March 10, 2025 • 12 mins
In this episode of The Sheepspot Podcast, Sasha dives into the various yarn structures, focusing specifically on singles, two-ply, and three-ply yarns, and discusses when and why to choose each type. She talks about the unique characteristics and advantages of each structure, such as the smoothness of singles, the texture and balance of two-ply yarns, and the consistency and durability of three-ply yarns. She also shares insights into how these choices impact knitting projects, highlighting the importance of selecting the right yarn structure for lace, cables, and other patterns.
You can find the script for this episode HERE.
You can comment on and discuss this episode here in The Flock, Sheepspot’s free online community for inquisitive spinners.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:58):
Singles and two-plies and three-plies. Oh my!
But when should you choose one of these yarn structures over another?
I'll break it all down for you in this episode, the first of this month's focus
on the yarn structure and plying pillar of skillful spinning.
Hello there, darling Sheepspotter. Welcome to episode 144 of the Sheepspot Podcast.
(01:24):
I'm Sasha, and my job is to help you make more yarns you love.
In today's episode, we're going to talk about the most common yarn structures,
both in hand-spun and commercial yarns, their strengths and weaknesses,
and why you should choose one over another in a specific situation.
(01:45):
Before we get started, though, grab some yarn from your stash.
If you can, pull a singles yarn that is an unplied yarn, two-ply yarn,
a three-ply yarn, and if you can find one, one with more than three plies.
And it can be either hand-spun or commercial yarn, but I think what we're going
(02:06):
to talk about today will be much more real to you if you're actually looking
at and touching some examples.
In episode 97, When Hand spun attacks.
I talked about how, when I was new to knitting with hand spun,
I made three different shawls with eyelets with three-ply yarns.
(02:27):
I was really into three-ply yarns at the time, and pretty much all the yarns
I was making were three-plies.
And I was also, for some reason, at the same time, obsessed with triangular shawls.
So I guess I just put them together without thinking too much about it.
But when you're matching a yarn to a project or creating a yarn from scratch,
(02:49):
especially for a project, it really pays to think about the structure of the
yarn and whether it's suitable for the cloth you want to make.
There's a good reason to choose a two-ply yarn when you're knitting lace,
just as there's a good reason to use a yarn with three or more plies when knitting cables.
There are times when using a singles yarn makes sense and times when it makes
(03:13):
less sense. So let's get into it.
Let's start with singles or unplied yarns.
When you're working with a limited amount of fiber and you're trying to produce
as much yardage as possible,
or when you want to produce yarn quickly, it can be very tempting to skip the
(03:34):
plying step and spin a singles yarn.
But I want to advise a little bit of caution.
There are really good reasons to ply, and I'll get to this in a bit.
And singles yarns have some peculiarities that you should take into account
when you're choosing them.
If you have pulled a singles yarn from your stash, have a look at it.
(03:57):
Since it's unplied, it's round and it has a pretty smooth surface.
Made into cloth, singles yarn have a particular look to them.
Without the complexity of multiple plies to create texture, stockinette knit
with singles has a smooth surface.
Now there are three aspects of singles yarn that are important to think about
(04:21):
when you're choosing them.
The first is consistency of diameter.
Hand spun singles are likely to be somewhat less consistent than your plied yarns.
Even if you're a very accomplished spinner and your yarns are pretty consistent,
plying has the effect of evening out the diameter of your finished yarn overall,
(04:43):
because thinner spots in your yarn have opportunities to cuddle up with thicker spots.
So if consistency is very important to you, that might be an option,
a reason to opt for applied yarn.
The second thing to think about is twist and biasing. So single yarns are not plied.
(05:08):
Therefore, there is no ply twist to balance the singles twist in the yarn,
and as a result, singles can bias when they're made into cloth.
By bias, I mean that they can cause the stitches in your fabric and your fabric
as a whole to actually tilt or lean in one direction or the other,
(05:29):
depending on which direction they've been spun.
