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!

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

How do you make a good looking 2-ply yarn?

Kate from Massachusetts asked, "Could you please do a blog entry on how to ply a 2-ply yarn that comes out well? Mine never seem to look good." Thanks for asking, Kate.

There are alot of factors that affect how the yarn comes out. One thing to consider is your own opinion -- I always am harder on my yarn than on other peoples' handspun. It took someone (several someones) saying to me, 'actually yours is as good as hers' when I was trying to tell them my yarn wasn't as good as another local spinner whose yarn I always drool over. Talk about an ego boost! Well, once I finished patting myself on the back, I decided to be less hard on myself, and now I am enjoying my yarn alot more!

But if you want more practical, pointed advice, read on...

First things first -- what fiber are you spinning? If it's neppy, dirty, smelly, or generally poor quality, you won't get nice yarn from it. The better your preparation, the better your results. Generally it's easiest to learn with a nice wool roving; not a blend, not raw wool, and not even combed top -- combed tops tend to be slippery and also "sticky", so they draft uneasily if you aren't well practiced in drafting yet (sigh, and even if you are...)

Some blends are made to give textured results -- so if you are using such a blend, such as the Crosspatch batts shown here, then you should expect texture in your yarn, not a smooth result. That's why Joan puts on all her packages, "This blend spins into a textured yarn."

If your goal is a smooth yarn with a balanced ply, then make sure you are starting with a fiber or blend that will spin into one.

Next, you need to sample. Spin a little up on your spindle or wheel and do a ply-back test. To do this, relax the yarn so it can twist back on itself as shown in the picture. This natural ply-back shows you what your 2-ply will look like. In the picture, you can see it is very fluffy -- this is great for a single, but a bit loose for a 2-ply unless you want a really fluffy yarn.

Generally I like my 2-ply a bit tighter than this, because if it's this fluffy, the needles are likely to split the yarn all the time. And I want to enjoy knitting it as much as I enjoy spinning it!

So, the ply-back tells you several things: are you spinning your singles fine enough or thick enough for your final 2-ply yarn? Do you have enough twist in the singles for a nice 2-ply yarn? Keep modifying the amount you draft and the amount of twist you put in until you are happy with the result -- that's the sampling you need to do up front, to get a result you need.

The amount of twist for the 2-ply is a personal choice, based on your intended use of the fiber and the fiber itself. The ply-back test is a tool to help you judge if you have a yarn suited to its intended purpose.

Once you have a nice 2-ply ply-back test result, break off a length of it (yes, this is the sample you save!). I take a piece of cardboard and wrap it around, fluffing out the end so I can see how much was drafted, and keeping the other end 2-plied so I can see how much twist is in it.

Keep this card in your spindle tote or with your fiber/wheel, and put it nearby so you can see it while you spin.

To keep your singles a consistent thickness, keep in mind how much you need to draft, how you were spinning the yarn -- were you squeezing as you went, or not -- and do the ply-back test to check the amount of twist you have in it. I'll do that little ply back test for almost every length I spin -- at least once a yard. That way, if I've wandered into the land of too much twist, I can put a little less in the next yard and have it all even out in the wash. Or, if I've put in too little twist, I can put a little extra in the next yard.

So, you have all your singles spun -- now, it's time to ply! If you can let your bobbins or spindle rest, overnight or a couple of days, the singles will be alot easier to work with, because the twist will have begun to set in them. However this means you can't test for a balanced ply when you do ply -- because if the ply "seems" balanced, then you have actually under-plied your yarn. Oops.

So, pull out that sample card again and look at that nicely plied sample -- that is what you want your ply to look like. When you first start the plying, put in some twist, and compare it side-by-side with that sample. Are the two plies in your newly spun at the same angle as those on the card? yes? yay! no? try adding twist or taking twist out until they match. Keep doing this until you get a feel for how much twist you need to put in.

Now, if you have good light and eyesight then you can also look at the individual fibers -- a balanced ply will have the individual fibers running parallel along the length of the yarn. I can only do this balance test when I have a multi-fiber batt like the one shown above -- pink, black, and white I can distinguish; individual fibers of the same oreo brown, I cannot.

Once you are comfortable with the amount of twist, be sure to compare to the sample card again every so often so you don't wander too far away from your goal.

Whew! now you have a nice bobbin full of 2-ply yarn. But you aren't done yet. Washing the skein is just as important, especially if you made twist adjustments in the singles, and to balance out the amount of twist in the yarn along its length overall.

So, wash your skein in a sink of warm water with a little wool wash or dish soap (why?): fill the sink with water and soap, let the skein sink into it for 20 minutes, no agitation. Then squeeze out the skein, refill the sink with just water, and let it soak for 10-15 to rinse. Re-do the rinse bath if needed.

Once it is washed and the water is squeezed out, roll it up in a towel to squeeze out some more. Then take the towel-and-skein by one end and whack it on the counter top. Really loudly -- it makes everyone in the house come running! Do the same from the other end. This helps distribute the twist along the skein, very lightly fulls the yarn to make it have a nice finish, and helps halo-y yarns to halo (angora and mohair).

