Plying

 

I finally had some time to sit down and do some plying.  It's been years since I plied anything and it took a little bit for me to remember hand positioning and such.  I did find my rhythm though and soon I was plying away.

I decided to start with the smaller, more recently spun singles from getting to know my new Flatiron.  This started out as a four ounce braid of Malabrigo Nube (100% Merino wool) in Aguas.  I spun the singles using Scotch Tension on my Flatiron as I got everything adjusted and figured out.  The singles were spun using short forward draw, to 50 wpi.  I let the singles rest for a week so the twist could set a bit before plying.  (And also, things were super busy around here.)

I also plied this on my Flatiron, but I used Irish Tension for that.  The Flatiron is my only wheel that can do Irish Tension (AKA bobbin led) so this was a new experience for me.  I knew Irish Tension was good for plying because of the strong draw on (it would allow me to really pack the bobbin, where in Scotch Tension usually plying bobbins are a little softer).  As you can see in the picture above, I was not disappointed.  That's all the plying on a single Akerworks bobbin with plenty of room for more!

I skeined it off the bobbin, counting my wraps on the niddy noddy as I went, and when I pulled the skein off the niddy noddy and it was no longer under tension, it did it's own thing.  That's all plying twist you see there.  Once I washed the skein, that reactivated the singles twist, balancing the yarn beautifully.

When all was washed and finished, I ended up with 471 yards/106 grams of finished three ply merino wool.  I'm thrilled with it!