Meeting the Spinning Wheel
My first spinning lesson was on a Monday. In preparation, I took home a castle spinning wheel from the office for the weekend. I felt humbled by its presence—and a bit intimidated, to be honest. I also took home Maggie Casey’s book, Start Spinning: Everything You Need to Know to Make Great Yarn, and corresponding video. Totally unfamiliar with the wheel and all of its parts, I spent some time watching the video, looking through the book, and acquainting myself with the treadles. I worked to establish a rhythm of spinning the wheel with my feet, and though it took some time to be able to keep the wheel spinning clockwise, I eventually learned to do so without focusing too much on footwork.
Adding the Fiber
On Monday, however, when I added my hands to the mix, it was a different story entirely. My instructor, Elizabeth Prose, the Assistant Editor of Spin Off, began by showing me a few basics. First, she showed me the different parts of the spinning wheel while oiling it up. Next came a lesson on the short forward draw technique. I knew that predrafting could be a good idea for beginners, so I started to draw out the fiber a bit. When I actually tried drafting the fiber while treadling, it felt like trying to pat my head and rub my stomach at the same time. Every time Elizabeth offered a word of advice, I got distracted and lost my footing. Finally, after what felt like a million failed attempts, my hands adjusted to the back-and-forth drawing motion and my feet moved accordingly. For about one whole minute, I was making handspun yarn! It was lumpy and uneven, but it was yarn! When a lump was too large to fit through the orifice, I had to stop to adjust and start again.
Finding the Rhythm
But at home that night with the wheel in tow, I found it difficult to get the yarn started again: it wouldn't feed onto the bobbin. The next day Elizabeth helped me fix my feed issue. I realized my death-grip pinch on the yarn caused trouble, so when I drew my fingers back to draft more fiber, it bunched up.
Elizabeth had said in our first lesson: “Spinning is supposed to be relaxing.” At first, that seemed impossible. But as I relaxed my hands, the rest of my body followed, and I fell into the rhythm of spinning yarn. Watching the bobbin fill up with my creation proved immensely satisfying, and after three days with the wheel, I was finally making handspun yarn on my own. It was imperfect yarn, but yarn nonetheless.
Follow me on my spinning journey and find out if I can ever spin consistent yarn in next week’s post.