If that's not really your thing, then take the squeezed out skein and hang it around your wrists; then bring your hands together and quickly apart, to jerk the skein a bit. This also helps distribute twist around the skein.

Hang the skein without weights to dry -- if it is balanced, then at this point it should hang evenly without twisting on itself. If it isn't balanced, then see these notes on tips on after-the-spinning fixes.

Whew! you hung in there. Here are those skeins from the top, with a little commentary...

Brown skein is 2-ply llama, spun on a spindle, when I was still learning about plying. It's a little underplied, and the spinning in the singles is also a little uneven. But it's a lovely laceweight yarn and the other half of the skein knit into a lovely little shawl similar to this one.

Red skein is 2-ply Louet Gaywool multicolor merino/silk blend top, spun on a Louet S-45. It has a nice twist; this top was really nice to spin, it drafted out evenly (so take what I said about top above with a grain of salt). And this yarn turned out very well -- it got a blue ribbon :-) but there's only an ounce of it, so I have no specific plans for it.

Marled skein of white and greens is Cormo handspun ... but, I didn't spin it, LOL. It is nice and cushy, the spinner did a great job of spinning a lofty fiber, which is what Cormo wants to be. And, it's not the most even spinning but it works with this fiber and the marling. I also had some white Cormo handspun by the same lady, and that is now a cable hat (the "cable sampler" in Cable Needle Freedom).

The blue and greens skein is Corriedale two-ply, some of my most recent spinning, done on a Majacraft Suzie Alpaca wheel (I sold my Little Gem and Schacht to replace them with this wheel, which has nice features of both!). I used the sampling described here, though I admit I didn't write anything on its sample card as I spun it up one day and plied it the next.

There you have it -- everything I know about making a good looking 2-ply yarn. If you want to put your yarn in competitions, there are a few more after-the-spinning tips I can give you.

If you want another viewpoint on spinning a good-looking 2-ply, Abby has recently started a new thread on her blog on plying! Talk about serendipity.

Questions, comments? fire away -- comment here or email them in.

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.

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

Do I move to a higher or a lower ratio to ply?

(Author's note: sorry for the long delay since the last few posts ... show season has started, not to mention taxes weighing on my mind; I've a list of plying topics, so I hope to cover them a few a week moving forward...)

First, let's talk about twist: for a balanced two-ply yarn, you start with two singles each with the same amount of twist (generally Z, clockwise twist), and you ply them together with 2/3 the singles twist in the opposite direction (generally S, counter-clockwise twist). This takes 2/3 the twist out of each, so in the end, each single twists 1/3 Z (assuming Z singles), to the ply's 2/3 S twist -- a balanced yarn. The fibers will show you they are balanced by being parallel to the surface direction of the yarn, lining up like this ==== despite the S twist in the yarn plies. \=\=\=\= would be a typographical representation in this camera-shy article.

Now, how do you measure twist? When you are comparing singles to ply, it's handy to look at the twists per inch (TPI). You can determine the singles TPI by letting a freshly spun length self-ply back on itself and counting the number of complete twists (half the # of bumps) in an inch. This is the TPI of the 2-ply, which in a balanced 2-ply such as this, is 2/3 the TPI of the original, un-plied singles. So a TPI of 6 in the 2-ply test means the unplied singles are 9 TPI.

When you are walking up to some random yarn, however, it's handy to look at the twist angle -- the angle at which the ply puts the yarn strands. It takes about a 15 degree angle to make roving into yarn generally speaking; and 20 degrees is a nice soft knitting yarn. Most sock yarns are about 30-35 degree angle of twist, and weaving yarns can have an even higher twist angle. If you want to measure twist angle, here's a handy-dandy online angle-gauge you can print and laminate from the Memphis Spinning on the River Fiber Guild.

One interesting mind-bender is this: at the same twist angle, a finer yarn will have a higher twists-per-inch than a thicker yarn. A picture would make that crystal clear!

And while I'm on this twist tangent, let me point you to the Spring 2008 Spin-Off and Abby Franquemont's most excellent article on twist and plying.

But, back to plying on your wheel ... do you move to a higher or a lower ratio to ply?

There are two considerations here ... first, since you are generally putting in less twist when you ply than when you spin the singles, you might think, that you would move to a lower ratio. On the other hand, when you ply, you are dealing with two very well prepared singles -- you won't be drafting things out, measuring thickness, or generally fussing with the fiber any longer; so there is less work to be done.

Most folks who have been spinning for a while, then, ply at a higher ratio than they spin singles, and rocket through it fairly quickly. Moving to a higher ratio also helps you get enough twist into your ply -- spinners (I raise my own hand to admit this) tend to underestimate the amount of plying twist needed, and end up with underplied yarns.

Now, if you have a default speed of your feet generally, you may find staying at the same ratio gives you a nicely balanced yarn; or possibly even lowering your ratio. In truth, I hear you -- "she's waffling" you say -- but honestly, there are no hard-and-fast rules here. Try what works for Abby (she moves from rocket ship for her singles to light speed for her plying); ply your skein, wash it, and see if the skein is overplied or underplied. If it's overplied, then try staying at the same ratio when you ply; if it's waaay overplied, try stepping down a ratio on your wheel. If it's underplied, move up and treadle faster.

