My First 3 Ply

...by Hasbro!
No, really, this is going to be my first batch of 3 ply, and it feels a bit like it felt when I tied my shoes or rode a bike for the first time.
Oh, by the way, I learned how to spin a couple of months ago. Now I have even less space in my studio as bags of roving are added to the enormous yarn stash. But to get back to the point...

I spun the first bobbin on Thursday and Friday last week. I've already used this fiber (multicolored merino top) for 2 skeins of 2-ply spindle spun, which is already earmarked for a hat/mittens project. After doing a bit more reading and getting some wheel practice in, I decided I wanted to spin a heavy worsted-weight 3 ply yarn on the wheel.
I don't think this yarn is going to end up chunky, though. I had to try pretty hard to produce a single as thick as my sample, such as it was. This was the "sample" three-ply I had as my reference:

I have a hunch that making sample cards of my singles and plied yarn is going to be one of those things that I have to learn the hard way is not optional, like when I learned that gauge swatching is mandatory after making the Buckwheat Hat. (The Buckwheat Hat was my first non-scarf project, so called because it could have accommodated a large Afro with room to spare; naturally, I had to frog the entire thing. It is now in my stash, waiting to be knit up post-Kool Aid Dye Experiment).
Anyway, the 3-ply sample was made from three fairly short lengths of singles, all of which were created while I was getting used to spinning the merino on the wheel, and as a result were replete with thick and thin spots. Also, I didn't leave any of the singles unplied, so I had to pick a spot I liked on the plied length of yarn and un-twist it to see how thick the singles were at that spot.
Pretty unscientific.
Well, ignorance is bliss and I forged ahead and spun all three bobbins of singles, after splitting the roving into three piles of approximately 2.1 ounces each so the bobbins would (theoretically) contain the same amount of yarn.

Aren't they pretty? I could honestly leave them like this for a while as a decoration. This is the most spinning I have done so far on the wheel.
Here's a clearer picture, though:

You may be able to tell which bobbins I spun first (most twist), second and third (less twist). I'm still mulling over whether I need to run the last bobbin back through the wheel to tighten it up a bit before I ply it. Not having much experience upon which to draw, I'm not sure how much of an effect this will have on the plied yarn.
Pictures of the finished yarn will be forthcoming.