I took a trip to The Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival this year, and took a spinning class on plying taught by Maggie Casey. She has so much to teach, she could most likely have chatted about plying all day. As it was, our three hour class was chock full, and ran into overtime. Talk about inspiring! I used to just spin, but now I have IDEAS on how to break up a hank of fiber to make the end yarn look differently.
I picked up a three-bobbin lazy kate at MSWF (my birthday present from the husband) and got the idea (yes, from Maggie) to try it out with a three-ply. I just so happened to have two hanks of June Pryce Fiber Arts hand dyed superwash Merino in the colorway "Hawaiian", dyed by my sister, Cheryl. Lovely in the hank. Gorgeous. Then I spun it. And it got even better. I didn't think that would be possible. I LOVE the result (that Maggie knows what she's doing).
I even took a shot at coils the other day (ala Jaycee Boggs). I definately need more practice, as my coils turned out to be more like cocoons. I just went with it. I'll try coils again soon, but if the fiber wanted to be soft cocoon-ish blobs, so be it.