If your wheel has only one ratio, what can you do? Basically, you need to determine how much twist is needed to ply, and how much effort is required to get that twist in there -- draft out a length of your two singles and then treadle until the fibers within them line up parallel (for a balanced yarn). Get into a rhythm of drafting and treadling to get the yarn you want, and repeat that rhythm for each length you ply.

***

Earlier and related articles:
Why does my yarn drift apart when I'm plying?
How do I use the ratio on my spinning wheel?
How can I fix my 2-ply yarn?
How do you make a good-looking two-ply yarn?
See all askthebellwether articles that include "ply"...

***

Did this bring to mind more questions on plying? Let me know, I'll add them to the list. Next up ... How do I spin thicker plied yarns?

See the whole blog at http://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/ ... and stop by the shop for lovely fibers, at http://www.thebellwether.com/.

How do I spin thicker plied yarns?

There are at least three factors that affect the thickness of your plied yarn.

First, if you want a thicker plied yarn, you can increase the number of plies. The picture here shows exactly the same single (spun from CVM top) in, from bottom to top: a balanced 2-ply, balanced 3-ply, balanced 4-ply and balanced 5-ply.

If you look closely, you'll notice that the 3-ply seems almost as tight as the 2-ply. In part, that's because a balanced 3-ply from the same single as a 2-ply will end up with a steeper twist angle, i.e., it's more tightly ply-twisted, so it squeezes in the singles a bit more. If I were actually spinning for a 3-ply, then, I might use less twist, so my 3-ply twist angle would be similar to my 2-ply's twist angle, and thus get a thicker 3-ply yarn (see method 2).

In general, the more plies, the thicker your plied yarn. How do you ply more than 2 strands? For 3 strands, you can run each one between the fingers of your hand to control them (4 fingers = 3 gaps). For more, it's a bit more of a wrangling session, but you can run two strands through finger-gaps so you have 4 or 5 running up (or more!) and then use the other hand to keep them plying together.

But, really, who wants to keep adding plies? I would hazard to guess that you want a thicker plied yarn, and you don't want to take even longer to get to it than your default two- or three-plying.

So, let's move on to the second way to get a thicker yarn. This one is interesting to contemplate (and do! but more on that in a second). See the picture?

What I did here was put less twist in the thicker yarn. Both singles have exactly the same amount of fiber drafted into the yarn as twist enters. In both, but more closely monitored in the thicker one, I'm spinning without squeezing the yarn -- a "modified woolen" technique (since to be pure woolen, I'd need to be using roving and potentially actually doing real long draw ... u-huh. I wanted to make this do-able!)

So, I'm doing two things here to get the 2-ply thicker: spinning woolen-style, i.e., not squeezing the newly spun yarn just pinching to draft fiber from the combed top, then releasing to let twist up, and re-pinching to draft more out. And I'm putting in less twist.

How do you put in less twist? On a wheel ... treadle slower, or move to a larger flyer whorl (or both!). On a spindle ... twist your spindle at a thicker part of the shaft, or rotate it more slowly (if you thigh roll, try a finger-flick, which is usually slower).

Up to now, I've always drafted the same amount out ... my "default draft" if you like. However, the most obvious way to get a thicker plied yarn might be this third technique: draft more fiber into your yarn.

The picture shows the balanced-two plies resulting from having thicker singles. At the bottom is the default size from before, and moving up each one, I've drafted out more roving (thicker drafting triangle) for the twist to move into so that the singles are thicker.

How do you draft out more fiber? I've noticed that many, many spinners have a default amount of fiber they draft. When I teach people to spin thicker yarns, I start by handing them pencil roving and have them spin without drafting at all. Almost everyone stumbles at this ... they automatically fall into drafting by default! But with focus and practice, they can control their hands and stop the drafting.

This is an extreme, however -- once you can spin without drafting, then you can attempt to spin while drafting less -- leaving more fiber in your drafting triangle to become yarn.

With a wheel, you can also change its settings to help your automatic drafting contain more yarn in the drafting triangle: increase draw-in by increasing the tension on the drive band, and for scotch-tension or irish-tension wheels, increase the tension on the brake band as well. This will make the fiber move out of your hand more quickly, giving you less time to draft.

Moving to a larger whorl also helps you draft out more fiber in a larger drafting triangle, since to make yarn at a slower speed, you need a wider diameter yarn.

On a spindle, use a heavier spindle and spin it more slowly to encourage a larger drafting triangle.

Whew! Got all that?

I'd love to hear if you try any of these, and how they work for you. We so often think about spinning thicker singles, but seldom consider how to spin thicker plied yarns. If there's something you do to spin thicker plied yarns, I'd love to hear so I can try it too!

Thanks, and happy spinning!

Why does my yarn still twist after plying?

