Can you imagine 4,024 yards of yarn, spun in one week using only spindles? Well, I have the privilege of reporting that this is exactly what happened during the 2021 Spin Together event, where I won first place for “Highest Yardage on a Spindle” for Team tinyStudio.
Let me introduce you to Spin Together, a week-long spinning competition where handspinners are encouraged to join a team, and each team is sponsored by a generous contributor from the fiber arts community. In 2021, the competition focused on yardage, by teams or individuals. Fast-forward to 2025 and Spin Together now has a more creative direction, where raw yardage has taken a back seat to art and beauty. This change promises to be inspiring and encouraging, allowing handspinners to spin at their own pace.
Spin Together is a great opportunity to explore or challenge yourself in your handspinning, whether you seek aesthetics or volume. If you feel the need for speed in your spindle spinning, let me share a few tips that you can test out during this year’s Spin Together event, or at your leisure in the future. Yardage can bring a sense of accomplishment as you show your command over the spindle and produce enough yarn for bigger projects. Let’s get started!
Experience will dictate what kind of yarn spins best on your spindle and the amount of fiber it can hold. Devin Helmen experimented with three types of fiber to see how much yarn fits on their spindle in the Fall 2024 issue of Spin Off. Photo by Matt Graves
1. Know Your Tools
Spindles are one of the most diverse yarn-spinning instruments available. Supported spindles. Light and heavy spindles. Top- and bottom-whorl spindles. The list is endless; however, the general rule of thumb is that the spindle that you use the most will be the speediest. Based on experience, you will know what kind of yarn spins best on your spindle and the amount of fiber it can hold. Even if you are a newbie, there is no need to overthink it. Let the spindle speak for itself as you spin on it—it’s a beautiful relationship that only gets better with time.
Do you prefer to spin on a top-whorl or bottom-whorl spindle, or another type of spindle altogether? Photo by Joe Coca
2. Visualize the End Result
This is the fun part! Since you know the strengths of your spindle, ask yourself these questions:
- Am I spinning for a project?
- Am I stash busting?
- Will I spin the same yarn weight?
Be realistic about what you can accomplish during the one week of competition. If spinning the same yarn for seven days straight doesn’t appeal to you, don’t be afraid to mix things up. Whatever helps you spin every day is what counts.
3. Prepare Your Materials and Surroundings
Spinning fibers (and spindles!) should be in a ready-to-spin state and placed where you can easily access them. Make sure your fibers are in hand at least a week before the competition, because waiting for extra fiber to arrive in the mail wastes valuable spinning time. Also, having a place to spin that is comfortable to you is essential to speed spinning. For example, during Spin Together 2021 I was a college student taking most of my lectures online due to Covid restrictions. The desk in my bedroom was my spinning oasis. Multitasking between spinning and studying was so much fun because I had a comfortable chair, lots of hot tea, fluffy pillows, blankets, and snacks.
Enjoy the rhythmic process of drafting, spinning, wrapping. But pay attention to your posture as you spin and take frequent breaks. Photo by Matt Graves
4. Consider Ergonomics
Spinning fatigue is real. It can creep into your body and mind at any time during a long spinning session, causing unnecessary negativity. Make time for breaks, as those will be massively helpful for productivity. I like to take breaks in thirty-minute increments throughout the day. I get up and stretch my entire body whenever I feel the least bit fatigued. I also keep good posture while spinning. I used top-whorl spindles exclusively, and their key to speed is having a flowing motion between drawing out the fiber, spinning it, and wrapping it around the shaft of your spindle. It was a rhythmic process, with the fibers flowing from my hands and onto the spindle.
5. How I Spin Fast
In order to spin the amount I did for the 2021 competition, I had to find a way to maximize momentum. Instead of using just one spindle and having to empty it over and over again, I used three maple top-whorl spindles. The goal was to fill all three spindles by the end of the day, without stopping to empty a spindle. I would then let the yarn rest overnight and ply in the morning before starting another round. Plying is a great way to double yardage and I like having a very large spindle for this task. I plied my yarns from plying balls or directly from my spindles using a makeshift lazy kate.
Take steps to prepare your fiber beforehand to make the most of your spinning time. Photo by Kate Larson
For speed, all fiber prep needs to be done before the start of competition. Note, the more fiber you spin, the more yardage you have. Each one of my spindles can hold almost two ounces of fiber, which is incredible! I had lots of Corriedale-blend top that needed to be spun and I measured out several two-ounce bundles a day before the competition started. By the end, I had managed to ply most of my singles.
Finally, Have Fun
Your only real competition comes from your own goals and aspirations! Should you take on speed as a goal, trust the process and be kind to yourself.
Resources
- Learn more about Spin Together on their website.
- New to the drop spindle? Check out Getting Started on a Drop Spindle by Maggie Casey.
- Build on your spindle skills with Devin Helmen in Spindle Spinning Essentials.
Jacqueline Harp is a freelance writer and multimedia fiber artist who spins, felts, weaves, crochets, and knits every spare moment possible. She is also a certified Master Sorter of Wool Fibers through the State University of N.Y. (Cobleskill) Sorter-Grader-Classer (SGC) Program. Her Instagram handle is: @foreverfiberarts.