Navajo plying…  It’s something I’d heard about but just couldn’t wrap my head around — how can you get a multi-strand ply out of only one single?  And, it kind of scared me.

I’m back to spinning after several years’ break (I found I couldn’t balance a baby, a grab-everything toddler, and a wheel spinning at high velocity all at once) and have been experimenting with plying.  It’s not something I’ve done a lot of before, because I always spun for weaving, so the process stopped at singles.  Plying those singles is something I’ve only done a couple of times — years ago — and I wasn’t feeling confident in reviving my skills in normal plying, let alone learning something that sounds as downright weird as Navajo plying does.

But I watched a few instructional videos on YouTube and was surprised to discover that it wasn’t nearly as frightening a process as I’d feared.  Within minutes, I’d got the concept in my head and my wheel out from the corner and, after a somewhat shaky start, I hit my rhythm and that was it — I was off!

And what’s more, I was really enjoying it.  I found it was much easier to control the tpi (twists per inch) with Navajo plying than I’ve found with regular plying, and I find the three-ply it produces much more finished-looking than the two-ply I’m used to.

I enjoyed it so much, I couldn’t stop plying.  I finished the denim-coloured yarn, and then moved onto some silk that had been on the bobbin for… well, probably two years, and then onto every other single I could find.  What was I worried about?  Navajo plying is fab!

The roving that spun up so beautifully is from CosyMakes.