By Amelia © July 28, 2013

Your yarn can still twist after plying for several reasons:

The latest tapestry yarn skeins (balanced 2-ply)

1. Underplying

2. Overplying

3. Dormant twist in the singles

4. Plying in the same direction as the singles

5. Plying singles spun in different directions

6. Plying singles with different amounts of twist in them

Let's start with #3: dormant twist in the singles. If you spin two bobbins or spindles of singles and then ply them, well, let's face it, this takes time. Twist in the single starts to go dormant (think of it like falling asleep) as soon as the single is stretched tightly over the surface of the bobbin or spindle. Some fibers (silk, a smooth-surfaced fiber) go dormant more quickly than others (Merino, a high-crimp wool). 

In order to get a balanced ply with these, you need to save a sample of the single, when freshly spun, folded back on itself. This shows the amount of ply twist needed to balance the twist in your single. But, when you ply those singles, the skein is likely to act overplied ... to twist in the opposite direction from the ply twist. This is because the singles' twist went dormant. Luckily, you can re-activate them: a warm soak will awaken the sleeping twist. Once reactivated, as long as you matched that saved sample, you should find out that you have a balanced skein. Voila!

I started there because in order to get an accurate view of how to balance a plied yarn, you really need to have a sample length of the two singles plied with active (non-dormant) twist. If you have consistent twist in each single, then matching that sample as you ply will result in an active skein when the singles  are plied.

So, how about #1, underplying? If your skein is acting underplied (twisting in the same direction it was plied in), then more than likely, it is underplied. The main question is, by how much? Take a short length to soak in warm water and see what the resulting amount of twist is. Wind your skein into a ball or put it on your umbrella skeiner (my preference), and add more plying twist with your spindle or wheel. Match that reactivated sample, and you should find that after a warm gentle finish, your skein is now balanced.

The main cause of #2, overplying, is dormant singles. If your skein twirls in the direction the singles were spun, then it is saying it needs less ply twist. However, if you have not yet washed the skein, and it took more than 5 minutes to spin the singles with plying directly after, you might just wash the skein and see if that was all it needed.

If you have sharp eyes, take a look at the individual fibers in the singles. If they line up along the length of the yarn, then the ply is balanced and a warm soak should wake up the dormant twist in the singles.

If the skein exhibits only 1-2 completes twists, then the yarn will still knit into an unbiased fabric-there’s not enough imbalance to skew the knitting.

If the skein still twists in the single direction after the warm soak, then it is, in fact, overplied. After the skein is dry, take a short length to soak in warm water and see what the resulting amount of twist is. Wind your skein into a ball or put it on your umbrella skeiner (my preference), and remove some plying twist with your spindle or wheel. Match that reactivated sample, and you should find that after a warm gentle finish, your skein is now balanced.

#4. Plying in the same direction as the singles: this is a valid step in constructing complex yarns like Hawsers. If you do this, the skein acts like a scrunchie, shrinking up into half its skeined length. It is so bouncy that it almost can't twist on itself to tell you the cause ... If it could, it would twist in the opposite direction to the ply direction. Leave the yarn on the bobbin and continue constructing your yarn...the goal of most complex yarns is a balanced result, sometimes reached through indirect means like this one.

If this was not your goal, then put your skein on your umbrella skeiner, and ply it in the opposite direction the singles were spun on. this is going to take a fair bit of twisting, as you need to remove all that original "ply" twist and then put in the right amount in the right direction. Be patient, and if your wheel has one, try a higher ration (smaller flyer whorl). 

#5. Plying singles spun in different directions: some yarn constructions use singles spun in different directions: spin one single clockwise (Z), and the other single counterclockwise (S), then ply counterclockwise (S). This is usually an intermediate step in constructing complex yarns such as Energized Cables. The skein acts very odd - the two singles almost seem to repel each other like mis-matched magnets, and twist does everything it can to run out the ends of the skein. The skein typically is stretchy, but doesn't twist strongly clockwise or counterclockwise. Leave the yarn on the bobbin and continue constructing your yarn...the goal of most complex yarns is a balanced result, sometimes reached through indirect means like this one.

If this wasn't your goal, you are a little stuck: one of the most annoying things I have done is separate singles in a plied yarn. You might look up "energized cable" in Sarah Anderson's fabulous book: The Spinner's Book of Yarn Designs, and experiment with that. Or, you might rough-finish the skein, fulling it to lock the two singles in place so the yarn acts balanced even though it is not.

#6. Plying singles with different amounts of twist in them: beginners, and even long-time spinners, struggle to get consistent twist in their singles. Part of this is due to inconsistent diameter in the singles. Twist migrates to the thin spots along a length of a single, so getting consistent twist requires getting consistent yarn thickness as well. Part of this is the nature of life: distractions abound, and we are not machines. I let spinning take me to my happy place, so I can use the rhythm of my heartbeat to guide my hands and feet. Getting consistent diameter in my single has been the biggest improvement to the consistency of my plied yarns. That has taken consistent practice. If you can make spinning a daily thing, even a quarter-hour each day, and your focus is on consistent diameter, your consistency will improve. 

