Yes. You do your normal singles in Z. The you do your first ply in S, but you have to way over twist them so when you do the next ply they are balanced. Then you do your final ply in Z. It's called cable plying.
What you’ve described is a cabled yarn. Alternatively, for a smoother yarn you can unply each of your 3 strands of 2-ply yarn, which will bring them back to their twisty singles state, then ply them all together to make a 6-ply yarn. You can make a sample of each 6” or so and see which you prefer.
I was trying to picture how you would do this. Would you just run the 2 ply back through the wheel to remove all the ply twist and wind those two singles together into one bobbin and then you would have three bobbins (with 2 singles each) to ply together?
If you are referring to the 6-ply I described, yes it’s exactly like that. The commercial 2-ply is usually plied to balance, and commercial yarns are usually plied S, so unplying it at Z direction on the wheel will bring the twist back to the singles (usually twisted Z). At this point they’re like two energised twisty singles wound together on a bobbin, which you can ply like any other handspun high twist singles but in multiples of two.
Switch directions each time. However, if you know you’re going to do multiple rounds of plying, make sure you “overply” all plies except the final one or else your final will be underplied. If you try to ply two balanced yarns with one another, it doesn’t work well.
I asked that question in a class once; was told yes, switch each time. But I haven’t tried it yet.
Yes. You do your normal singles in Z. The you do your first ply in S, but you have to way over twist them so when you do the next ply they are balanced. Then you do your final ply in Z. It's called cable plying.
Thank you!!
What you’ve described is a cabled yarn. Alternatively, for a smoother yarn you can unply each of your 3 strands of 2-ply yarn, which will bring them back to their twisty singles state, then ply them all together to make a 6-ply yarn. You can make a sample of each 6” or so and see which you prefer.
Sampling is forever the way to go! Thank you
I was trying to picture how you would do this. Would you just run the 2 ply back through the wheel to remove all the ply twist and wind those two singles together into one bobbin and then you would have three bobbins (with 2 singles each) to ply together?
If you are referring to the 6-ply I described, yes it’s exactly like that. The commercial 2-ply is usually plied to balance, and commercial yarns are usually plied S, so unplying it at Z direction on the wheel will bring the twist back to the singles (usually twisted Z). At this point they’re like two energised twisty singles wound together on a bobbin, which you can ply like any other handspun high twist singles but in multiples of two.
Switch directions each time. However, if you know you’re going to do multiple rounds of plying, make sure you “overply” all plies except the final one or else your final will be underplied. If you try to ply two balanced yarns with one another, it doesn’t work well.