I just started spinning an eight breed study I purchased a couple years ago. The pack came with 4 ounces of each type of wool, all undyed.
This is the first finished hank. It’s Shetland-Moorit wool in a medium, heathered brown. It was lovely to spin, and fluffed up beautifully with a wash. It’s chain-plied, with a Z twist…pretty much my go-to formula for yarn lately. I find it gives a nice, round yarn with lots of bounce, and the three plies tend to even out most of the variation of the single. And chain-plying is relaxing as all get out.
It came out to 255 yards (114g) and roughly 11-12wpi.
It’s just the method it’s spun with. S and Z are directions of twist and opposite of one another. Most commercial yarns are finished as S, but Z works better for crochet because of how the stitches twist the yarn. Chain-plying is basically just making large chain stitches (like in crochet) as you feed twist into the yarn - it triples up the yarn for an easy 3-ply. Two-ply yarn tend to flatten out and make for a good drape in the finished fabric. Three or more plies gives a rounder yarn, great for durability, warmth, and stitch definition. Yarn is also quite compressed just after spinning and needs one more step - hot water or steam. It sets the twist and causes the yarn to bloom (fluff up). I forgot to take before shots, but this yarn went from DK to worsted with a bath.