Skeins plied with inconsistent singles have little twirly spots where the yarn twists back on itself in an underplied or overplied spot. There may be clearly overplied and clearly underplied lengths in the skein as well. The skeins don't generally twist one direction or the other.

One time when this can happen the easiest is when we are purposefully plying a thick single against a thin one, or plying purposefully thick-and-thin singles. Remember the warm water test? If you can ate a representative length of each single, knot the, together at each end, and put them in a owl of warm water for a few minutes, they will tell you what the appropriate amount of plying twist is along their length. When thick-meets-thin, thin-meets-thin, and thick-meets-thick, each will need its appropriate amount of twist. Match this sample and a balanced skein will result. This is especially useful when one of your "singles" is thread, as it is your handspun single that requires balancing against the thread.

Sometimes, underplying, overplying, or plying mismatched singles is the point of your spinning: if so, be bold, and spin away! There are reasons for each of these to be done. We mainly shoot for balanced yarn as a goal when it suits the purpose of the yarn.

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.

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

How do I make sure my singles aren't underspun?

One help for underspun singles ... before you let it wind onto the bobbin (or wind it onto the spindle), hold the length of new yarn loosely so it can ply back on itself. This shows you what the balanced 2-ply would look like. If you are shooting for a 2-ply, then use the "ply back" test to ensure your singles have the twist you want for a nice 2-ply in the "ply back" test.

If you are shooting for a 3-ply, the singles need a little less twist -- a 3-ply at the same twists-per-inch as a 2-ply takes less twist out of each single (since it's taking it out of 3 singles, and the 2-ply's taking it out of 2 singles). So you can go for a "looser" looking result in the "ply back" test and still get a nicely spun/plied 3-ply.

Now me, I always forget that the 3-ply needs less twist in the singles, so my 3-plies usually have a fairly high twist (since the singles do, too). Someday I'll remember to put less twist in my singles-for-3-ply.

But you may find they all balance out in the wash. The water bath lets the twist in the singles and in the ply revert to stable (or try to), which often makes what appears to be an over-plied skein be a balanced skein -- and what appears to be a balanced skein to be underplied.

Luckily both over and underplying are relatively quick to fix -- just run it through the wheel again, either taking out plying twist or adding more, as needed.

(posted by me this day on livejournal\spinningfiber)

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?

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

How much twist do I need when I ply?

How much twist you need in plying depends on how much twist you put in the singles ... and you can pick what you want your plied yarn to look like by how much twist you put in your singles.

Basically, singles with less twist needs less plying twist, and singles with more twist needs more plying twist. Mostly I aim for a balanced yarn, where the plying twist "balances" with the singles twist so the finished, washed skein doesn't twist on itself but hangs relaxed and open. The drawing shows two skeins, one under-plied and the other over-plied.

Before you let the singles wind onto the bobbin, hold the length of new yarn loosely so it can ply back on itself. This shows you what the balanced 2-ply would look like. If you are shooting for a 2-ply, then use the "ply back" test to ensure your singles have the twist you want for a nice 2-ply in the "ply back" test.

If you are shooting for a 3-ply, the singles need a little less twist -- a 3-ply at the same twists-per-inch as a 2-ply takes less twist out of each single (since it's taking it out of 3 singles, and the 2-ply's taking it out of 2 singles). So you can go for a "looser" looking result in the 2-ply "ply back" test and still get a nicely spun/plied 3-ply.

Of course, you should save a sample of the "ply back" test at some point in spinning the singles, to compare to as you spin the singles and also to compare to as you ply.

As you are plying, find a rhythm (number of treadles) that gives you the ply-twist you want and go with it; the "right count" will depend on your wheel's ratio of wheel to bobbin, the twist in the singles, and how much twist you're going to put in the ply.

(posted by me this day on Spin-List)

When do you set the twist?

By Amelia © November 6, 2009

"When do you set the twist?" comes up in almost every conversation I have with a new spinner. They're curious to know if they need to set the twist in the singles before plying, how to finish their skein once it's plied, or they want their skein of singles to relax and stop being so curly and twisty.

First, let me jump in with: you don't need to set the twist in your singles, or skein them up and wash them before plying. Just take them as they are, and ply them.

What we do as spinners, is not set the twist so much as either strive for balanced twist so the skein won't be curly and twist -- only possible with plied yarns -- or make the twist go dormant, so an over-plied or under-plied skein, or a skein of singles, seems relaxed and calm. (Secretly, however, it's not -- the twist is sleeping, waiting for a tap on the shoulder to wake it up.)

In fact, the moment you start winding yarn onto your spindle or wheel, you are stretching it out taut as you wind it on (right? right!). Winding the yarn under pressure like that will help the twist go dormant. Even after five minutes, the twist has started to get sleepy. After a weekend, it's snoozing; after a month, a moderate twist single is fairly comatose.

So, when you ply those dozy singles, you need a "live" sample to compare to, if your goal is balanced twist. Balanced twist is cool -- like an arch, the twist in the singles leans against the twist in the ply, each balancing the other out so your yarn appears calm and relaxed, behaves calm and relax, despite having all that twist stored in it. That is what makes yarn stronger than fiber -- the twist, holding the strands together, making the whole appear stronger than the sum of its parts (because we discount the 'invisible' force of the twist).

