PLY Magazine – PLY Magazine

Spin Together 2025! A Resounding Success!

March 6, 2025/0 Comments/in Community /by Meagan Condon

To all our friends who partook in Spin Together and to all our friends who cheered us on from the bleachers, PLY had an incredible first year participating in this virtual spinning competition. We had so many people interested in joining us that we had to host not one but two teams! Forty-seven spinners came together to form The PLY Z-Twist team (led by Jacey & Meagan) and the PLY S-Twist team (led by Karen & Jillian).

With a dose of healthy and friendly competition (we’re looking at you, Jacey) both teams spun some incredible yarns during the last week of February. Below are just a few of the photos of the hard work our teams put in!

This week, our teams will be submitting their photos on their respective Facebook groups for their teammates to vote on. Winners will receive a one-year PLY subscription (or extension if they already have a current subscription)! We’ll be looking forward to announcing winners on our Facebook page on March 10!

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you and we’ll be looking forward to next year’s virtual competition!

Jacey, Karen, Jillian, and Meagan

Meagan Condon spun River, a Corriedale-cross.

Meet the New Editor in Chief: Karen Robinson

March 4, 2025/0 Comments/in Frontpage Article, News /by Karen

With the publication of the Spring 2025 issue, the news is now official. PLY Magazine has a new editor in chief.

Jacey has served in that role since PLY began. Don’t worry! Jacey isn’t going anywhere! But the addition of the PLY Spinners Guild and WEFT Magazine mean that Jacey has been making adjustments to her role. Officially, she’s the Publisher and Director of all things in the PLY/WEFT universe. And she very much has a large day-to-day role in the running of each of those entities. But she’s also supported by the rest of the team for PLY, the PSG, and WEFT.

Enter Karen Robinson. That’s me! I’m not new to PLY. Back in 2014 (I got the news on Thanksgiving Day), I started working for PLY as the magazine’s copy editor. The first issue I worked on was the Leicester issue (rather appropriate since BFL is one of my favorite fibers to spin). In 2018, Jacey asked if I wanted to take on more tasks, mostly involving coordinating with the authors. We briefly thought about calling this role Author Wrangler but decided on the more typical (although less exciting) title of Managing Editor.

Since that time, I’ve taken on more and more responsibilities at PLY. The one that has been most exciting is meeting with Jacey and Jillian Moreno (our developmental editor) to decide on the articles for each issue. We’ve updated and revised some of our processes – and updated and revised some more. We’ve added new ideas for article series to the pages of PLY and retired others. Holding the print version of each issue in my hands is always such a delight in thinking about everything that went into putting it together.

So in many ways, this move to editor in chief feels natural in how my role has evolved over my past decade with PLY. And in many ways not much has changed/will change.

Issue development

Jacey, Jillian, and I are still meeting each quarter to put together the contents of each issue. Actually, we have made some adjustments here. Now we meet three times for each issue: once to come up with our dream issue, everything we’d love to see in the issue if we could fit it all in. And now after that meeting, I write up the mood board for that issue. Then we meet closer to the submission deadline to start structuring the issue and turning that dream issue into something closer to reality. And we meet a final time after the submission deadline and make final decisions and assign articles to authors.

Usually after that meeting, Jacey would email authors/potential authors to either clarify an article’s content or to ask if someone would like to write a specific article that we wanted to include but did not yet have a writer for. Contacting authors/potential authors is now my task, and I got to do it already for the upcoming Long Draw issue (Winter 2025), which means I got to make the final decisions on which authors to assign to which articles. None of those were decisions Jacey was against, but it’s possible she would have made slightly different decisions.

Jacey has always been the one to set up the order the articles will appear in each issue, plotting out how a reader might work their way through the articles in a way that makes sense and adds to the experience. I got to do that for the first time with the upcoming Tension issue (Summer 2025). I did get feedback from Jacey afterwards and made a few changes, but for the most part I’ll be making those decisions for future issues as well.

One of the other decisions I have more input on is the selection of the cover for each issue. Although she’s gotten feedback from the rest of us at PLY, Jacey has made the final decisions on the photo/illustration for the cover. For the Hue issue (Spring 2025), I made that decision – and it wasn’t a cover that Jacey hated but it also wasn’t what she would have chosen (as she finds it “too cute”). She wanted to use an image that was similar to the cover way back on the Color issue (we originally used that image on the back cover of Hue but made a change to the back cover to honor Stephenie Gaustad).

