Mixing Colors in a 3-ply Yarn

In my Knittyspin column in the new issue of Knitty I compare an overplied 2-ply to a 3-ply yarn (top photo).

I didn't plan very well for my samples fiber-wise. I got very excited spinning my 2-ply yarns and didn't have a lot of fiber left over for my 3-ply (second photo).

I divided each of the three hunks into three pieces, along the natural breaks in the fiber (photos three and four).

Then I rearranged them in three different orders (photo five).

When I spun and plied the fiber the colors inyarn are more mixed up than if I had just spun them as they were (top photo yarn on the right).

Next time I'll plan a little better!