Welcome to The Spinning Barn!
And welcome to Part 2 of my blog series, Considerations of a Hand Spinner. If you were with me for Part 1, where we explored different fibre choices, welcome back! But if you’re just joining me now, don’t worry—I’ll catch you up on how this series came to be and why it’s such an important topic for hand spinners.
Over the past twelve years, I’ve had the pleasure of teaching countless new spinners and welcoming them into the wonderful world of hand spinning. Each of you has brought your own unique touch, and I’ve been continually inspired, intrigued, and proud of your achievements.
Recently, I’ve been reflecting not just on the joy of teaching new spinners, but also on the essential considerations every spinner—whether new or experienced—should keep in mind when embarking on a new project.
That’s why I’ve decided to create a blog series entitled Considerations of a Hand Spinner. In this series, I’ll dive into the different aspects of a spinning project, offering insights that will hopefully inspire you to explore your own spinning practice more deeply. My goal is to help you understand what’s happening at each stage of your project and why, setting you up for success with every spin.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with spinning purely for the joy it brings. I encourage you to do just that! Spinning can be one of the most relaxing and mindful activities, and the more you enjoy it, the more you’ll want to spin. However, by taking a moment to reflect on the areas I’ll be exploring in this blog series, you can unlock a whole new level of precision and fulfillment in your hand spinning journey.
I hope you’ll join me in each instalment as we explore these considerations together. And as we go through this journey, I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences along the way!
Those of you who know me will know that I always suggest that you test, test, test your yarn making process and that means at every stage from choosing the best method of scouring a fleece, the most appropriate preparation and spinning techniques right through to knitting a tension square because it isn't until you work through the whole process that you really know what the yarn structure will be or how it will behave for your project. And it only requires a small test skein to know if you need to change the wraps per inch or the amount of twist or twist angle in the ply for example. If you are spinning for a large project it would be awfully demoralising to spin a few hundred grammes of wool only to find it wasn't what you had hoped for!
As an example I recently spun a skein of Romney fibre which when removed from the niddy noddy measured in at 14wpi with the length of skein 30cm long. However, when I had washed and dried it that changed drastically to 9wpi and only 27cm long as a result of the blooming effect while it soaked in the hot water bath. Had I been aiming for 14wpi when finished I would have been very disappointed!
So how do we choose the best spinning technique? It may help to look at the process and benefits of a few methods as follows which will also help to understand why we need to know the wool properties as in part one.
1. Woollen Spinning - This uses wools with a staple length of 3 inches or less which will also have a good amount of crimp and loft to create a lofty, insulating and elastic yarn being ideal for those cosy garments that do not require a lot of resilience when knitting or wearing such as sweaters, scarves and hats.
The fibres are hand carded into rolags which aligns all of the fibres while trapping the air to create the loft, airiness and good insulating properties. The rolags are spun using a long draw method. This requires that a small portion of the rolag is drafted backwards allowing the twist to enter the fibre supply however, because we do not touch the fibres as they are being drafted the air remains trapped between the fibres creating a softer and more elastic yarn with a beautiful halo.
Carding rolags is one of my favourite things to do so if you need help you can watch my video HERE https://www.thespinningbarn.co.uk/videos
2. Worsted spinning -
This technique uses fibres of more than three inches and is well suited to the longwools such as Wensleydale, Teeswater, Cotswold etc. The fibres are combed using wool combs to align the fibres and remove the shorter ones thus ensuring uniform length. The purpose of worsted spinning is to produce a smooth, dense, durable yarn with drape which is much more resilient. It also retains the lustre from the longwools offering a truly beautiful and hard wearing yarn which gives great stitch definition being perfect for intricate patterns, cables or lace work.
This is achieved by keeping your fingers on the fibre as you spin to smooth the wool scales down and to expel the air. The twist must not enter the fibre supply, instead it stays in front of your drafting fingers which act like a gate. The twist is only allowed into the fibre supply when you smooth your fingers back over the drafted fibre ready to pick up the next fibres.
This is achieved by keeping your fingers on the fibre as you spin to smooth the wool scales down and to expel the air. The twist must not enter the fibre supply, instead it stays in front of your drafting fingers which act like a gate. The twist is only allowed into the fibre supply when you smooth your fingers back over the drafted fibre ready to pick up the next fibres.
Drafting Tips
Staple length - One reason that it is important to know the staple length of the fibre is that it also helps us to draft it effectively ensuring a more uniform yarn. Imagine that your fibre staple in your combed top is four inches long. Now consider how you hold the fibre. You need to hold it behind the end of the staple so that it can flow easily forward as you draft it. If your hands are too close together you will trap the staple and find it difficult to draft resulting in a less uniform yarn. Equally you need to consider how far you draft that staple length. If you pull it too far it will result in thin sections, if you do not pull it far enough you will have thick sections. So as an average guide I would suggest drafting it 2/3 of the length to retain uniformity.
To Pre-Draft or Not - Before deciding whether to pre-draft or not I usually consider why I would need to and it is often because the fibre has become somewhat compacted in storage or transit making the drafting less manageable than it should be. If this is the case I prefer to steam the fibre using my steam iron. I simply lay it out on the ironing board and gently steam over the top of the fibre without touching it and rotate it if necessary to be sure that all of the fibre is well steamed. Try it, it will open up before your eyes and be a dream to spin.
Sometimes it just feels that I need less fibre to contend with and this is usually the case for new spinners who are still learning how best to manage the fibres. When working with commercial top it is easy to just split it into thinner strips down the length of the top resulting in less fibre and easier drafting. As your confidence and skill increases you can gradually divide the top less and less until you are happily spinning across the width of the whole top.
Holding the fibre supply - The key here is to hold the fibre as gently as possible. If you grip the fibre you will not be able to draft easily or in rhythm with your treadling. This will result in over spun and uneven yarn. It is really only necessary to actually hold it at the moment that you draft so that you have some tension to pull against and then relax your hand again as your drafting and glides back over the fibres to pick up more to draft again. Try it, it may change your life!
3. Spin from the fold - this is a very useful technique if you would like to create a smoother yarn but with a little bit of loft, so it sits somewhere between the woollen and worsted yarns. You may find it to be an easier option to control fibre blends of to help maintain colour combinations.
It is achieved by taking a short length of longer stapled fibre eg from combed top, and placing that over your pointing finger and drafting form the tip of the finger. This is effectively spinning it sideways from the fold. You can draft either forwards or back as you prefer. The yarn will still give a good stitch definition but with a little more loft.
Ultimately, the choice between these spinning methods depends on the project’s desired qualities—warmth vs. strength, bulkiness vs. smoothness, or texture vs. definition. Go ahead and experiment with each of these to experience the difference in the techniques and the resulting yarns. I believe that being able to spin in a variety of ways opens up a whole new world of spinning keeping it interesting and fun. With such a huge variety of fibres and spinning techniques available to us I just know that no spinner will ever tire of this incredibly versatile craft.
I do hope that this little snippet of information has helped to inspire you to consider experimenting with techniques which you may not have tried before and as always I would love to hear your thoughts, so don't be shy, get in touch and share your hand spinning success.
Bye for now
Theresa
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