Playing with Ply with Amy Tyler

Skill Level

Intermediate

Required Skills:

  • Required Skills: Participants should be able to have some control over the amount of twist and thickness of singles, and should have some experience with plying.

Class Length

  • 2.5 Day Workshop (Friday am thru Sunday noon)

Description

The ply structure of yarn is a significant factor in how a yarn behaves in knitting, crocheting, or weaving. In this workshop, we will spin singles yarns of various thickness and twist, and we will create a variety of plied yarns: both balanced and unbalanced yarns, 2-ply, 3-ply, 4-ply, cabled, crepe, and chain plied. In addition, we will cover some techniques for creating textured yarns in the plying process, incorporating knots, snarls, wraps, and cages. The process of finishing a yarn will also be covered.

Fees

Registration Fee $
Materials Fee $45

Materials Fee includes: Materials fee:  $45 (samples for examination, notebook with handouts, fibers for spinning, sundry supplies) Materials Fees are not collected as part of registration.  They are paid directly to the instructor at the beginning of class.

Students to Bring

  • Spinning wheel in good working order
  • 2 bobbins partially filled with Z-spun singles with approximately the same amount of twist and the same thickness
  • 2 or more additional bobbins
  • lazy kate
  • towel
  • plastic hanger

Instructor Bio

Amy Tyler

Amy's formal training was in modern dance, kinesiology, and physiology. She then taught physical therapy students about critical inquiry, evidence-based practice, and research design. A dozen years ago she left the academic life to pursue fibers arts. Now she teaches spinning and knitting at venues across the country and is well known for her animated and engaging teaching style. She has published articles in Spin-Off and PLY Magazine. Her art and science backgrounds give her a keen understanding of learning movement skills, composition, pattern recognition, and systematic exploration. The result is her focus on spinning and knitting technique, texture, three-dimensional structure, and knit designs that exploit handspinning techniques. You can find out more about her work on her website, http://www.stonesockfibers.com and on her blog, http://stonesockblog.blogspot.com

Gallery

These pictures offer examples of the workshop content or experience.