You can do many wonderful things with a spindle-spun single. Singles make some of the most beautiful yarns, and they tend to be the most eye-catching for me in the yarn shop (my favorite yarn shop is Grandma's Spinning Wheel here in Tucson, Arizona). But, when I first started spindle-spinning, my singles tended to run thick and thin (less intentionally), which can make a single a bit of a gamble when it comes to projects...
So what did I do? I plied. Plying does a few things for my yarns; it adds strength, it evens out the thick and thin spots a bit, and lends itself to my creative process, maximizing my ability to play with the colors, textures, and weights of my yarns.
Most of my yarns are 2-ply, but I've played around with Navajo/chain-plying and cabling quite a bit. Today, I chose to cable-ply the variegated pink and green rovings. First I plied the two singles together, and then I plied the resulting 2-ply yarn again.
If plying is a new concept to you, here's a brief run-down. I spin a single in one direction, then ply two or more singles that are spun in the same direction together in the opposite direction. For cabling, I then spin the resulting yarn again in the original direction.
I'm pleased with the cabled yarn result! What do you think?
I think you are amazingly talented! I can't wait to learn plying. My arm is sore from all the spinning I did in the last two days. :)
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