottish plying is also done from a two-strand ball.

The other spindle the Dealgan reminds me of is the little Victorian silk spindle Bette Hochberg drew in her book Handspindles, made popular by Hatchtown, Will Taylor, and my own Natalie spindle. Those are one-piece spindles with their mass at the top. It's funny the way spindle shapes keep showing up in different places. I always remember that the goal of these tools is the same: creating yarn for textiles.

The Dealgan is clearly a historical spindle. I find it an interesting spindle to explore, and am sure that it will enrich my spindle-life as I experiment with it and find what it can and can't do. And, at a pinch, I may even re-explore one of the early Spindlers' threads on spinning with Mexican cocoa frothers and honey dippers.

Next, though, I plan to spend some more time spinning on rocks. No, really. I've done it before but want to give it a more serious go this time, fill a rock or two and then ply. It's something I recommend to my classes: don't give up on a tool or technique until you've tried at least a spindle-full, plied, with it. And I didn't follow through with my rock spinning, even through I did enjoy it. Definitely worth revisiting.

What's the oddest spindle you've spun with? perhaps we will explore some of my odder spindles, in future posts. Until then, here's another one to consider: Can You Spin a Sheep?

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© July 2, 2016 by Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.com/

How do you get 4 oz. of fiber onto one spindle?

By Amelia © May 17, 2015

Hi! I've a new job that is generally keeping me quite busy, but I still get to think about and touch fiber every day in my studio, so no complaints, and the steady paycheck makes up for not having an 'all fiber, all the time' life any longer!

An interesting question came across "Ask The Bellwether"'s comment feed the other day: "What I need to know and I hope you can help me, is: if you are spinning 4 oz of fiber and plying on the fly with your spindle, how do you get all 4 oz of the fiber on the spindle?"

Here, dear readers, is the answer I have to this:

To get four ounces of fiber on a spindle, there are several considerations:

• First you want to be spinning a thickness of fiber that can support the 4-6 ounce weight of spindle-plus-fiber; so you aren't going to be spinning laceweight and doing this, as it just won't support the mass. I would aim for a single that is about sockweight for this, if you truly want your 4 ounce goal.
• Second, you need to have a spindle that can store that amount of fiber on it. How do you know? Well, if it's top whorl, you will want a fairly wide whorl, say 3" across if you can get it, at least 2" across; and a longish shaft. That's because you are going to be storing all that yarn on the shaft under the whorl, and the cop (the wound yarn on the spindle) has to be no wider across than the whorl, or you run into other issues. If it's a bottom whorl, the long shaft is still necessary, but the whorl size isn't as important. For a Turkish spindle, you need long spindle arms so they poke out from the ball (unlike this little Turkish whose arms end inside the yarn ball).
• Third, as you wind the cop onto the spindle, you need to keep it balanced. The spindle will get all wobbly and not fun to spin if the cop is not balanced, making you want to end the project right away.

If I were to work on this as a goal, I would start with a spindle that was about an ounce in weight, with a wide whorl or long arms, and a shaft length of at least 9-10 inches. In fact, I do have a ply-on-the-fly project going right now on just such a spindle, but I am going to split it into two 2-ounce balls, as the singles are fairly fine so that the 3-ply can be sock-to-DK weight yarn (about 14-16 wraps per inch).

I don't think that we have to get a whole braid of fiber onto a spindle to be successful; there are plenty of uses of fiber that tolerate breaks in the yarn. With knitting or crochet, Russian Joins or even other clever knitting joins are out there for making this feasible, and weaving and needlepoint are even more tolerant of breaks, expecting them in due course.

See related topics:

How much yarn can I spin on my spindle?
How can I combine two full spindles?
How can I get more yarn on my spindle?
When is the spindle full?
How much yarn can you wind onto a Turkish spindle?

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© May 17, 2015 by Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.com/