I have become so enamoured with Ply Magazine that I have been buying one back issue per paycheck and reading through them. This is a thoroughly enjoyable luxury I've afforded myself.

The Summer 2014 Issue is all about Twist. Before I started reading this issue, I had classicly declared, I didn't really need/want to get into the technical specifications of spinning, it' smy fibre hobby that' sjust my hobby. I'm happy to make wahtever yarn comes of my fleece. The truth is I am a good enough weaver to  work with whatever I spin. This is true, but reading this issue of Ply is giving me a lot of great knowledge and knowledge is power.

This issue helped me finally understand why I should keep in mind what ratios are available to me on my wheels. Ratios now seem to be the easiest way to determine whether I am going to make a thick or a thin yarn. So even if you aren't aiming for specifically for lace wieght at 10 twist per inch, etc, etc. It is still a good idea to be aware of your ratios.

For those who aren't familiar with ratios the smaller the whorl you use, the more time your flyer will rotate for each treadle, so this means that you can treadle at your normal rate but put more twists in without treadling more or treadling faster! That is pretty cool.

It also confirmed what I thought I remembered reading that thinner yarns need more twist to keep the fibres together while being strong, but because thicker yarns contain more fibre they do not need as much twist to make them strong.

So even if you don't care to jot down that you spun a particular yarn using your 6.5:1 ratio whorl, it is good to remember that the smaller the whorl the easier it will be to spin a smaller yarn, the bigger the yarn you desire the bigger the whorl you can use. So we will effect the yarn that comes from a fleece by simply changing the whorl ratio. :)

Happy spinning everyone,

Erica

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