in my ongoing efforts to a) make a bunch of four-ply, and b) not waste any singles length, i am coming up with increasingly unhinged ways of Still getting four strands after one or more of my bobbins runs out.
after much experimentation, i’ve come up with the following process:
four singles: easy. four lengths of singles, one for each ply. three on a lazy kate, one on my wheel’s integrated bobbin holder, done.
three singles: still pretty easy. turn one of your remaining bobbins into a plying bracelet. this gives you two ends from one length of single. that, plus the lengths from the other two bobbins, makes four plies.
two singles: now we’re cooking. where we go from here depends on whether your plying bracelet ran out, or one of the other bobbins ran out:
a) two bobbins: chain ply one single, while simultaneously plying with the other. the chain ply gives you three plies, and the additional single makes it up to four. a fun discovery i’ve made with this is that it doesn’t actually make a difference which single you pull through the loop in the process of chain plying - you can essentially alternate which of the singles you chain, as long as you’re only ever pulling one single through the loop at a time and letting the other single ply normally. (you can also do (b) below with two bobbins, but this is way is much less of a hassle.)
b) one bobbin and one plying bracelet: turn your remaining bobbin into a second plying bracelet, on the other wrist to the current plying bracelet. now you have two ends of singles from each wrist, for four plies total. this is exactly as much of a nightmare to control as it sounds, especially if your singles have a lot of twist in them. good luck!! you’re going to need it :) also, probably turn your wheel’s tension up a bit. that helps.
one single: advanced technique for the truly deranged only. turn your single into a plying bracelet, and then do as (a) above - one end of the plying bracelet chain plied, with the other end allowed to ply normally, for a total of four plies from a single length of single. definitely turn your wheel’s tension up. laugh directly into the face of the uncaring void as reality bends to your will. also, time how long it takes for everything to become hopelessly tangled. if it’s more than a minute, you have Won Spinning. congrats!!