There are ways to handle singles tendency to bias.
If you steam a singles yarn in finishing it, you can actually permanently take
out a lot of that singles twist and make the yarns behave more like applied yarn.
You can also try knitting with a tighter gauge or weaving a denser cloth in
(05:54):
order to give the cloth just less room to move around.
And you can also use a stitch pattern if you're knitting that incorporates both
knit stitches and purl stitches on the same side of the fabric because your
knit stitches will bias in one direction,
your purl stitches will bias in the opposite direction, and as a result they'll balance each other out.
(06:18):
The last thing to think about when you're thinking about using a singles yarn is durability.
One of the reasons that we ply yarns in the first place is to make them stronger and more durable.
If you have a two-ply yarn in front of you, grab it and have a look at it.
In a yarn with two or more plies, if abrasion causes one of those plies to fail
(06:43):
or break, you still have some yarn there that's going to hold your stitches together.
You don't have any backup plies, in other words, in a singles yarn,
so they are more prone to wear and abrasion.
We also often spin singles that won't be plied with less twist,
and that too makes them less durable and more prone to pilling.
(07:07):
There are things that you can do to mitigate these problems,
like slightly fulling your singles in finishing, but these are things that you
should take into account when you're deciding to make and use a singles yarn.
Singles yarns will hold open holes in lace after blocking.
You'll likely see less stitch definition, though, in patterns knit with singles,
(07:31):
and your cables will be flat and kind of unobtrusive.
Color work, too, would be less crisp when knit with singles.
Now grab that two-ply yarn again and look at the surface of it.
You'll notice that it's not smooth. It has a textured surface kind of like a string of pearls.
(07:53):
In a two-ply yarn, the singles twist is balanced by the ply twist,
so there's no need to worry about biasing.
But the way twist works in two plies is important to understand because the
twist energy in the two plies pushes the plies together where they cross,
(08:13):
and then pushes them apart in the spaces between.
And that outward push of the singles against one another is what holds open
the holes in lace, and is why a two-ply is usually the best choice for lace.
The textured surface of a two-ply will translate to your cloth.
(08:35):
Knit up two-ply yarns give the surface of stockinette stitch a subtle bumpiness
that adds some visual depth.
Your two-ply yarns will be more consistent than your singles and they'll be
stronger and more durable as well.
Complex stitch patterns and cables will be more dimensional than they would
be made with a singles yarn, but many knitters prefer three-ply yarns in these situations.
(09:00):
So let's have a look at three-ply yarns and talk about why.
So grab your three-ply yarn and have a look at it.
Three-ply yarns are smooth and round because the third ply fills in the space between the other two.
With three plies and with yarns with more than three plies, the twist energy
(09:24):
is more evenly distributed among the plies, and the yarn fills in the stitches nicely,
rather than holding them open as in a two-ply.
Your three-ply yarns will also be more consistent in diameter,
because with more plies you have even more chances for rogue thick or thin spots
(09:45):
to be balanced out by the other plies.
All of these characteristics combine to give cloth made with three-ply yarns
a smoother appearance than those made with two-plies.
Three-ply yarns make stitch patterns appear more defined and cables appear more sculptural.
And if you've got a yarn with four or more plies, it will make stitch patterns
(10:12):
yet more defined and cables yet more sculptural.
The extra ply in a three-ply yarn makes them even more durable than a two-ply
yarn, and their smooth surface also makes them less prone to pilling.
So, when do you use a singles yarn? When do you use a two-ply or a three-ply?
(10:35):
Have you ever made a project that might have been improved by the choice of
a different ply structure, as I have? I'd love to learn more about how you think
about ply structure when you're designing and using your yarns.
There's a dedicated discussion thread in the flock where you can comment on
this episode and discuss it with me and other listeners.
(10:57):
The link is in the show notes for this episode, which you'll find right inside your podcast app.