Behind the scenes

I’m learning a lot more about the back end of putting together a magazine. Previously, I didn’t deal with the subscription software or the printer at all. Now I’ve gotten really comfortable with that software (good thing my original major in college was computer science!), and I’m much more in the loop with the communications with the printer. I’ve been learning how Jacey decides how many copies of each issue to print and she’s been asking for my thoughts on a lot of the rest of those types of decisions.

For a few months, I answered the emails that came into our customer service email address. Our previous customer service person left the magazine toward the end of last year, and instead of hiring someone else right away, I took on that role. It really helped me see the interactions that happen with you, our readers, and the types of problems that come up (as well as compliments!). Although I’m glad now to turn that job over to our new customer service person, Sarah, it was really good to have that experience so I could learn even more about running all parts of the magazine.

I’m much more involved with the other members of the PLY team, coordinating with everyone to make sure they have what they need to fulfill their work. I’ve been meeting one on one with them, and it’s been so wonderful to get to know each one a little better and have more interaction with them. And I took the lead on the search for our new editorial assistant, reading through the applications, making interview decisions and doing the interviews, and then making the final hiring decision.

Ultimately, although there are some decisions that might be different from what Jacey would have picked, such as the cover art, since Jacey and I have worked so closely (and so well) together for so many years, and will continue doing so, I don’t know that you’ll really notice very many changes to PLY. It will very much remain the magazine you’ve known and loved over the years.

Quick facts about Karen

Karen has been knitting since 2004, spinning since 2010, and dabbling in crochet here and there
She and her husband will be celebrating their silver anniversary this year (has it really been that long?)
They have a teenage son who loves video games (especially Minecraft and Roblox) and history (especially World War II); his career goal is to be a video game designer and create historically accurate games
They have three Boston Terriers (Luna, Nugget, and Oliver) and two cats (Wall-E and Eva)
They live in Texas (Karen was born there and left the state for graduate school but returned)
Karen has a PhD in English, with a focus on medieval literature especially the legends of King Arthur
She ran a yarn dyeing business, Round Table Yarns, for 6 years (yup, it was Arthurian themed!)
She designed knitting patterns as well, under KarenDawn Designs, and self-published two knitting pattern books (Gawain’s Shield and Parliament of Cowls)
She hosted a knitting podcast called T-Shirts and Shawls for a couple of years
She teaches copyediting classes through the UCSD Extended Studies program
She copy edits fantasy books, usually by indie authors, although she’s currently not taking on new clients
She loves to read, especially fantasy and science fiction, and is always happy to help recommend a book in those genres to you
She really wonders how she finds time for all of the above!

Karen in a handknit sweater in a field with standing stones and sheep in northern England

Parliament of Cowls, one of Karen's books

New Monthly Spin-In for the Guild!

February 27, 2025/0 Comments/in Community, Guild /by Jacey Faulkner

New Monthly Spin-in focused on building foundational spinning skills!

There’s nothing like spinning with friends. As spinners, we love to learn from, share with, and generally support each other. Spin-ins provide all those things and the twice monthly PLY Spinners Guild spin-ins (via Zoom) have been one of my favorite regular happenings this past year. We meet for 90 minutes on the first Sunday of each month at 5pm pacific and the third Sunday each month at 10am pacific. We chat and spin, ask questions, show off what we’re working on, and often deep dive into a specific spinning technique or fiber.

These Sunday spin-ins have really focused on building community, SALs, show and tells, Q/A sessions, and special guests (PSG teachers, PLY Magazine authors and designers). While we’ve always welcomed newer spinners and celebrated spinners of all skill levels, we do understand that it can be intimidating to join in when you aren’t confident about your skills.

For anyone that has felt like that, even just a little bit, we encourage you to check out our new spin-in on the third Thursday of each month at 5pm pacific. These third Thursday spin-ins are dedicated to helping you develop the foundational spinning skills and fiber confidence you want. So if you’re looking for something a little more foundational, in addition to, or instead of, Sunday spin-ins, we’d love to see you on third Thursdays starting on March 20^th.

All of the spin-ins are put on by the PSG. Third Thursday spin-ins will be hosted by one or two of our PSG hosts: Lori Paterson, Donita Westman, and Terri Guerette while Sunday spin-ins will still be hosted by Laura Linneman and Jacey.

Donita Westman knits, spins, weaves, and teaches fiber arts in central Ohio. When she isn’t creating with fiber, she’s likely playing with her dog, reading, literally herding her husband’s cats out of her fiber studio, and sometimes blogging at donitawestman.com.

Terri Guerette learned a variety of fiber arts from her mom at a young age and began spinning in 2004. She quickly developed a passion for her newest hobby. Terri teaches and demonstrates spinning and other fiber arts in many different settings (living history events, schools, farm days, fairs, etc.) and is always happy to share her knowledge. She was a SOAR Scholar in 2011.

