Lee Meredith
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Weekly DIY Roundup: Spinning Yarn!
Last Friday I took a trip down to Eugene, Oregon with some fiber-loving friends to check out Black Sheep Gathering, where my excitement about spinning yarn was refreshed and I couldn't wait to get back to my wheel! One of my friends bought herself a wheel, and another bought some roving to try spinning on a spindle for the first time. With this urge to spin seeming to be hitting my knitting friends left and right lately, I thought a spinning roundup was in order!
I recommend reading several spinning how-tos written by different people before trying it, since everyone's experience is different and you may learn one thing from one that another left out. Mielke's Fiber Arts has an illustrated tutorial for spindle spinning.
Knitter's Review has a great tutorial with photos of each step.
You can find another written how-to at handspinning.com, for spinning with a top-whorl drop spindle (though I think a top-whorl and bottom-whorl work pretty much the same way).
A great way to get started is to buy yourself a spindle kit - tons of fiber shops sell sets which include some wool, a drop spindle, and instructions to get you started - perfect! One of these shops is hello yarn, which has a variety of gorgeous fibers that you can get in kit form.
Another fantastic shop with kits is Spunky Eclectic, also with several fiber options.
If you do a search on etsy, or even on google, you'll find tons more spinning kits for sale, like this one by pancake and lulu:
If you want to be even more DIY about it, you can make your own spindle! A common recycled material to use for this project is CDs - you can find a tutorial on Lifestyle Studies and another one on Spindle and Wheel.
Now if you've learned the basics using a drop spindle, you may be ready to upgrade to a wheel! Exciting! The best way to learn how to use a wheel is to have a real-life person show you, but I've found a couple websites to get you started. Howtospinyarn.com has a fabulous photo series showing every step, from the parts of a wheel, through plying your yarn.
Knitter's Review has a great page on wheel spinning, with lots of photos.
Ask the Bellwether did a detailed post on how to spin a good looking 2-ply yarn.
The yarn wench has a great Navajo plying tutorial, which is a technique for making one single yarn into a 3-ply yarn.
Rosemary Knits show a technique for navajo plying with a drop spindle, complete with a video.
And speaking of video, there are hundreds of spinning videos out there! Just do a search on youtube or google videos for any specific spinning step that you need help with and you're sure to find a video! One example (well 3 actually) is The Art of Megan, who has video tutorials for drafting wool, spinning on a drop spindle, and finishing your yarn, which is an important step!
If you want to get into it, I definitely recommend getting yourself a book or two to help out. A great one that covers all the steps, as well as fiber info and more, is Teach Yourself Visually Handspinning by Judith Mackenzie Mccuin. Another one that looks good (though I don't have it myself) is Start Spinning by Maggie Casey. And then if you want to take it to another level and try making art yarns (so fun!) I highly recommend Pluckyfluff's Intertwined, and Insubordiknit's Sit and Spin DVD! Fabulous!!
Lastly, if you have a spindle or a wheel (with a wheel is much easier!) you can try making spun recycled yarn! I did a tutorial for this over at Craftstylish.
I first taught myself to spin on a spindle using nothing but a starter kit and websites, but if you are the kind of learner who needs to be shown by someone, check with your local yarn shop to see if you can take classes in your area. I hope I've inspired some of you to try the craft; good luck and have fun!!
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