Why you should kick your spindles black and blue…

Daunting or boring, plying on a spindle is often the least favourite part about making your own yarn.. But I have seldom felt like that, I mean after all, if you are in a hurry the yarn shop is often not that far away, is it? Spinning is about relaxing and getting into a meditative rythm, and plying to me was a part of this until I got it into my head that I wanted a cabled yarn for socks.

A cabled yarn? A simple cabled yarn is just spin your singles, overply in one direction and then ply it once more in the opposite direction. Simple….maybe. I like the thickness or should I say thinness of German four-ply sock yarns like Regia, Opal, Lana Grossa etc,as they make a thin sock suitable for city shoes, so I started out by spinning THIN singles. And then I overtwisted them, wound them into tight balls and then I was in trouble when I started to ply. Snarls!!!

I gave up after a multitude of terrible messes where the yarn snapped. Left the balls for dead and continued with my other spinning projects. But - an article in Spindlicity Fall '06 caught my eye. It was about speed spindling. I had just reread Priscilla Gibson Roberts' book High Whorling or as it is known now; Spinning in the Old Way and I had been reviewing the chapter on plying where she mentions using an overhead ring in the ceiling. So I had a thought, why not combine the two?

So I tried it - yes, brought out the two forlorn balls and started plying again. But this time I could keep the yarn tensioned with my hand if I liked or just let gravity help me as the balls were now on the ground and the yarn running from the floor to the ceiling and back again. Another bonus, I could ply twice or three times as much yarn in one shot than before AND faster too. Take a look at the pictures (this yarn is not the offending yarn, it is spindle spun merino dyed with Kool Aid but it is aiming to be thin cable plyed sock yarn just like the offending yarn).

Place two balls of yarn in a bowl on the floor. It can be any old bowl or jar, that you have around the house. Make a loop or use a leader if you are more comfortable with that.

Thread the yarn through the hook and onto the spindle.

Keep the yarn tensioned in your left hand (if you are righthanded).

Place the spindle between your feet. Wear shoes or sandals.

Kick or rub your feet together, and make sure the spindle is rotating in the plying direction.

Watch the twist travel up from the spindle and towards the hook in the ceiling. If you are plying two thin yarns you might want to help the twist travel past the hook by just briefly tug your yarn up and down. Watch the plying enter the section that runs from the ceiling to your left hand.

When you decide it is enough, catch hold of your spindle and start winding.

Thin yarns need one good full kick, thicker yarns might need two or three kicks as thicker yarns present more resistance to plying. Use a heavier spindle when you ply compared to spinning- I must confess that while I don't like my Golding spindle as much as my other spindles as the shaft chafes my hand, the ribbed shaft is excellent for kicking. So - if you don't like a spindle and it is heavy enough, you can start kicking it around the house and ply some yarn. Put it to a good use!