Lori brings her love of Black history and teaching to everything she does. Lori finds spiritual sanctuary in the meditative nature of knitting, spinning, and dyeing. Since 1990 when she saw a woman wearing handknit socks, she has been determined to not only make her own socks but to make so many things from fiber. Lori hand paints yarn for knitting and fiber for spinning in her Portland studio (a converted garage) and sews together pretty colored fabric in her (very little) spare time.

Heavenly Bresser is an award-winning handspinner, spinning wheel restorer, and international fiber arts instructor. Some of her areas of passion include a love for working with color, working from fleece, and researching historical information for antique spinning wheels.

We can’t wait to see you there! Please remember that the PLY Spinners Guild is a space for spinners at all levels of spinning. We are an inclusive and diverse community that embraces all spinners and welcomes everyone to create a brave space to question, challenge, and support one another. We strongly believe that the more diverse our community is, the stronger our community is. Our core beliefs of kindness, diversity, and inclusivity inform everything we do. Racism, sexism, and other forms of oppression will not be tolerated. We reserve the right to remove anyone who meaningfully and purposefully disrupts the community or makes other members feel unsafe.

What is luster?

February 25, 2025/0 Comments/in News, Science! /by Meagan Condon

Oh, no! Meagan is at it again! Can we tackle an easier topic, like the cure for cancer or world peace, please? While the word luster brings to mind pearls and diamonds, it can be difficult to nail down exactly what luster means in regard to fiber. This is complicated by the fact that luster is most commonly used to describe mineralogy. Most of us can gather that it has something to do with shininess and light and that some fibers are shiny and some are not. This is a good place to start our exploration!

Luster is… how light reflects off a surface
Words we use to describe luster… shine, brilliance, glow, radiance, luminosity

While that sounds like a simple explanation, this is where it gets complicated. Light may reflect off the surface layer or may pass through the top layer and reflect off the layers beneath, presenting a different reflective quality.

Commercial production of rayon and wool use a full list of official descriptors applied to luster:

1. Clear
2. Bright
3. Semi-Dull
4. Semi-Matte
5. Dull
6. Matte
7. Extra Dull
8. Super Dull

Luster in fiber is often expressed as a range from shiny to dull, with the most shiny and most dull fibers easily identified near the ends of the spectrum and all other fibers somewhere in the middle. Lincoln and Teeswater might be at one end while Southdown is at the other. However this doesn’t take into effect how the light is reflected. How would silk compare to Teeswater? Not all shiny is equal. For today, let’s stick to wool.

Luster in wool

The microscopic structure of wool is one of the primary factors in determining the luster of the fiber. For example, high-luster wools like Coopworth, Teeswater, and Wensleydale are fundamentally different from low-luster wools like Merino, Cormo, or Southdown. Beside crimp structure, the main difference between these wools is the size of the scales that make up the surface of the fiber. High-luster wools have larger scales which cover more surface area. When light hits these larger scales, more light is reflected in one direction, creating more shine. Low-luster wools have smaller scales. This causes the light to diffuse in different directions, so less light will be directed toward the eye.

I mentioned crimp. Crimp can also impact how lustrous a fiber appears. A higher crimp wool redirects light in many more directions than a low crimp wool, resulting in a more matte appearance.

What suppresses luster? How it is spun!

It is important to understand how luster changes when spun. In the most basic sense, worsted spinning makes use of a short forward draw and a combed fiber preparation to create a smooth, dense yarn. Woolen spinning makes use of a long draw and a carded fiber preparation, usually rolags, to create a light, fuzzy, warm yarn.

A worsted yarn will always be more lustrous than a woolen yarn of the same type of fiber. In a worsted yarn, we smooth down the fibers, helping them to align more parallel to each other. When the fibers are aligned, light tends to reflect in the same direction, making the fiber appear more lustrous. More light reaches our eyes. On the other hand, a woolen yarn has fibers crossing and going in all different directions. The different angles and bends of the individual fibers redirect light in all different directions, resulting in a duller appearance.

In addition to woolen and worsted techniques, the amount of twist you add can impact luster as well! The more twist added, the less luster. Why? The more bumps there are, the more light is diffused in different directions.

Try this!

Luster is impacted by how we spin. If we take a fairly lustrous fiber, how will the luster present in the finished yarn if we spin it with a worsted method vs a woolen method?

