Andean Plying

[Piper0110]

I've been thinking about Andean plying my latest spun yarn - but I'm a little scared. I've heard horror stories about the plying bracelet turning into a gigantic tangle of badness. Anyone have suggestions on this? Tips? Warnings?

[rebeccav]

i've only tried this once and i ended up with a ---- well, disaster!:eek

but at my spinning class saturday, a lady did it right in front of me like it was nothing :think said she never had problems.... so, it could have just been me :blush


have you watched all the on-line tutorials and such or do you need links?

[xantha]

My first plying attempt from my spindle-spun was Andean -- I followed the directions here on icanspin (http://www.icanspin.com/andean.htm) and had no problems... however I almost cut off the flow of blood to my hand :ha and I did not move the bracelet to my wrist.

It can be difficult if you have a long single to ply with itself, but I really love the method!

[noricum]

I ended up with a mess... possibly because I had too much twist, or I needed to set the twist in the singles first.

[xantha]

I ended up with a mess... possibly because I had too much twist, or I needed to set the twist in the singles first.

Generally you're not supposed to set the twist before plying because you need the twist to make the ply strong... though I've seen it become a mess if you don't pull it super taut as you wrap it around your fingers... which is why I always end up with my hand numb! :)

[noricum]

Jess - that makes sense (about not setting the twist), but how does it not end up a tangled mess when you take it off your finger to start plying?

[xantha]

Jess - that makes sense (about not setting the twist), but how does it not end up a tangled mess when you take it off your finger to start plying?

The way I do it is that I leave it wrapped around my fingers and I ply from it that way -- I don't move it to my wrist like you're "supposed to" -- I keep it tensioned on my fingers instead. It doesn't work great for long, bulky singles, but it does work okay for short bulky singles and long worsted or smaller singles.

[noricum]

Okie... now I have absolutely no clue how you get it to feed you both ends so you can ply them...

[dudleyspinner]

I looked at the andian plying, that looks really hard.
Sometimes I wind a center pull ball on a cardboard tube, take it off, then ply from the two ends of the ball. I think that would be the same type of yarn, just not qute as risky as winding it on your hand.
Kudos to those that can do that!
I would have a disaster.
Deb

[xantha]

Okie... now I have absolutely no clue how you get it to feed you both ends so you can ply them...

From the middle of the hand and from the outside. I end up with my hand cupped and the place where I started winding the single comes out from the inside of my hand and the place where I finished winding the singles comes from the outside. I have no idea why this works for me. :)