More Plyed Yarn ~

Here are the plyed yarns from this week. On your left is the Lorna's Laces superwash rainbow, and on your right is the lovely Party Time Pot Luck roving. They are both lovely and bright and cheery.  You may be able to tell from the photo that both are Navajo plyed, and yet the Party Time has come out to a finer/smaller size as my singles are thinner with more practice.

There is only 58 yards of Lorna's Laces, with no fiber left, and about 60 yards of the Party Time, and I do have some fiber left, plus another bobbin to ply....

 I have about 30 yards of this Lorna's Laces in a two ply from my drop spindle days, but not sure I could use the two ply with the Navajo ply.... might look a bit odd and lopsided unless I was very very clever!!

Party Time Ply ~

I finally was able to do some plying today. After spinning for a half hour, I decided to ply some of the lovely Party Time Pot Luck roving to see if the colors would stay bright and cheerful, or if they would blend into muddy mud... and I think they stayed bright and cheery!  

 

I thought about making a two ply, but since I've been having such fun with Navajo plying, I decided to try to get that delightful "jitterbug twist" in the ply once again. 

 I love that part of the Navajo ply the best, that really tight twist that we love in Jitterbug yarn and Koigu yarns..... love that twist!! I love these colors!!!

Navajo Super Rainbow~

The super wash rainbow fiber has been such fun to spin. I love all the bright colors and it is very soft to work with. Then the Navajo plying went well too, and the blending of the colors is just as fun as working with the singles. I still need to wash and measure the finished yarn, and I love how the plying turned out! I did this plying "in between" my spinning the singles on the Party Time roving, just to mix around the spinning fun! I love all these great colors!

Spinning success ~

Hurrah for spinning class this Sunday! I brought many bobbins of singles so I could practice practice and more practice on Navajo plying. Sam, my amazing teacher, was as amazing as always and I was Navajo plying like a champ as soon as I could watch what her fingers were doing. Although I had practiced quite a bit since my last lesson, I felt like my hands were awkward and not how I learned...As soon as I watched Sam, I remembered that it is a smooth movement of hands and fingers. I plyed a bobbin of Ms Gusset at class, and then plyed two more bobbins when I came home. Another wonderful class!

Spinning polwarth ~

As the thawing of the snow and ice continue, I am able to spin one more of my 1 ounce samples of polwarth. This is my last one, and once it "rests" I will practice Navajo plying once again. I hope that this plying technique will become easier and fluid, as for now I stop-and-start as I used to for drop spindling. I am enjoying the practice, and am looking forward to what to spin next, so I can practice Navajo plying again, and again, and again!

Navajo merino/tencel ~

Practicing my Navajo plying again, this time with the lovely purples of my merino and tencel blend. I love how soft this feels, and the plying looks fair. I still do not completely understand the finer points of how to Navajo ply, as looking in my Visually Spinning book as a less than satisfying description and two pictures where I cannot see what the spinner's hands are doing. There must be many spinners that believe this is easy-peasy and feel they don't need to spend time with the details for beginners. So I am muddling along, and having a delightful time, as the twist is lovely and snug, and I am reminded of my dearest jitterbug twist, and perhaps someday when I am a great spinner, I can ply a jitterbug twist....ahhhh, my fondest spinning dream!

Navajo polwarth ~

As my spinning homework for this month, I needed to spin more singles so that I could practice my Navajo plying that Sam taught me this week. I spun one of my little 1 ounce samples of polwarth (beautiful fiber) so I could try to remember all the bits and pieces that Sam taught me.So far, so good, as it seemed to be working through the chain and keeping the chain going with the "live" loop and "live" single moving through it. Still have lots more practicing to do, as I still stop and then pedal the wheel, then pull more single through the loop and then stop...and then pedal the wheel. Almost like spindle spinning again! I am very happy I was able to practice so soon after the class, as I hope some of the good teaching will stick in my brain and finger/hand memory. I have another one ounce sample of the polwarth to practice with...Hurrah!

Navajo plying ~

OMG. I have to start with that, as I had a most awesome spinning class on Sunday. I had looked at some of the Navajo plying tutorials on YouTube and couldn't make heads or tails what the ladies were doing with their hands or their fingers.. I needed a close up webcam of their fingers so I could see what they were doing with the single ply with each step... Thank heavens I have the best EVER spinning teacher, as she was ever-so patient with me, showing me and re-showing me how each hand works, and then pedaling the spinning wheel, and then the loops of the single and then holding the chain and pulling the "live" strand from my single as I put it into the loop that I'm keeping open... I asked her if she would do a YouTube with close-ups of her hands, as it made so much sense once I could see what she was doing. I still can't do it very well, as I could really use a few more fingers and hands and brain cells to get every piece and part to work together. Although some of my yarn looked like a horrible beginner, I LOVE IT as the twist in some places looks like my beloved Jitterbug and Koigu. My homework is to practice more more more! Hurrah!