This is my first try, so it looks a little rough -- but certainly better than the layers underneath when I first started! It's definitely something I'll get better at with practice.
I wanted to give this a try. Previously when I saw it demonstrated, I was just too confused to figure it out. But it is essentially sort of hand-crocheting. You can ply a single strand of yarn into a 3-ply with this method.
With this method, you can chain ply an art bat and match the colors without creating a barber pole effect. And you work with what you have, so there's no running out of one bobbin.
Here is the single strand of yarn I started with. This was one of the bobbins that came with the Matchless Spinning Wheel. Because it wasn't mine (ie I wasn't attached to it), I felt I could use it to practice chain plying. It looks similar to the yarn from the art batt I spun up last week. Hopefully, I will get better at it so that my own yarn will look good enough to be used for a future project.
A few notes:
- Turn up the tension on your wheel, and use a larger whorl. You want the yarn to pull onto the bobbin.
- Spin counter-clockwise for plying.
- You may want to treadle a little slower than usual for plying.
- Start with a slip knot as the first loop.
- Think of chain plying as making giant hand crochet loops.
- Use right hand to make the loops.
- Left hand holds the top and will slide up and down, and push the plied yarn onto the bobbin.
- Watch the tension as you ply: All 3 strands should be under even tension as you ply.
For reference:
Classy Squid Fiber Co's excellent video on chain plying.