You will need:

A sample of lustrous wool, like Teeswater, Wensleydale, or Cotswold
A spindle or spinning wheel

Spin a sample of yarn using a woolen long draw.
Spin a second sample of yarn using a short forward draw.
Compare the two samples.
1. Which one appears more lustrous?
2. What words would you use to describe the luster of each?
3. Can you think of a reason you might try to reduce the luster of a high-luster fiber by spinning it woolen?
4. What other tricks could you try to increase or decrease the luster of your samples?

Challenge!

Take the same fiber and wet spin it. How does this sample reflect light when compared to the first two?

Tell us in the comments!

The Woolly Animal of Dawn

February 20, 2025/0 Comments/in News /by Guest Blogger

Words and photos by Christina Socorro Yovovich

No matter when I go to bed, I wake between 4:30–5:00 a.m. Months ago, I gave up fighting this and decided these predawn hours were for me. My husband often stays up late and has admitted that he relishes these solitary midnight hours because everyone else is asleep; nobody is going to make any demands on him. He can do what he likes – work until the wee hours, read old comics, watch shows I have no interest in. I understand, because for me the predawn hours are like this. And what do I do in these hours where nobody makes any demands? I create. Sometimes I knit. Sometimes I write. But mostly, I spin.

I always open the west curtains covering the patio doors first, to let in the darkness. My spinning wheel lives in front of this floor to ceiling window, and when I am seated on the ottoman I place in front of the wheel, at first all I can see is my own reflection. Some mornings I put on a fiber arts podcast or an audiobook. Other mornings I choose to let my thoughts drift where they will. I pull out the wool of the moment, sometimes something sheep colored, sometimes dyed in the hues of a sunrise or a body of water, and I begin to spin.

It is a tactile occupation. No matter how much I try to learn about the technical aspects of spinning, in the darkness at 4:30 a.m. spinning is simply me holding the woolly animal of dawn in my hands as my feet treadle in rhythm to my breaths, and I draft and let in the twist and then let the newly made yarn wind onto the bobbin, and none of it is thought, but feeling, an occupation of instinct. Although I only started spinning a year ago, my body believes it has been longer. My body believes I have been spinning since the predawn of agriculture, my hands setting a spindle twisting against my thigh over and over again as I draft the fiber in my hands. Don’t reason with the body, ever.

There are thoughts as I spin, sometimes a tight focus on a book being read over my phone’s speaker. Sometimes simply my thoughts, going where they will. I am bipolar, having been diagnosed so for nearly three decades, and I have complex-PTSD, having been diagnosed so for less than a year. I have thoughts, hard thoughts, and though I try not to drown in them, I’ve found that if I let them drift through me while I spin in the dawn, they do not overwhelm me. My feet are treadling, my left hand holds the roving, my right hand lets in the twist. I am rooted and no memory can completely overtake me.

I began knitting the year I turned 49, and a large reason was because I read knitting has a similar effect on those with PTSD as EMDR therapy. Eye Movement and Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy is a mental health technique that involves moving the eyes in a certain way under the direction of a mental health practitioner while recalling a traumatic memory. Its aim is to help a person process the trauma so that it becomes a thing that happened in the past and not a thing that still overtakes them in horrible flashbacks. I do not understand how or why it works, but it seems to have something to do with using different parts of the brain and with crossing the midline of the body.

A couple months after I picked up knitting, I began to spin as well. I have not read it anywhere, but surely spinning, with how it uses the whole body, both sides of it, the feet in rhythm, the hands each with their separate task, surely spinning is the same as knitting when it comes to processing trauma. It allows me to have these memories without being overwhelmed. They come and then leave, and through it all, I am okay, still rooted to my wheel and my wool, not floating through recollections in a way that allows them to traumatize me anew.

My window faces west, so I don’t see the sun rising over the Sandia mountains. Instead, I see the black sky gradually become alight. First just a hint of something not black. Then a rosy dawn. When I see the pink sky outside instead of my own reflection, I cease spinning. I have spun in the day. It is time to rise from the wheel to step into the bustle of making breakfasts, packing my son’s lunch, being a part of a family and community that does make demands on my time. I do so joyfully, fortified by my predawn creativity, by learning to let memories be memories and not things that overtake. I have not been a spinner for long, but already I cannot imagine a life without its grounding presence.

Born and raised in Wisconsin, Christina Socorro Yovovich has lived in New Mexico since 1998. Her nonfiction has appeared in The Hunger, Cagibi, MUTHA Magazine, the Atticus Review, and elsewhere. She is currently working on and seeking representation for a fiber arts memoir about wool, mothering, and mental health. She can be found at https://christinasocorroyovovich.com/

I Want to Tell You About My Friend

February 18, 2025/7 Comments/in Community, News /by Jacey Faulkner

I don’t want to tell you that Stephenie Gaustad was a great spinner. Everyone knows that.