Just open up the description for this episode, click the link,
and you'll be taken right to the thread.
Darling Sheepspotter, that is it for me this week. Thank you so much for listening.
I will be back next week with an episode about one of my favorite yarn structures, cabled yarn.
(11:22):
You don't want to miss it. Until then, spin something.
Whatever ply structure you choose, I promise it will do you good.
Singles and two-plies and three-plies. Oh my!
But when should you choose one of these yarn structures over another?
I'll break it all down for you in this episode, the first of this month's focus
on the yarn structure and plying pillar of skillful spinning.
Hello there, darling Sheepspotter. Welcome to episode 144 of the Sheepspot Podcast.
(01:24):
I'm Sasha, and my job is to help you make more yarns you love.
In today's episode, we're going to talk about the most common yarn structures,
both in hand-spun and commercial yarns, their strengths and weaknesses,
and why you should choose one over another in a specific situation.
(01:45):
Before we get started, though, grab some yarn from your stash.
If you can, pull a singles yarn that is an unplied yarn, two-ply yarn,
a three-ply yarn, and if you can find one, one with more than three plies.
And it can be either hand-spun or commercial yarn, but I think what we're going
(02:06):
to talk about today will be much more real to you if you're actually looking
at and touching some examples.
In episode 97, When Hand spun attacks.
I talked about how, when I was new to knitting with hand spun,
I made three different shawls with eyelets with three-ply yarns.
(02:27):
I was really into three-ply yarns at the time, and pretty much all the yarns
I was making were three-plies.
And I was also, for some reason, at the same time, obsessed with triangular shawls.
So I guess I just put them together without thinking too much about it.
But when you're matching a yarn to a project or creating a yarn from scratch,
(02:49):
especially for a project, it really pays to think about the structure of the
yarn and whether it's suitable for the cloth you want to make.
There's a good reason to choose a two-ply yarn when you're knitting lace,
just as there's a good reason to use a yarn with three or more plies when knitting cables.
There are times when using a singles yarn makes sense and times when it makes
(03:13):
less sense. So let's get into it.
Let's start with singles or unplied yarns.
When you're working with a limited amount of fiber and you're trying to produce
as much yardage as possible,
or when you want to produce yarn quickly, it can be very tempting to skip the
(03:34):
plying step and spin a singles yarn.
But I want to advise a little bit of caution.
There are really good reasons to ply, and I'll get to this in a bit.
And singles yarns have some peculiarities that you should take into account
when you're choosing them.
If you have pulled a singles yarn from your stash, have a look at it.
(03:57):
Since it's unplied, it's round and it has a pretty smooth surface.
Made into cloth, singles yarn have a particular look to them.
Without the complexity of multiple plies to create texture, stockinette knit
with singles has a smooth surface.
Now there are three aspects of singles yarn that are important to think about
(04:21):
when you're choosing them.
The first is consistency of diameter.
Hand spun singles are likely to be somewhat less consistent than your plied yarns.
Even if you're a very accomplished spinner and your yarns are pretty consistent,
plying has the effect of evening out the diameter of your finished yarn overall,
(04:43):
because thinner spots in your yarn have opportunities to cuddle up with thicker spots.
So if consistency is very important to you, that might be an option,
a reason to opt for applied yarn.
The second thing to think about is twist and biasing. So single yarns are not plied.
(05:08):
Therefore, there is no ply twist to balance the singles twist in the yarn,
and as a result, singles can bias when they're made into cloth.
By bias, I mean that they can cause the stitches in your fabric and your fabric
as a whole to actually tilt or lean in one direction or the other,
(05:29):
depending on which direction they've been spun.
There are ways to handle singles tendency to bias.
If you steam a singles yarn in finishing it, you can actually permanently take
out a lot of that singles twist and make the yarns behave more like applied yarn.
You can also try knitting with a tighter gauge or weaving a denser cloth in
(05:54):
order to give the cloth just less room to move around.
