My First Navajo Ply

I spun my first najavo plied yarn the other day, and wanted to share pictures.  I found some really lovely alpaca fiber in my stash, and it has such pretty colors I wanted to try to keep them separate.  Navajo plying, or chain plying, is a way to take a single (single strand of yarn) and ply it back on itself to create a 3 ply yarn.  The standard way of plying would put 2 singles (or more) together, and you'd end up with a barber pole effect with the colors.  Navajo plying gives you a 3 ply with gradual color changes.  

I tried separating by color...white, blue, and tan.

I had a little bit of trouble with my singles wanting to kink up on themselves, so there are a few little pigtails like in the picture below.

Now I need to wind it into a hank and wash it, then decide what to knit with it!

A friend sent me this video, by Sarah Anderson.  She has a very calm, gentle way of plying and it her video makes it easy to understand and learn.  I just picked up one of her books at the library, called The Spinner's Book of Yarn Designs, and I think this would be a great one to own.  I've only looked through it briefly, but I can see there are so many great pictures and descriptions.