I usually ply a short length as I am first spinning my singles and save that sample to compare to when I ply. If I've forgotten, then I'll break off a length of singles, say 8", fold it in half, knot the ends together, and put it in a sink of warm water. It will writhe and twist on itself (very cool to see!). Once it's done with its water dance, I take it out, run my fingers along it so the twist is evenly distributed, and dry it in a towel. That sample shows how the singles can balance each other in the ply. If I match that when I'm plying, then I will have a balanced yarn.

Another way to test for balance, while plying, is to look at the fibers in the yarn. A balanced yarn has the fibers aligned along the length of the yarn. It takes strong eyes and good light -- and the right fibers -- to see the individual strands in the yarn.

Once you have plied your yarn, putting the skein in a warm bath will wake up any dormant twist and let you see if the skein is balanced or not. If the skein twists on itself more than 2 complete rotations, then it's underplied if it's twisting in the ply direction; or it's overplied, if it's twisting in the direction the singles were spun. If the skein is overplied or underplied, you can alter the amount of twist with another trip through on your spindle or wheel, adding whichever type of twist it needs (more ply twist or less ply twist).

All this warm bath is doing is waking up dormant twist. If you want to permanently alter the characteristics of your yarn, you have to look at methods that change it in irreversible, or hard to reverse, ways.

The primary method available to the handspinner is fulling -- have a sink of hot water and a sink of cold water, and a skein with plenty of figure eight ties on it. Agitate the skein in the hot sink for a few minutes; squeeze it out. Agitate the skein in the cold sink for a few minutes; squeeze it out. Keep going between sinks a few times -- you may see or feel the skein shrinking down as you do this. You are actually felting the yarn. Be careful, because extremely feltable fibers could become a yarn donut rather than a fulled skein -- test for strand separatability as you do this. You'll want to reskein the skein when you are done, carefully tugging apart any strands that have adhered (lightly, I hope!) to their neighbors.

Oh, and -- fulling only works with feltable fibers; superwash wool and cotton won't full, or not much anyway. I have managed to somewhat full superwash skeins such as the one at the top of the page -- an overplied sock yarn (socks below show no bias) Some wools are more feltable than others, as well. So if you plan to do this, try to felt some of the unspun fiber before committing yourself to the full project.

A milder fulling is to take your freshly washed (not agitated) skein, wrap it in a towel, and whack it really hard on a countertop or other hard surface. Do this a few times from both ends of the skein. This shocks the surface fibers and makes them grab onto the strands more. It helps develop a halo in fibers that do that -- yak, angora, mohair, for example.

Now, I won't do either of these more "shocking" things -- fulling or whacking -- until I've verified that my skein is either balanced, or has the amount of twist I want. I do overply my yarn on purpose -- it's a great way to add durability to sock yarns -- and then full the yarn so that it will knit into a straight fabric. I will shock my singles to get them to quiet down just a touch.

I typically only dry my skeins with weights if I intend to weave with them. That is because I need them to be inelastic to behave well as warp on my loom. But, I don't want to lose their elasticity with a permanent change -- the fabric, once removed from the loom, will be fulled, and in the process the yarn will wake up and regain its elasticity (which is then transformed in the fulling process).

If you wet-block a skein -- dry it with weights or while stretched out -- any active twist in the skein is still in it, dormant, similar to the old singles or yarn still on a spindle or bobbin. If you knit with the wet-blocked yarn and then wash the knit fabric, any twist dormant in the yarn will wake up and can cause the fabric or stitches to bias.

How can you know if your fabric will bias? My usual test is to hold up my just-washed-and-squeezed-out skein. If the skein twists on itself more than two complete rotations, then the fabric is likely to bias. If it's less than two full rotations, I might see some biasing in the stitches -- one leg upright, the other at an angle, on the knit-face of the fabric -- but I won't see any in the fabric. There are knitting methods you can use to overcome bias, as well -- garter stitch and seed stitch are less likely to bias. My crochet friend tells me she doesn't see any biasing in her crocheted fabric, often made with her own handspun, moderately high twist singles.

Other finishing techniques include steaming a stretched-out skein, simmering a skein (often done with cotton), and, I suppose, ironing a skein -- though I haven't tried that one. Commercial mills have much higher temperatures and more specialized equipment than the home spinner, I am curious to know how they create the calm singles that are Malabrigo laceweight, for example -- if you try a warm-water folded-back length of that yarn, it barely twists on itself at all. But the fibers are not aligned. I've tried fulling, and kettle steaming, but so far have not managed to produce a similar skein of yarn despite copying fiber and twist amount. The trick is in the finishing -- so there's yet another way to finish a yarn that I have not yet uncovered.

~~

The Bellwether is having holiday sale -- 15% off select items through the end of 2009. Shop early for the best selection, and thanks! for supporting Ask The Bellwether!

