Navajo 4ply

Waves to Ruth...

Back in April I heard of a plying technique called Navajo 4ply. Basically, it’s a way to mix 2 plies so that one is being Navajo plied (make a big crochet chain with your hands before letting it twist) and the other twists in beside it. You can swap by grabbing the other single through the loop and making that single become the N-plied one.

It means you can mix two colors into a 4ply, and each part of the yarn will be 3/4 one color and 1/4 the other. It can make some interesting effects.

I find it just a bit difficult to get my hands around all the plies, tensioning them all while N-plying one, keeping the two twisting evenly together, and stopping and starting (ie, getting the plies into one hand and then back to two) to move my flyer hook along. But it's a fun challenge.

Here’s my fibre from the N4ply in the last post. The colorful one is called Autumn and the green is called Mint.



Spin into singles



I usually ply from a "yarn cake". I put them in bowls at my feet (so they don't roll away) and tension them under and over my jeans leg. (Otherwise I have problems with the twisty singles curling back on themselves and making stupid 'worms'). On my bobbin I have a "lead" (a bit of yarn tied on, so I can attach my fibre to it). It has a loop on the end (handy for starting N-ply), and I tied the two plies just above the loop's knot and pulled one ply through to start N-ply.



(Definitely do not try this with one hand! lol. I just had to hold the camera for a sec)
 
Where the “n-ply” changes from one to the other. See how it changes from 3/4 dark to 3/4 light?



 So the idea is simple, if you already know how to N-ply. Just a little more concentration and dexterity required. :)

The finished yarn (once more)

How it looks (in a different yarn combo, and with regular changes from the blue to colored) when knitted up.

 So there you are.

Tonight I am working on my last piece of NEWT for the HP game; it's a handspun entrelac cowl that I'm making up as I go. Hehehe. I've finished and blocked the Idlewood... will show you next time. :)