Spinning

I took a course maybe 5 years ago about the basics of spinning. It was organised by The Spinners Guild. We learnt to card the wool with hand carders and carding mill. We learnt to spin and twine wool and flax with a dropspindle and spinning wheel. We used only wool, that hasn’t been washed or dyed. Many of the participants had their own sheeps, or they had some pet that produce nice fiber, like a long haired dog, cat, rabbit etc. The first yarns we made were bulky and uneven. It wasn’t actually disappointing, because such “effect yarns” are rare and expensive in our industrialised world.

After the course I saw accidentally an old spinning wheel in a neighbour fleemarket event next to my house. I bought it and started to spin yarns at home. Like all really old spinning wheels, they all have some disabilities, and I had to tune it a bit to make it really work. Now I have also another spinning wheel that works a bit better, carding mill and few spindles. 

I made spindles for a modeling mass and wood stick

I’m definitely an effect yarn spinner. I love to make beautiful and bright coloured yarns. I try often something weird in my yarns, for example pieces of recycled materials. Usually the yarns are so experimental, that I don’t make anything out of them. They work as art pieces, and I have enjoyed the process. 

Last summer I was working in a traditional housing museum, where I gave demonstration of spinning to museum visitors. I wanted to be as traditional as I could, so I spun unprocessed wool, which I hand-carded and spun with a spindle. I tried to make as thin yarn as possible, because that’s what they did back then. By spinning the whole summer every day I became quite good in producing very thin yarn. I also taught people to card, and sometimes to try even spinning in the museum. 

My yarns in museum

My aim is to learn to make even more complicated yarns, try more different materials and to learn to use the carding mill in more different ways. I’d like to also become better in spinning flax.