I don’t want to say she was a talented and generous fiber artist. If you have ever taken a class with her or read one of her books or articles, you already know that too.

I want to tell you about how warm her hugs were and how she never let go first. I want you to know how funny she was, how her eyes twinkled when she smiled, how she followed her heart in all things, and how she loved getting in good trouble. I want to tell you about the Stephenie I knew and how much I loved her.

The first time I fell into the arms of Stephenie Gaustad was at SOAR in 2010. Her flax to linen workshop was next to my textured yarns workshop. When I got to the part of the class where I have everyone spin a thick and thin singles yarn from cotton, a spinner in my class (who had recently taken a class with Steph) hopped up and ran out the door.

The retting sounds from next door halted, and Stephenie Gaustad walked through the adjoining classroom door.

“What’s this about spinning cotton thick and thin? Handspun cotton needs to be spun fine, with lots of twist, and very even.”

I was not a cotton spinner. My spinning skill was not nearly at the cotton “spun fine, with lots of twist, and very even” level. I only used cotton as an (extreme) example of how you can spin any combed fiber into a thick and thin yarn if you pay attention to the staple length.

I haltingly and nervously explained that even the shortest cotton can create a stable thick and thin singles yarn as long as you make your thick section shorter than the staple length so that the ends of the fibers are caught in the high-twist thin section on either end of the thick bit. I demonstrated as Stephenie (along with all my students and hers) stood around my wheel watching.

When I finished, she whooped!

She whooped and hugged me, and we never saw each other again when we didn’t hug and huddle up.

Because we both made a living travelling to teach, we saw each other often. One evening, after several days of teaching, we sat next to each other, exhausted, in a Chinese restaurant. I leaned in and whispered to her all my plans for starting a magazine. She smiled and her eyes twinkled. You have never seen such a twinkle.

When the first issue of PLY came out, she sent me a short length of handspun thick and thin cotton and a letter:

Dearest Jacey, Ply is fantastic! I love that you have multiple voices on a single topic, and really hear the person as he/she takes time with answers. This is what strikes me first. I get the chance to focus on something, spend time with it and not rush off in another direction 2 pages later. I treasure this copy and will refer back to it time and again.

Your enthusiasm for the craft and project is palpable too. It is so exciting. I feel transported back in time, actually to a decade when new magazines were popping up right and left, in different formats; it all was new and fresh. Ply is a breath of fresh air!
-Stephenie

Now it is time for Alden to add his 2 cents.

Well, I am flabbergasted. The scope of the work is mindboggling. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination and energy. The mag is a visual knockout, the advertising is arranged with taste and finesse and considering the stated purpose “the magazine for handspinners” what can I say but bravo! Huzzah! You are a phoenix rising in a world of turkeys.
-AA

From that first issue on, Stephenie was in almost every single issue of PLY and she and I were firm friends. I don’t even know if that’s true. I feel like I wasn’t friends with Stephenie – we were family. She was the closest thing I had to a grandmother, and when my mom died, she was there for me. Stephenie’s hugs were the warmest and she’d hold on as long as I needed.

Of course there were other things, business things, that happened – she became PLY’s technical editor, she taught at PLYAway every year, she wrote a wonderful book with us. But it’s the actual time I spent with Stephenie, the moments, that I remember and that mean the most. She went to a May Day festival at my kids’ school with me once. She beamed as we watched dozens of kids in handmade dresses, dancing and wrapping the May pole. She leaned over and whispered in my ear, “I’m pagan,” and held my hand the whole time.

Last year she visited us in Oregon. I offered to fly her out, but she insisted on driving. She pulled up in a giant SUV filled floorboards to roof with spinning wheels and tools (almost all built for her by Alden). My kids unloaded the tools as Steph and I sat on the porch and talked about the future of fiber arts.

That night, after dinner, Stephenie, the kids, and I played Telestrations – a cross between the old telephone game and Pictionary. I had never seen Steph laugh so hard as I did that night. Stephenie was a part of my life. She was a part of my family’s life. We were family. I will miss her forever.

