>>I think that each way of doing it will give you a different look and feel to the final yarn. Personally, I would lean towards all 5 at once or ply 3, ply 2 and then ply those together.
Are all the plies identical or are the different?<< I sort of was going for plying them all together. This is the first time that I deliberately sat down to spin, with an eye towards spinning as fine a single as possible. I have to ply all 5 together, to get a yarn thick enough for me to want to knit it into a shawl. I tried my best to keep the yarns as identical as possible, in twist, etc. All the singles have merino, with another fiber thrown in, just because I was experimenting with various fibers. So there's going to be differences in the plies, based on the various fibers I used. I can tell it's going to be a learning experience. -- wrnk d2
