Navajo Plying

When I first started spinning I had started with the idea of producing sock yarn. I've gotten fairly good at keeping my singles consistent, although some rough spots on the plying have always hung me up.

I believe I over twist on both the singles and on plying. I'm working on it, but it's hard to pull back because I feel I might pull back to far and I don't care for the look of under-plied yarn.

Then I found this gorgeous roving that brought back my Spinning Mojo.



Do you remember the Redwood Forest BFL I picked up a while back. Well, I turned it into this:



It is a dream to spin with. The only issue that was pressuring me was the plying. I wanted the colors to come out right... kinda the way you see it now. Then I checked my single bobbin and plied a small strip onto its self. It's a good way of making sure your consistent.

My results were way to thin. I've been trying for so long to accomplish fingering weight yarn that now it's hard to go in reverse. sigh.

Then I decided to look into a 3-ply. That could bulk it up but I was getting nervous as I hadn't done that before. I wasn't sure if I could even do a test sample before hand. This brought me down some serious paths towards Navajo plying.

I had heard about it. The Yarn Harlot has posted about it before and why the hell should I not try something new!

The tutorials out there on the Internet are a bit weak and if I had the setup to do video I would. The best out there is by woman named Rexenne who posted a You Tube Video. What I like most about this video is the slow motion sections. Sometimes her hand goes out of view, but more or less it's enough to get you going.

The best thing about Navajo plying? you don't get the barber pole effect.



I still feel like I'm over plying but this turned out so good that I can't wait to finish the rest.