While she was here that time, we filmed the first Teacher Tea for the PLY Spinners Guild. It’s a segment where I sit down with spinning teachers, drink tea, and talk. It was so early in the PSG that we didn’t have good lighting yet, hadn’t figured out how to get a decent sound track, didn’t even have the PSG studio set up nicely, but none of that matters because Steph is such a joy. We’ve made the teacher tea with Steph public, viewable to everyone, guild member or not. Please sit down with some tea of your own and spend some time with this dear, darling woman.

https://www.plyspinnersguild.com/videos/9-teacher-tea-steph

Stephenie Gaustad was a wonder, and the world is better for having her in it. I’m better for having known her. Since I heard the news, I’ve been rereading all the emails she’d ever sent me, and it is helping replace some of the tears with smiles. Her closing lines especially help. I’m including a few of them here. I hope they make you smile too.

Hope that your spring days are full of beautiful green growth and smiles,
-SG

This morning’s rainbow reminded me of you. You are all the colors and you always bring a smile,
-SG

Well, the snow has turned to rain. It really is kind of late in the year for it. It is o.k. I have plenty of fiber to spin here, and a few wheels to do this.
-SG

You see, dear friend, I didn’t want to scare the hell out of you with dire futures. It ain’t like that one bit. I want to give you, dear friend, good news. And this is it.
-SG

The rain will pass, my dear Jacey. The rain will pass and you and I will keep growing,
-SG

So don’t fret over me. (In my best “Arnie voice”, “I’ll be back!”)
-SG

So I am laying here this evening basking in the glow of a completed job and oh boy, Jacey, my dear, are we going to have run raising some dust! Whoopee!
-SG

Stephenie Gaustad

August 1947–February 12, 2025

New Guild Episode Drops Saturday!

February 13, 2025/in Guild, News /by Meagan Condon

Are you ready for this? The latest guild episode is coming! I repeat, the latest guild episode is coming!

Saturday (February 15, 2025) we reveal the 14th (and final) episode for season 1 of the PLY Spinners guild! It rounds out a season full of foundational spinning episodes taught by some of the best spinners and spinning teachers around. And boy, is it a doozy! Featuring several greats in our community—Stephenie Gaustad, Michelle Boyd, Roy Clemes, and Jacey Boggs Faulkner—this episode is a wrap of of the season with some (older) never-before-seen segments that were too good not to share, and some (newer) segments on small fiber processing tools and yarn handling tools. There’s some stuff on oiling and leaders, and a great, giant segment on getting started spinning (because Jacey didn’t want anyone to go any further without having a good handle on the basics). So if you just need a refresher, this baby should get you up to speed. Finally it also includes a segment on how to use the guild—a segment you can (and should) watch on YouTube. You won’t want to miss out.

Join the PLY Spinners Guild Here

If you’d like to learn more from your favorite fiber instructors, make sure your membership is active! Each month is jam packed with new instructional videos and virtual spin-ins. Membership is cumulative, meaning you get access not only to the current episode, but also to every previous episode and recorded spin-in as well.

New Monthly Building Skills Spin-in

The PLY Spinners Guild (PSG) hosts three 90 minute spin-ins every month:

On the first Sunday of every month, guild members meet and spin at 5 p.m. Pacific.
On the third Sunday of every month, guild members meet and spin at 10 a.m. Pacific.

However, those spin-ins can get more technical and in-depth than some spinners are ready for or comfortable with. In response, we’re launching a new monthly spin-in! T

he Building Skills Spin-in will start in March and will take place at 5 p.m. Pacific on the third Thursday on each month.

The first one will be on March 20. Just like all the PSG spin-ins, guild members will get a spin-in link the week before the spin-in and it’s always posted in the PSG forums.

The guild is priced at $85/year or $12/month. This is a very good deal for the amount of information and community you will get, especially since new video lessons are added every six weeks! This fee allows us to pay for the substantial hosting required by so many high-def videos and the charge per member to access the site, along with fairly compensating the teachers, editors, and everyone involved in making the guild work.

If you aren’t already a member, we think you’d definitely enjoy it!

The PLY Spinners Guild is a space for spinners at all levels of spinning. We are an inclusive and diverse community that embraces all spinners and welcomes everyone to create a brave space to question, challenge, and support one another. We strongly believe that the more diverse our community is, the stronger our community is. Our core beliefs of kindness, diversity, and inclusivity inform everything we do. Racism, sexism, and other forms of oppression will not be tolerated. We reserve the right to remove anyone who meaningfully and purposefully disrupts the community or makes other members feel unsafe.

Ask Jacey: How Much Twist is Right?

