BraidPly: Fractal Spin Plan

Decide how one dyed braid gets divided before you pull it apart. BraidPly holds the ply count, the color order, the strip counts and the end you start from, then walks you through the preparation beside the wheel.

For a handspinner who already knows they want a fractal spin and wants the division and the strip order written down. BraidPly plans the preparation. It does not describe the yarn you will end up with.

What you enter

The braid. A name, an optional note, and the total weight in grams or ounces.
The ply count. Two or three.
The color order. Two to twelve named colors, in the order they run along the braid.
The strip counts. One per ply, from one to eight. At least two plies have to differ, because plies split the same number of times repeat at the same scale and that is outside what this app plans.
The starting end. End A or End B. Every strip is spun from that same end.

What you get back

Order map, not length preview

Illustration drawn on this page in CSS. It is not a screenshot of the app, and the colored blocks are equal tokens showing the order colors arrive in, not the physical length of anything. It draws the worked example below: 120 g, 2-ply, strip counts 1 and 4, colors Berry, Gold and Moss, starting at End A. Ply 1 is one strip; Ply 2 is four strips, each reading Berry, Gold, Moss from End A. Every color block also carries its initial and a distinct fill pattern, so nothing here depends on seeing color.

Exact fractions beside approximate weights

The fraction is the instruction. Each ply is exactly one half of the braid in a 2-ply plan and exactly one third in a 3-ply plan, and each strip inside a ply is that ply's share divided evenly again. Those fractions are exact and the app keeps them in front of you.

The weights are the practical check. They are approximate, and labelled that way, because fiber density varies along a braid: hitting a number on the scale is not proof that a lengthwise division was even.

The worked example above, 120 g total.
Piece	Planned share	Weight check
Ply 1, one strip	1/2	about 60.0 g
Ply 2, each of four strips	1/8	about 15.0 g
Ply 2, whole	1/2	about 60.0 g

Where a division does not land on a tidy decimal, the app says so rather than rounding it away. A 100 g braid across three plies shows one third each, about 33.3 g, and the app does not claim the three rounded labels add back up to 100 g.

Every strip starts at the same end

Pick End A or End B once, and every strip in the plan carries an arrow from that end and a number for its place in the order. Switch the plan to the other end and every arrow and every color sequence turns with it, on screen and in the exported card. The strips themselves are not reordered.

A checklist beside the wheel

Large ordered steps: the first division into plies, each further lengthwise split, laying every strip the same way round, then spinning them in numbered order.
Tap a step to complete it, undo it, or jump back to one.
Close the app and come back. The plan and its progress are still there.

Grams or ounces

Work in either. Switching between them changes the numbers you read, not the plan: the weight stays what you entered. One ounce is treated as 28.349523125 g, so a 4 oz braid stays 4 oz however many times you toggle.

Braid weights run from 0.1 g to 5000 g, with two to twelve colors and one to eight strips per ply. Out-of-range or malformed input is rejected and explained rather than quietly corrected into a number you did not mean.

Saved plans and a spin card

Name a plan and see it in a local library with its ply lanes, ply count, total weight and when you last edited it.
Open, duplicate, rename or delete. Deleting asks first.
A fresh install starts empty, with an example plan you can load on purpose rather than one that appears by itself.
Export a one-page A4 or US Letter PDF card, or a shareable image, drawn from the same numbers the screen shows: plan identity, exact fractions, approximate weights, the named color legend, the ply lanes, the strip order, the starting end, and the same order-map wording.

The card is a planning reference to keep beside you. It is not a physical-scale template and nothing on it is printed to size.

What BraidPly does not do

It does not predict the yarn. It says nothing about how the finished skein will look, how twist will settle, how long the color runs will be once spun, which color will read as dominant, or how much yardage you will get. Drafting, ply take-up and how the fiber is actually distributed decide all of that, and none of them can be known from a ply count and a weight.

It also does not teach fractal spinning, hold a fiber stash, track wheels or bobbins, calculate WPI or grist, time your sessions, or keep a general project journal. It prepares one braid for one spin.

Price

2.99 US dollars

One purchase. Every plan, both ply counts, the prep checklist and every export are included.

That is the United States price. Prices in other regions come from Apple's regional price tiers and vary. No subscription, no in-app purchases, no advertising.

Your data

Your plans are stored on your device. The app does not upload them to us, has no analytics and needs no account. Device backups may include them, and a card you export goes wherever you choose to send it. The privacy page has the detail.

Requirements

iPhone, iOS 17 or later. Portrait and landscape. Dynamic Type, including the larger accessibility sizes.