How to Spin 3-Ply Yarn: Techniques for Beginners

When you browse a yarn store, you can find yarn in various thicknesses, textures, and, obviously, colors.

When you spin your yarn, the outcome is up to you.

I will share how to create a chain ply or 3-ply yarn in this post.

A chain or 3-ply yarn occurs when you take three singles – three strands of yarn or fiber that have been spun, and twist them together to make a three-strand yarn.

In my video here, I shared a two-ply yarn spinning technique. The video shows how to take two bobbins of singles to create a two-strand yarn.

For this three-strand chain ply, you will just need one bobbin of single-spun yarn and an empty bobbin.

To start, you need to spin your first bobbin full of fiber.

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Steps to chain ply yarn

1. Spin a bobbin’s worth of fiber into a single (a single twisted strand of yarn).
2. Remove your bobbin with the single from your wheel and load an empty bobbin
3. Set up a Lazy Kate or alternate unwinding method
4. Chain ply your yarn
5. Wind yarn onto a niddy noddy or use a ball winder to remove it from the bobbin

Tools and materials you will need

• Spinning wheel (you can chain ply on a drop spindle, but the method is different than for a spinning wheel)

• Bobbin with spun single
• Empty bobbin
• Lazy Kate or a box and a long knitting needle or skewer
• Niddy noddy or ball winder (optional)

Video tutorial

Chain plying tutorial

Setting up the wheel for plying

After you have filled your first bobbin with a spun single, you will remove this bobbin from the wheel and replace it with an empty bobbin.

Load the bobbin as usual, threading your leader yarn through the hooks and orifice hole as necessary.

Next, you will set up your bobbin with the spun singles onto a Lazy Kate.

Making your own Lazy Kate

If you don’t have a Lazy Kate, you can use a shoebox or other cardboard box that’s slightly bigger than the bobbin.

Punch a hole in both sides of the box big enough to fit a skewer or knitting needle.

Using a long knitting needle or skewer, send it through one of the holes in the box, thread on the full bobbin, and then send the end of your knitting needle or skewer through the hole on the other side.

Add a hair tie or rubber band to the end so that it doesn’t slip out.

Now you have a makeshift Lazy Kate.

Ensure that the bobbin spins freely before beginning to spin.

I have a quick tutorial on how to make this in my 2-Ply video.

Preparing to ply

Now, you’ll set your lazy kate beside you so that you can easily draw on the yarn and have it unwind.

I like to have a loop at the end of my leader yarn so that I can loop my single through when I begin spinning.

You can also attach it to the end with the twist. I open up the loop and fold over some of the yarn from my full bobbin.

When I spin my singles, I spin in a clockwise direction so that when I go back to do any plying, I will spin in the opposite direction. Identify which direction you spun your single and then begin spinning in the opposite direction.

You spin twist into your singles one way and spin twist out of them to ply them in the other direction.

That twists them together, making a nice, even-balanced yarn, which means that there’s not so much twist in it that it kinks up and becomes a gnarled mess.

You balance it out by taking out some twist and causing that twist to twist the two strands, or in this case, three strands, together.

How to chain ply

You might need to adjust your wheel’s tension so that the yarn is pulled onto your bobbin.

To chain ply:

1. Position your bobbin of singles near the hand you will use to make the loops (usually your dominant hand). Keep the bobbin close to minimize pulling off too much yarn at once.
2. Tie the end of the single to the leader on a fresh bobbin.
3. Make a loop with the single, then reach through and pull more of the single to make a large crochet-style chain. The loop size determines the spacing of the small bumps at intersections.
4. Use your other hand to control the twist entering the chained loops. Pinch above where you want the twist to stop.
5. Continue chaining loops and allowing twist into the plied section. Larger loops mean fewer bumps in the finished yarn.

Some tips:

• Always ply in the opposite direction from how you spun the singles.
• Keep your hands separated and move slowly to maintain control.
• Let the yarn feed onto the bobbin under tension after each loop.
• Pre-chain plying the singles into a plying ball can make it easier to manage longer lengths and ply in confined spaces.

With practice, chain plying allows you to create balanced 3-ply yarns with color repeats from a single bobbin.

It expands your options for creatively plying your handspun singles.

Finishing the yarn

And that’s it!

That’s how you three-ply yarn using the chain-ply method.

Now, you can put your new yarn on a niddy noddy to create a skein or wind it up into a ball.

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