And you can also use a stitch pattern if you're knitting that incorporates both
knit stitches and purl stitches on the same side of the fabric because your
knit stitches will bias in one direction,
your purl stitches will bias in the opposite direction, and as a result they'll balance each other out.
(06:18):
The last thing to think about when you're thinking about using a singles yarn is durability.
One of the reasons that we ply yarns in the first place is to make them stronger and more durable.
If you have a two-ply yarn in front of you, grab it and have a look at it.
In a yarn with two or more plies, if abrasion causes one of those plies to fail
(06:43):
or break, you still have some yarn there that's going to hold your stitches together.
You don't have any backup plies, in other words, in a singles yarn,
so they are more prone to wear and abrasion.
We also often spin singles that won't be plied with less twist,
and that too makes them less durable and more prone to pilling.
(07:07):
There are things that you can do to mitigate these problems,
like slightly fulling your singles in finishing, but these are things that you
should take into account when you're deciding to make and use a singles yarn.
Singles yarns will hold open holes in lace after blocking.
You'll likely see less stitch definition, though, in patterns knit with singles,
(07:31):
and your cables will be flat and kind of unobtrusive.
Color work, too, would be less crisp when knit with singles.
Now grab that two-ply yarn again and look at the surface of it.
You'll notice that it's not smooth. It has a textured surface kind of like a string of pearls.
(07:53):
In a two-ply yarn, the singles twist is balanced by the ply twist,
so there's no need to worry about biasing.
But the way twist works in two plies is important to understand because the
twist energy in the two plies pushes the plies together where they cross,
(08:13):
and then pushes them apart in the spaces between.
And that outward push of the singles against one another is what holds open
the holes in lace, and is why a two-ply is usually the best choice for lace.
The textured surface of a two-ply will translate to your cloth.
(08:35):
Knit up two-ply yarns give the surface of stockinette stitch a subtle bumpiness
that adds some visual depth.
Your two-ply yarns will be more consistent than your singles and they'll be
stronger and more durable as well.
Complex stitch patterns and cables will be more dimensional than they would
be made with a singles yarn, but many knitters prefer three-ply yarns in these situations.
(09:00):
So let's have a look at three-ply yarns and talk about why.
So grab your three-ply yarn and have a look at it.
Three-ply yarns are smooth and round because the third ply fills in the space between the other two.
With three plies and with yarns with more than three plies, the twist energy
(09:24):
is more evenly distributed among the plies, and the yarn fills in the stitches nicely,
rather than holding them open as in a two-ply.
Your three-ply yarns will also be more consistent in diameter,
because with more plies you have even more chances for rogue thick or thin spots
(09:45):
to be balanced out by the other plies.
All of these characteristics combine to give cloth made with three-ply yarns
a smoother appearance than those made with two-plies.
Three-ply yarns make stitch patterns appear more defined and cables appear more sculptural.
And if you've got a yarn with four or more plies, it will make stitch patterns
(10:12):
yet more defined and cables yet more sculptural.
The extra ply in a three-ply yarn makes them even more durable than a two-ply
yarn, and their smooth surface also makes them less prone to pilling.
So, when do you use a singles yarn? When do you use a two-ply or a three-ply?
(10:35):
Have you ever made a project that might have been improved by the choice of
a different ply structure, as I have? I'd love to learn more about how you think
about ply structure when you're designing and using your yarns.
There's a dedicated discussion thread in the flock where you can comment on
this episode and discuss it with me and other listeners.
(10:57):
The link is in the show notes for this episode, which you'll find right inside your podcast app.
Just open up the description for this episode, click the link,
and you'll be taken right to the thread.
Darling Sheepspotter, that is it for me this week. Thank you so much for listening.
I will be back next week with an episode about one of my favorite yarn structures, cabled yarn.
(11:22):
You don't want to miss it. Until then, spin something.
Whatever ply structure you choose, I promise it will do you good.
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