Article Info

Article Title
Continuous Plying: The power play
Author
Amelia Read Garripoli
Issue date
Summer 2021
Issue number
33
Description
With typical plying methods, we use our hands to hold back the yarn from entering the bobbin while our feet are treadling. This stops the bobbin from turning, increasing the bobbin’s resistance on the flyer. (This is with Scotch tension/flyer lead, which is the form-factor used by the Hansen miniSpinner and many spinning wheels.) Even if we don’t realize it, our legs work harder, to push against the extra friction of the bobbin not moving on the flyer. Similarly, the motor of an e-spinner is pushing against the friction of the bobbin on the flyer, making the e-spinner work harder. This happens with the typical plying method where we hold back the yarn while twist enters it, then feed it on in a sweep, and repeat until done. This article explores Alden Amos’s described  method where the yarn was moving continuously toward the wheel, never being held back and how well it works on an e-spinner.
Article topic list
flyer-led (scotch tension), e-spinner, plying, technical spinning, expanding skills, terminology