~~

Related posts on finishing yarn:
How do you set the twist in handspun cotton?
What makes my handspun yarn bloom?
How do you steam block handspun yarn?
What do I do with my very first full spindle?
Do you set the twist in handspun singles before you ply?
How do I ply set singles?
Is my yarn's twist set when I ply it?
Why do you wash the finished skein in warm or hot water?
How do you set the twist in singles yarn?

~~

© 6 November 2009 by Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/

Do you set the twist in handspun singles before you ply?

Amanda sent me in the question, "Do you set the twist in singles, then ply them together? Do you set in every single, ply, then set the ply's twist? Or do you spin your yarn, ply it and the set the whole thing at once?"

When plying, you set the twist after you've plied. There's no need to set the twist in the singles.

That said, the twist begins to set the moment the newly spun yarn is wound onto your spindle or taken up onto the bobbin of your spinning wheel. Even 5 minutes rest will begin to set the twist. So if your aim is a balanced yarn, I'd recommend saving a newly spun length of yarn, folded back on itself for the ply you want -- 2, 3, 4, or whatever ply. Mostly I do 2 ply or 3 ply myself.

That freshly spun, self-plied length is a great sample to refer back to when you're plying, to make sure you put enough twist in when plying. That way, when you wash the plied skein to set the twist, the warm water will relax the fibers and you'll find you have a balanced skein when you're done.

Now, if you've already washed your singles and decide to ply later, I wrote about that in my blog, you can read about handling that in the entry, How do I ply set singles?

And I have another entry on making a good looking two-ply yarn.

The yarns in the photo are from the local guild fiber exchange -- we all exchanged 2 oz of white fiber (romney cross singles, corriedale top 2-ply, medium wool singles, merino top 3-ply, merino/tencel roving 3-ply) to overdye, spin, and make something. Well, I make yarn ;-) so far, anyway. There are plans -- the two medium wools are singles, to be crocheted into a little tote; the corriedale top will be a Knitty headscarf, the merino will be socks with white lace cuffs on them, and the merino/tencel will be a sock machine pillow top. Yes, really! the Victorian SCM manual that's available on sockknittingmachinefriends has a great knitting pattern for a "bath matt" but I'm thinking it's more the size, I expect, for a small pillow top.

Oh yes -- in the realm of curious personal trivia, my name was Amanda for a day -- then my mother heard the nurses in the hallway say "Amelia", and decided to name me that instead. I have wondered how different it would have been, to have been named Amanda. And if you click on the picture to see the skeins more closely, that's me and my sister in the PJ's in the photo in the corner as little 'uns. Easier to explain than to edit the picture down to just the skeins, LOL.

Thanks for asking, Amanda! if you or any of the other readers want more info on any of this, feel free to comment or email me.

Can I ply 2 two-plies together?

Aha! tutu yarn. LOL. Actually, plying 2 two-plies together is a recognized technique, called "cabled" yarn. You ply the two 2-plies in the reverse direction than the 2-plies have, so you'd go clockwise again for standard yarn (see the post Why Z and S for why this is clockwise...)

That said, if your 2-plies were balanced plies and you are re-plying to make something new, you'd want to add some twist to the plied yarns first, so they have enough twist to be balanced in the cabled yarn.

And that said, something to consider is the amount of twist in the original singles -- if you are adding more twist to the plies, that may be over-untwisting the underlying singles. Usually for a cabled yarn, the singles are given a little bit of extra twist so they end up straight in the resulting cabled yarn. So, sample a little and see how it looks.

I've done this myself -- with some cotton -- the 2-ply was too thin and underspun in spots, so I added alot of twist to it and then cabled it. There wasn't any way to add more twist to the singles, and it worked out just great -- yay! so perhaps they really don't need more -- does anyone have a rule-of-thumb for the singles of cabled yarns? more twist than for singles in a 2-ply, less, or the same?

Given I'd already set the twist in the 2-ply, after I added the extra twist, I used the warm-bath method on a folded-back 6 inch sample to see how much twist the cabled yarn would need -- put a 6" folded back sample in a warm sink and it will twist up on itself to show you the balanced ply-twist needed; this works great for old singles too. I used that sample as my eyeball-test as I cable-plied the rest of the yarn. And, it looks great as a cabled yarn!

My other cabled yarn was a Romney; this was used as the cuff in a felted clog ... Note that cabled yarns tend to be fairly high-twist, and so don't felt as much as a 2 ply of the same thickness -- the edge of my clogs didn't felt as much, but it all worked out okay -- it turned into a sort of ruffle. Where are they now? My Dad took them home with him last time he visited ... sometimes it's not so great that we have the same shoe size!

(based on a post by me on spindlers, 3/2/2007)

How do I ply set singles?

You can figure out how much twist singles yarn need if you decide to 2-ply them later, even if you've already set the twist in them.

Two ways:

First, with a short piece and a sink of warm water:

Take an 8" length your single that has had the twist set in it, fold it on itself and knot it together at the open end, and put it in a sink of warm water. "Milk" the folded yarn strand along its length so that as the yarn gyrates, it twists around itself along its length (plying in the warm water, basically). The warm water re-activates the twist in the yarn, twisting it along its length to show you how much plying twist this yarn wants to have a balanced 2-ply. Save this sample and compare your plying to it as you spin for a balanced ply.

