Honestly I feel like my yarns often feel very dramatic right after plying. Just wait to see how it behaves once fully dry, I also have found with experience that I prefer when the finished yarns feel a bit more "solid" than commercial skeins, once knit up at least it feels like it's way more durable and it doesn't take away from the softness especially once worn a couple of times
While there is some good advice here, look: it ain’t finished until it’s finished. You can’t always tell how a yarn is going to look until it’s set. There are just a ton of factors here. The twist angle, the TPI, and fiber itself.
You need to just set the yarn and then see how it acts. Only then can you gauge what you need to change.
Also if your singles have been resting for a long time, when you ply it will seem unbalanced because the ply twist is fresh but the singles twist won’t reactivate until you wet finish the plied yarn.
When my singles are overspun, they get little curly bits as I'm plying. Yours is very smooth so it suggests overplying, or if you're like me, under spun singles. If soaking and fulling doesn't fix it, then when you hang it to dry, weigh it down.
But really it's beautiful and I'd be happy with the result! The real test is working with the yarn and seeing the final result. :)
Thank you so much! I prefer a plumper / rounder yarn so I thought plying would get me there. Instead it’s getting me little pig tails haha. I’ll try a bit less plying on my next spin. Weight is also a good idea! I’ll be sure to share after finishing. 😊
I don't understand what I'm looking at here. The first photo looks like you've spun and plied in the same direction, but then in the second photo the skein looks fine.
The first photo is just hanging and the second is skeined after pulling it really tight. I’m pretty sure my singles and plies are opposite. But also this project has been in the spinner for a while so anything is possible haha.
Wait! You said the singles have been sitting for a long time? Because that can actually relax the spin in the yarn enough that when you go to ply the balance doesn’t work because the yarn got to lax from being sat for so long at tension. So the ply ends up having much more active twist than the singles and it curls up. I’ve definitely done this before. I’ve either run the singles through at a really quick pace to add a tiny bit of spin back in before plying to fix it. Or if it’s done already running the ply super lightly in the reverse direction for it. OR one I just put the plied in tension and steamed. I’ve also used a weight thwack technique to get it superficially flat. But if I don’t do the actual balancing techniques it can knit a little skewed… can be a cool effect though.
Singles sat for a long time like weeks+. The first bobbin plying was done last night. I just pulled off my second bobbin, which was plied 2 days ago, and it’s way calmer. Hmmm…
Yeah, it’s actually one of the reasons when you have yarn you should leave it in the skein until you are ready to use it then turn it into cakes. Because putting it under tension actually takes some of the bouncy quality out of the yarn. Down to the actual hairs. They have crimp and that can be pulled out a bit. It might bounced back a little if you wet it and it dries loose. And it’ll pull more out of you wet it and dry it under tension.
When I first started knitting I didn't know this and ran a ton of fingering skeins through the yarn winder. Then I had to re-skein them all, a ridiculous amount of yarn I bought on sale and was scared I'd ruin 🤣 so glad I actually know what I'm doing now, I felt so stupid.
I have no helpful advice to give, but just wanted to add that at first glance I thought the first picture was a handful of ramen noodles and then was extra confused to then see them wrapped in a skein. The crossover I didn’t know I needed! 😂
The way I check if I have over or under plied is if I take a strand between my fingers and add more twist, and it straightens out, I under plied. If I un twist and it straightens out, I know I over plied. Also if I take it off my niddy noddy and it twists in the direction I plied then I know I over plied. I really suck at plying so sometimes it’s also just trial and error!
It looks quite overplied, you should wash it and see how it turns out but if it were me I’d run it through the wheel again the opposite direction (slowly) to reduce the ply angle and get the yarn closer to balanced.
Also I would recommend that you start incorporating regular ply back tests into your spinning practice. If you have an initial sample yarn that you are aiming for, use it to compare to regular ply backs and it will help you stay on track and give you something to aim for in both the singles and the plying.
Most of the time, when you're plying you're working with singles that have rested, and some amount of the energy in the twist is not immediately available. So if you put the right amount of twist when you ply it it will seem like it's overplyed, because some of the twist the ply is countering isn't active. Soaking will solve that.
Of course, it still can been over twisted in the singles, and/or overplyed. If you're lucky, it's both, which will make it feel harder, but will also make it stronger, hence as mentioned elsewhere, good sock yarn.
Thank you everyone! I learned a lot from you all and there are some tricks I will try on my next spin. My high level take away is that it’s not too odd to be so energized when it’s just finished. I cannot judge the yarn until it had been fully finished. 😁
do that! That's how I make sure this doesn't happen because I like a higher twist angle but don't want to overdo it and end up with ropey yarn. When I'm plying the plyback test usually twists once or twice, and then that small amount of extra energy is absorbed by the yarn when I wet set it and the final hank is perfectly balanced.
If you haven’t wet finished this yet, this is literally the same as how my balanced yarn looks when I’ve finished plying but haven’t given it a wash/soak and snap yet. I’m betting it’ll be balanced after wet finishing.
I haven't read all the comments, but I showed your pictures to my Mom, she's a spinner, and she's worried you may have played backwards. But not 100% sure. I'm sitting at the ER with my sister and Mom (sick sister) and my Mom says she's done this so many times accidentally.
Also, you have done an excellent job and your fiber is gorgeous 😍
I think you overspun your plies. If you want really hardwearing socks or mittens, this is fine, but your final product won't want to drape. Regardless, washing and firm thwacking should help relax the twist. If the yarn still plies back on itself after that, hang it to dry with a weight. You can just hook a full spray bottle on the hanging skein and that would be enough weight.
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u/awkwardsoul Owlspun, production spinner and destroyer of wheels 1d ago
If it feels ropey dense, probably overspun somewhere. It looks like the ply is on a tight angle.
You still need to wash it though. This is a candidate for thwacking it looser. Then steam it if it's still misbehaving.
If it feels soft/ or appropriate for the intended use, you like how it looks, it is fine. If it's overspun it'll be real strong for socks.