February 11, 2025/0 Comments/in Ask Jacey! /by Meagan Condon

Dear Jacey,

I’ve been learning so much from your reels on Instagram. Recently you did one describing what the different whorls do to the yarn you’re spinning. You show one yarn and then change the whorl to a bigger one and show the other yarn, but you don’t say which of the two plyback samples is the right one. I’m a new spinner and just can’t figure out how much twist is too much or not enough. ~Celena

Hi Celena,

I messaged you on Instagram, but I wanted to dig a little deeper and give this a bigger audience since I know that lots of people struggle with these same questions. I’m including a link to the reel that you’re talking about in case others want to check it out for reference [add links to IG, YT]. In the 3-minute video, I spin a little bit of a yarn on the smallest whorl of my wheel (in this case it’s a Schacht Ladybug), show the plyback, then change to the bigger whorl, spin a bit more yarn, and show the two plybacks side by side.

For each of the two plybacks I did my best to keep everything the same except for changing the whorl on the wheel.

I drafted the same number of fibers (roughly, because I’m not magic) for each draft.

I drafted the same distance for each draft.

I drafted one draft each time I treadled so we could be sure the differing twist amounts was the result of the whorl change and not speedy feet or hands.

Changing whorls

When I changed the whorl size from smaller to bigger I changed the amount of twist going into my yarn. With the smaller whorl in action, my yarn got a certain amount of twist. When I switched to the bigger pulley, my yarn got less twist. That’s really what I wanted to demonstrate – that you don’t have to know the ratios of your wheel to know what they do relative to each other. I have lots of wheels, and to be honest, I don’t know what the actual ratios are on most of them. If I want to know the real numbers I either have to run a test or look them up online.

However, because I know what the different size whorls do, I can make decisions about which whorl groove I want to use. And if the groove I choose doesn’t make the yarn I want, I change it to a bigger or smaller groove based on what change I want. What will help you, even if you don’t know the ratios, is to know what they mean relative to each other:

Bigger whorl = less twist

Smaller whorl = more twist

Which is right?

But what you’re asking is something else, I think. You’re asking which of those two plybacks is the right one, which one you should see and say “yes, that’s the yarn I want!” And here is where you might not like my answer – it depends. It really does! I didn’t tell you which one was right because they’re both right for something and they’re both wrong for something else.

If there was just one type of yarn that was “right,” most of us wouldn’t spend so much time spinning, right? We’d go buy the one “right” type of yarn at the store and call it done. But the magic about spinning is that there’s a gazillion kinds of yarn you can spin, and each of them is going to be good for something and bad for something else.

Comparing the yarns

Okay, first know that the two plybacks I spun in the video are very similar; the only difference is a little more or a little less twist. Keep in mind that the comparisons I’m about to make about these two yarns would get more dramatic and extreme if we were to add even more (or less) twist to them.

The one with less twist (bigger whorl, left yarn in the video)

Feels a tad bit fluffier: there’s more air in it since the extra twist I added to the other one isn’t there to bundle it down so tight

Looks a little thicker, again, since it didn’t get bundled down so much with twist

Is loftier: less twist means more air and more air means more loft

Might abrade or pill faster

Would show less stitch definition in knitting

The one with more twist (smaller whorl, right yarn in the video)

Feels a little firmer: the more twist you add, the firmer the yarn gets

Looks a tad thinner: as you add twist your yarn gets thinner (even though it has the same actual number of fibers)

Is denser: with each bit of twist you bundle the fibers down tighter, replacing the space where air was with tightly bundled fibers

Will hold up a little better over time; the extra twist will help it stand up to abrasion so it’ll be less likely to pill

Would show more stitch definition in knitting

To know which one of the two plybacks is the right one, we’d need more information.

What craft will the yarn be used for? Knitting, crochet, weaving, something else?

What kind of project? You’ll want different things from a yarn that’s going to be a hat than you’ll want from one that’s destined to be socks.

What is the goal of the project? To keep you warm, to drape down your back? To protect your hands? To look stunning and fill your non-spinner friends with awe and envy?

Let’s assume I want to knit. As a knitter, these two yarns are similar enough that they’d both work for many of the same projects, but those projects would turn out a bit differently. If I only had these two yarns to choose from, I might think through it like this:

If I wanted to knit a pair of mitts

I’d choose the one with more twist. Mostly because the one with more twist still isn’t what anyone would call a high-twist yarn, it’s still soft and airy (just not as soft and airy as the other one), so it would make fabric that was warm. The extra bit of twist would help it stand up to the abrasion that gloves/mitts are often subjected to.

If I wanted to knit a warm, squishy hat

I’d choose the one with less twist and more air. I’m a naturally cold person, so warm hats help keep my head toasty. The airier the yarn, the more warm air trapped in the fabric, the warmer my head. Since heads encounter less abrasion than hands, I’m not too worried that the yarn has a little less protective twist.

