Murano glass spindle from Butterflygirldesigns, fibre from Jessie
About a year or so ago I mentioned my first attempts at spinning. I bought a spindle and some fiber and played a little with it, I managed to make a thread that hung together, but mostly I admired the spindle itself, the craftmanship behind it, and the astonishing fact that all fabric ever made up until a few hundred years back was produced from spindle-spin yarn. I’m talking sheets for Egyptian pharaohs, and sails for Viking ships. Whoa. That is a lot of spindle spinning! Hopefully I lived in a warmer climate in a previous life, cause I think I’d be behind inthe clothing department in spite of the Norwegian proverb stating ‘need teaches naked woman to spin’. Nothing is mentioned about naked men.
I’m ashamed to say my spinning productivity haven’t really boosted the past year, but after the initial playing and understanding the basic principle, I’ve now taken on my first real project. The fibre is a merino/bamboo/nylon blend and the intention is for it to become sock yarn. So far I’ve spun about…half? That is 60 g or 2 oz in half a year. But since this project is all about the learning process I like to think I’ve gotten more out of it than that.
What I’ve learned about spindle spinning so far
- spindles are beautiful little tools and works of art, and spindle buying is highly addictive.
- buying spindles/fibre/books instead of yarn doesn’t make my bank account any fatter.
- I can get a lot done if I spin in those little moments, while waiting for the pasta water to boil and such.
- a spindle can be used anywhere, and also left anywhere. I’m really inspired now but can’t for the life of me figure out where in the apartment I left it!
- I can pack a lot more on the spindle if I lead the single around the bottom of the yarn cop before carrying it up over the whorl and to the hook. In the beginning I had to empty my spindle all the time cause the single just slid through the hook when I had a little yarn wound on.
- If I grab the spindle at the lowest end, and at the thinnest point when I flick it, it spins longer and more evenly. (This has something to do with physics and force and momentum. I don’t know physics, just that it works and that is good enough for me).
- I don’t need to put as much spin into the single as I can, to make durable sock yarn. Inspired by a Ravelry thread I’m now spinning my singles not very tight (not sure if I’m really underspinning, I am not experienced enough to tell) and then compensating for that by adding more twist in the plying process. In theory this should make sproingy yarn.
- Chain (navajo) plying on the wheel is a great way to overcome the Fear of the Wheel.
The single is breaking on me both during spinning and plying but it is getting better. I had trouble overlapping fibre in the beginning (adding more when I was about to finish the bit of top I was spinning) but that is getting better too. I’m not so good at splicing the singles together but guess also that will come with practice.
I’m winding the yarn to a toilet paper core when the spindle is full ( and I can’t quite get over the transition in material and elegance from the stone and hardwood precision tool to a cardboard roll. As always, toilet paper rolls do the job, they are just not meant to be seen).Then, with the help from this brilliant video, I’m learning to chain ply the single on my wheel.
My first plied yarn, about fingering weight. Can’t wait to see how it will stripe in a sock!
The number one thing I’ve learned though, is that there is only one way to learn how to spin, and that is to spin. The academic in me has read books, researched the web, read more, watched videos..but really, this isn’t about brain training, it is finger training. When I started spinning a few times a week I suddenly noticed that my fingers were adjusting, finding an easier and faster way to to what I needed to do, or I’d suddenly discover that I was automatically doing something I had trouble with earlier. I think this is what I find most fascinating with crafts, when you see a pair of hands making it look so easy, and then realize all the knowledge and experience living in those hands, and how no book can preserve that knowledge.
That is a gorgeous spindle – and I love the yarn you are spinning!
I agree – spinning is one of those things that you really learn by doing – I think even 10 minutes a day really makes a difference!
Spinning! I need to do more of this. Congrats on your first plied yarn! I wish I had a wheel with which to do that, haha.
The yarn is beautiful.. I must look away though. My yarn stash is too big to even start thinking about spinning. Despite of all the reading, it’s practice that makes it right… great advice!
I love this post as it seems so similar to my experience in spinning. Despite all the books I read, it really *wasn’t* until I just sat with fiber in hand at the wheel or with the spindle that I got it. 🙂
Beautiful spindle and beautiful spinning! It’s good to see you back blogging again.