Learning to Spin

Learning to Spin

I have to start this post with an admission, I have been around spinning wheels my entire life and I have definitely done it many times before so the title of this post is a little bit misleading. However I have never really spent any time learning the actual techniques of spinning! My mother is a very seasoned spinner and fibre artist so even after all this time I was taking for granted how much work and time goes into the art of spinning!   I mean I thought I was learning and understanding what to do, but I have never really had much success at it (funny that ;) ) So a couple of weeks ago after attending a Mother's Day Fibre Fair at a local historical ranch ( O'Keefe) I decided that I had better get a hang of spinning for real this time and what fun it has been! There really isn’t anything like fibre flowing through your fingers to create a beautiful new yarn!

Here I am re-learning how to spin. I am spinning on a double treadle Lendrum and that is a Spinoution Hopper wheel next to me. 

First off I decided to use my Lendrum wheel, it is the wheel that I learned on and although I like spinning on Mom’s Spinolution Hopper I wanted to stick to something comfortable.  There are many, many different kinds of wheels, and like any tool certain wheels different wheel are used to make different kinds of yarn. In the shop I carry Spinolution and Schacht because between the two companies they offer a wide range of spinning styles.

The Spinoution Hopper definitely has a modern look

The Lendrum - A beautiful Canadian made wheel

I wanted to focus on making a nice smooth and consistent yarn. I wanted to ply it with itself because I love that look, but in order to achieve that it needs to be thin. My first attempt was a little rocky. I used plain white roving and clearly I was having tension issues. The yarn turned out hard and over-spun.  I was so displeased and frustrated with my results that I didn't even take a picture of it! At this point I was feeling that I should be able to do this better. I have probably spent hundreds of hours watching people spin so I was thinking why can't I do it better! Well practice makes perfect I guess and so I continued. 

I decided that in order to keep myself interested I needed to get some nicer roving, so I switched to this scrumptious hand-dyed 100% merino top (what can I say, I own a yarn shop! I am a yarn snob and I can most definitely tell the difference in quality). This stuff was a dream to use, so soft and silky. This yarn also turned out thick and thin and a bit over spun but it was an improvement from the first go around. Mom reminded me that I needed to pull (or draft) with only one hand not both at once. If you pull just from one direction then you get a more consistent grouping of fibers that makes for a smoother yarn.

Thick and thin and a bit over spun. It is still a lovely yarn to make a hat with!

For my next attempt I used some pretty purple Ashland Bay 100% Merino Top that I carry in the shop. It was very similar spinning to the pink hand-dyed, this time though I spent a bit more time concentrating on my drafting and I realized that I was pedaling to quickly and that was resulting in my over spinning! I am much happier with the result of the purple and I was even able to spin it fine enough to ply it!

What a ball of un-spun fibre looks like.

The nice loose fibres just waiting to be spun into yarn!

After the first spin. This is called a Single-Ply.

The finished product! I was so pleased

My most recent attempt is my favourite thus far! I used an Art Batt that my mom created just for me. J It is a combination of hand-dyed merinos with a bit of sparkly Angelina thrown in. 

What it looks like making an Art Batt on a carder.

Batts are a bit different from roving or tops to spin, but after some pre-drafting I actually found it a bit easier to deal with then the fine merino top. I found that because it wasn’t as highly processed as that the fibres didn’t slip through my fingers quite so quickly and I was able to control the whole process with more ease.  Once plied the majority of the yarn looks just the way I intended it. There are few spots that are a bit thick and underspun but I happen to think that the extra texture adds to its beauty and shows that it is handspun, rather then spun on a machine.

My favourite so far. 

Overall I really did enjoy this process and I am going to continue to work on my skills. There are so many fibres and add-ins to try that i don't think I will tire of it anytime soon! Happy Spinning everyone :)