Navajo Plying! Spinning fun!

So, I've been getting to know my wheel and been trying to spin every day. I was sick for most of last week so didn't get too much spinning done. I did do a cool demo for my nephews fourth grade class and showed them what hand carding and spindle spinning is. :) They thought it was cool and I actually brought extra fiber and gave them a piece of locks and some roving to take home! They loved it! I love teaching! Someone took some video so as soon as I get that I'll share with you. I didn't actually dress as a Pioneer woman because I just wasn't feeling great.

Well...back to why I am posting! So, I was practicing hand carding because I had never done it and was going to be demonstrating so I watched a bunch of youtube videos and I think I got the hang of it. Edited to add picture of my fiber before, the hand carding, and the rolags.Here is one of the video's that helped me.

While practicing, I made a bunch of rolags out of some fiber my dogs had got into back when I gave them a chance, they are no longer allowed unsupervised around any fiber!! and so I had this fiber and used it to practice dyeing but the roving was a mess so I figured it would be perfect to use to hand card!

So, I hand carded about 3 oz into rolags. (edited to add image)

and then spun them using the long draw method. Well, my teaching myself the long draw method. The final single was a little lumpy and some was pretty thin but over I think I sort of got it. ;) Then I decided that I would use it to learn to do the navajo ply.

Again I watched a bunch of youtube videos and just dove in! This is one of them that I thought was the best I found.

I think by the end I got it but at first it was a mess! Here is a final picture of my first navajo ply. It started out as a black and red mess and now it's a pretty purple with red and black bits. :)

Well..I plan to talk more about Navajo plying on my next podcast episode but wanted to add info to my blog as well. :) Hope you enjoyed this. For those new spinners, definitely try it out. I've learned that you can't be intimidated about new techniques and there will always be more fiber and yarn! That goes for knitting too!!

Happy Spinning!!