Second, "just by looking" ... as you ply, look very closely at the singles. The plies are balanced when the fibers all run parallel to the length of the yarn. It takes _really_good_light_, really good eyes, or a magnifying glass to check this closely. If the yarn has some variegation, that can help, as you are looking for the curly twists of color to straighten out along the length once it is plied.

Note that your plied yarn will appear to be way over plied -- don't let that worry you! Just wash and set the twist as you did with the singles, and it should all come out balanced as long as you've matched up to your samples or watched the straightening of the singles' fiber as you went.

(from a post by me on spinningfiber/livejournal)

How did you spin that yarn?

This yarn was spun on a whim, planned as it went along, and inspired by my stash. And, since today is my birthday, my treat to myself is to share its story with you!

For those who flip to the back of the book, here you go:
330 yards
4 ounces
2-ply
14 wraps per inch
6 twists per inch
balanced ply

Here's how it came about. When The Bellwether started carrying fiber from Crosspatch Creations and Three Bags Full, they would send me little samples of new colors so I could place my order. Tiny little dabs, they just filled a 1 x 1 ziploc (not stuffed full, either -- did I say these were tiny little dabs?). Being a collecting sort of gal (have you seen my spindle collection?) I kept them, of course.

Eventually, the lovely Montana ladies stopped sending samples, as I'd gotten a healthy feel for their fibers and didn't need them any longer to place my orders. So I knew that was it, the collection was complete.

Along came an NwRSA board meeting and spin-in, in Olympia. I took a car of items -- a few tubs of spindles, some Totally Tubular Spinning Kits, my Journey Wheel, and the collection of dabs to spin.

I'd dip into the sack of dabs (still in their baggies, so they were like little minnows in the sack!), pull one out, and spin it. Come to the end, take a new one in the same blind-choice manner, join it on, and spin that onto the bobbin. Again, and again. It was a great day -- I got through almost the whole bag!

While I was spinning it, I considered my options -- ply it on itself, or ply it against a neutral? I knew from past experience that I could ply it against a white and get a pastel look. I'd heard (at that point, I hadn't tried it yet) that I could ply it against a black to get a jeweled look. But I was thinking I'd like to try something more middling, a nice brown perhaps. The fiber in Joan and Diana's flocks is alot of California Variegated Mutant (CVM) and Romeldales (they are active in the breed association), along with Romney crosses and Merino crosses -- so overall, a nice hand to the yarn that deserved plying with a nice naturally colored fiber from my stash.

Once I was back home again, I finished off the bag and then I weighed the bobbin and a sister empty bobbin. It was almost full, and it turned out to be about 2 ounces of fiber. Into my stash I dived, and came up with a nice, soft brown CVM roving from the Estes Wool Show.

It brought back great memories of the trip ... I flew to Colorado on "credit card miles" to visit my parents, and as my mother is a knitter it didn't take much convincing before we were on the road to Estes Park. She treated me to a lovely hotel room there, and we had a blast shopping and browsing the sheep, goats, and llamas there. That was where I bought my Little Gem wheel (now with a new forever home, happily treadling I bet -- sweet little travel wheel that it is), from Woolly Designs. It was a treat to meet Tracy Eichem, the owner, as he makes lovely spindles. At the time, he was not turning them, but I'm happy to say he's at it again!

I spun up the brown CVM and plied that together with my colorful mixed bobbin, into a lovely balanced yarn. My daughter saw it and said - wow, make me something! So it was a skein destined to be a scarf. I knew, as usual, she'd move on to other skeins and colors -- mom (me) is a slow knitter, so her appetite is usually fueled by far more yarn than I can knit with. So this skein is now a lovely future-scarf, or future-hat for its future knitter. It's a bouncy DK weight (14 WPI) 2-ply in fine wools, silk, viscose, tencel, and silk noil -- great for most as next to the skin wear.

A search on Ravelry found 1,314 patterns for 200-325 yards of DK weight yarn including these two lovely patterns -- Odessa, a cute spiral hat from MagKnits (available now on Ravelry) and Argosy, a lovely easy lace-look scarf from Knitty. Those or any of the 1,312 others would look terrific in this yarn. Its multi-color nature is muted by the soft brown, which gives it a great earthy look, sure to match whatever you're wearing.

The footnote to the story is I found one unspun little sample baggy after finishing the skein -- in it went to another collection of ends-of-runs, destined for a future skein. I think it has even now been spun up, if not needlefelted into one of my daughter's pieces of needle-felted art!

Care instructions: handwash cool, dry flat. This yarn may felt if machine washed. Recommended knitting needle size: US 4/3.5mm for solid stockinette; US 2-3 for very tight ribbing; US 9-10 for lace (or larger).

If you've fallen in love with "Natalie's Scarf", the skein may yet be available for purchase on the Etsy shop my daughter and I have set up, By Our Hands, or on The Bellwether. I'd love to see what you turn it into!