The Scoop on Spinning: A Beginner's Perspective

If you've read my last post, you'll remember that I've recently taken my first leap into the world of hand-spinning. For the unfamiliar, spinning in this case refers to the process of twisting fibers—derived from plants (cotton, flax—aka linen, bamboo, etc.), animal hair (sheep’s or lamb’s wool, mohair, cashmere, alpaca, and many more), or even synthetic sources—into yarn.

I first caught the spinning bug when I received two skeins of Daisy Chain by Knit Collage in the Frosty Azure colorway as part of a graduation gift from my aunt (she saw me admiring it on a walk to Pike Place when I went to visit her in Seattle back in April); I knit a lovely mock-rib eyelet scarf, with a repeating pattern of k1, (yo, k2tog) on the right-side rows, and purling on the wrong side rows.

Top:  The full scarf.  Bottom:  Close-up of the scarf pattern.  I really wish you could see the tinsel (or "Angelina" as they call it) sparkling in the fabric! 

As I was working the yarn in all its sparkly, flowery glory, I couldn’t help but think about how much fun it would be to do something like that: to be able to make my own yarn in whatever color, weight, and fiber(s) I want, and spin in some fun little doodads here and there once I become more advanced. How hard could it be?

Now that I had the drive, I needed the supplies. At this stage, a drop spindle was the most feasible, and I knew I would have to make my own. In my neck of the woods, spinning supplies aren’t commonly found until the local fiber fiesta in October, and I wasn’t quite ready to make a full financial commitment by buying one online. I’d found several tutorials on how to make and use a drop spindle; this one from Of Wool And Loveliness was my favorite. And she’s right: it really did only cost $1.75 to make (I got my things from the bulk wood section at my local Michael’s). I just had to sand down the end of the dowel to fit my whorl (the wooden toy car wheel), and since I didn’t have access to a drill, secured some heavy plastic-coated crafting wire to the top of the dowel with some masking tape, after twisting the wire and coaxing it into the shape of a hook. Voila! I had my very own spindle!

I started with cotton for a while, just to hold me over until I could buy some wool. It was okay for practicing and making sure my spindle had enough spin, but I found that it was a little to ambitious to start. I’ll go over that more a little further along in the post. Then I found The Wool Lady and all her gorgeous yarns, crafting supplies, and bags of roving (see my previous post, “Fleece, Love and Happiness,” for more on that adventure).

As a total beginner in spinning, and having it go relatively well so far, please allow me to share some of my observations, tips, and my overall perspective on the matter. For those with more spinning experience, there may be a few “no duh, Sherlock” moments, but for all intents and purposes, they do deserve to be acknowledged.

• Take the time to really feel the fiber as you draft—that is, pulling the fibers out from the roving before spinning. Note how much distance the fiber puts between your thumb and forefinger, and how much it spreads out. This will determine how thick your spun yarn singles (un-plied yarn) will be, and is really useful for keeping things consistent. 

• Note that you probably won’t have nice, consistently sized singles the first time around. I certainly didn’t. It takes practice, which will eventually lead to muscle memory and better control.

• If you bought your roving already dyed in multiple colors like I did, divide the roving into thinner strips for a shorter length of a single color, and thicker strips for a longer length, assuming you draft it to the same degree. Also, plan out if and how you want your color pattern to repeat. This will come in handy for plying if you want your yarn to have a particular look.

• If you’re using a spindle that’s not quite heavy enough to produce a lot of spin, don’t let that bother you. As you store your new yarn on the spindle, it will get heavier and spin very nicely. However, if your fiber of choice requires a lot of twist, you might want to add some kind of weight.

• To quote Dr. Seuss, “I'm sorry to say so but, sadly, it's true, that Bang-ups and Hang-ups can happen to you.” Like this for instance: your loose end of roving accidentally blows into your spinning end and gets sucked up into a twisted vortex of doom.

Don’t panic. Take a breath, or two, or several, and gently rotate the spindle in the opposite direction until your roving is free; if it needs some help, gently run your finger along the spinning end of your yarn, starting at the top, going down towards your spindle. It’ll be free in no time.

• Lastly, get your hands on anything that could possibly be spun. You may find that you don’t really like wool, and that cotton provides the texture you’re looking for. Or bamboo. Or alpaca. Or mohair. Have you heard of chiengora? And even different breeds of sheep have different wool characteristics. Research. Put spinnable fiber in your hands. Experiment with plying, or using different amounts of twist.

If you have any tips and observations that I’ve missed, share them in the comments below!  I don't have any pictures of my handspun yet, but the moment I have something made out of it, I'll share my creation with you!