Opposing Piles and the Quest for Elasticity

According to longtime spinner and teacher Heavenly Bresser, one of a handspinner’s greatest superpowers is the ability to create new and intriguing yarn designs. It simply requires a fresh perspective, some basic skills, and throwing caution to the wind. Noting her desire to try creating different yarn structures, Heavenly sought to investigate the term “opposing ply.”

Join Heavenly as she experiments creating various opposing-ply yarns using wool and seeing how the yarns perform in a knitted fabric. For this experiment, she carefully selected a clean Shropshire fleece, because it is already springy, and is curious to discover whether opposing plies will significantly increase the elasticity or bounce in an already bouncy fiber type.

An opposing-ply yarn doesn’t often look different from other plied yarns at first glance, but an energized ply lies within. See Heavenly’s samples of opposing 3-, 4- and 5-ply yarns, plus get Heavenly’s best tips for spinning your own.

Heavenly Bresser is an award-winning handspinner, teacher at major fiber events (including SOAR), spinning-wheel collector and restorer, and the founder of Heavenly Knitchet. She is excited to share her love of knitting, crocheting, spinning, weaving, and all things fiber related with the world. Some of her areas of passion include a love for working with color, working from fleece, and researching historic information for antique spinning wheels. Heavenly has made it her mission to help fiber artists of all levels expand their knowledge of their craft and try new things. Learn more at heavenlyknitchet.com.