If I want to knit a sweater

I’d probably want to do a test swatch of each. A sweater is a bigger time investment, and I want to make sure I know how the yarn is going to act. Will the lighter-twist yarn create the lofty and warm sweater of my dreams? Maybe, but will it pill and abrade immediately? I don’t know. Will the higher-twist yarn feel too hard and dense as a sweater? Or will it make my planned cables pop and sing? Probably, but again, I won’t know until I sample.

If I want to knit a pair of socks

I’d spin another yarn but on a much smaller whorl. Socks need more twist than either of these yarns have, a little more in the singles and quite a bit more in the ply.

More than just twist

And all of these are just decisions I’m making about the twist of the yarn. There are so many other decisions we could be talking about. Is wool the right fiber for the project I’m envisioning? If it is, is this the right breed? Is there another fiber prep that would give me more of the qualities I want? What about the draft? Should I let some twist between my hands while doing a short forward draft? Would a long draw be more suitable? Is this the ply structure I want or should I explore a 3-ply, 4-ply, cable, or crepe? Should I ply to balance or add extra ply-twist? And on and on. . .

Don’t stress

That might all sound overwhelming, like, how will you ever decide about everything? Don’t worry, you don’t have to right now. Just the fact that we have all those choices is why it’s magical to be a spinner – you can make exactly the yarn you want. No yarn is wrong, though it might be wrong for a specific project or use. So experiment, spin all the yarns, figure out what you like and don’t like, trust yourself, and most of all, enjoy the process.

Don’t let the fact that you’re never going to know everything about spinning stress you out; instead, relish the fact that you’re never going to run out of things to learn and spin and you’re definitely never going to be bored.

Want Jacey or Jillian to take a stab at your question? Tell us what you want to know:

Ask Jacey and Jillian Your Questions!

Call for Blog Submissions: Tension

February 6, 2025/in Call for Blog Posts, News /by Meagan Condon

While the Tension issue of PLY is already in the works (and it looks like another great one!) we are looking for quality related posts for the blog! Did you have an idea you didn’t submit? Or did you miss the submission window?

The blog process is much simpler than the magazine process (which involves contracts and samples sent in, photographs, tech editing, etc.) Instead, you’ll need to send your own photos, and your post will go through a copy edit but no other part of the magazine article process. If your blog submission is accepted and published, we’ll send you a $50 honorarium via PayPal.

Submit your blog proposal here!

Please submit your blog post proposal by March 15, 2025. If your post proposal is accepted, we’ll need your words and photos by May 1, 2025. We’ll be posting the Tension posts on the blog in June, July, and August 2025.

Find the mood board below! (Note: We’ve changed the colors for the issue from the ones on this mood board to something more “summery” so don’t feel limited to the colors here.)

PLY Summer 2025 – Tension (Blog posts)

Tension is one of those elements we use all the time while we spin. Think about all the ways tension figures into and impacts your spinning. We want to hear about all of them!

Wheel tension and wheel systems: how do they work and which works best for what type of yarn? Is there a reason spinners might like this one over that one? How about drive bands and brake bands? How often should you change them, and what considerations go into the types of materials that are you favorites? What about e-spinners?

It’s often confusing to keep track of the amount of tension while spinning. Do you have great tips on notating and measuring your take-up?

Crosslacing is a fantastic technique for decreasing tension. When do you use it and how do you do it on different wheels. Do you have any other methods to reduce the tension?

Tensile strength is all about how much tension a fiber can be put under before it breaks. Which fibers are the strongest? Which breeds? When prepping fibers, the amount of tension used often results in unwanted neps. Do you have tips for reducing or eliminating them on hand cards, a blending board, or a drum carder?

Can the right amount of tension make or break the consistency while plying yarn? Why do we need tension to ply? What tips do you have to use tension to ply a consistent yarn? Is tension the key to reducing bumps in chain-ply yarns? What can you tell us about the different styles of kates and their tensioning systems and when you might use a particular type for both wheels and spindles? When do you apply more tension; when do you just let your bobbins spin?

What about textured and art yarns? Bouclé, spirals, coils, beehives, core spun, and other textured yarns rely on differential tension while plying. Tell us how you determine how much and how little tension make the best textured yarns. How do you control the mixed tension and still keep a yarn tidy? Is there a yarn that uses no tension?

How about color? Why do some colors seem to vibrate and explode when they are next to each other? Is there a way to make it happen or lessen the visual tension?

What about the release of tension? How do you plan, spin, and weave a structure that collapses on itself? What about knitting? Releasing the tension in high-twist singles can create sculptural effects. Can you teach us about it?