Are you looking for a new challenge? Bored with
the regular commercial yarn? Relax because you
can now spin your own yarn or purchase handspun
yarn from the market. Like knitting,
it's not nearly as difficult as it appears to
the novice, but you can spend years perfecting
complicated techniques while
using exotic
fibers, dyes and different types of spindles
or wheels along the way.
Handspinning is the art of creating yarn from fibers. A handspinner creates yarn by twisting fibers together using tools such as drop spindles and spinning wheels. There are many different techniques and types of fiber used to produce a variety of yarns.
Create your own Handspun Yarn:
One might wonder, why would someone choose to spin their own
yarns today when there are thousands of yarn choices out there?
For more choices of course! Handspinners have the distinct advantage
of being able to create custom yarns exactly to their specifications.
Fortunately, most spinners don't look at spinning as a "means
to an end". They enjoy the process of spinning as well. The
fibers are soft and full of character and the yarn winding on
the bobbin is always unique. And to treadle a spinning wheel
is a rhythmic and relaxing process that becomes addictive!
Most handspinners use their own yarn to knit and weave. They
have control of the entire process from raw
material to final product but unfortunately, the handspun yarns
don't come with
labels specifying the gauge and yardage.
To determine the gauge of your handspun yarn, you must use the unit of WPI -Wraps Per Inch measurement. Using a standard ruler, start wrapping your handspun yarn around the ruler, being careful not to overlap the strands or create gaps between them. Once you've wrapped your yarn around an inch of the ruler, simply count the number of wraps you made.
A Stress Relieving Art:
Spinning
yarn helps to reduce stress and thus promotes
well being. It can also be habit forming and
lead to obsessive behaviors such as, but not
restricted to: collecting all fibers; dying
them with food colors or whatever you have
laying about; spinning the fluffy bits of
the plants from your yard, the cotton wad
that comes in your vitamin bottles and even
the lint from your dryer!
Resources for handspun yarns:
There are many resources available on spinning yarn with your hands. Books are excellent but taking a class also helps. Try to find classes that teach you how to prepare the fibers and let you try lots of different fibers since they all spin quite differently. It is also good if there are different wheels available that you can try in the class. The goal is to find a class that you can leave with an idea of what type of yarn you like to make and what kinds of raw material you will need and the knowledge to prepare it. And, with this information and after having tried a few different spinning wheels, you can purchase a wheel designed to spin the kinds of yarn that you would like to make. This type of class is usually 3 to 5 days long and can be costly but is much cheaper than buying the wrong kind of wheel or fibers and getting discouraged.
Learning an ancient craft and demonstrating its modern utility is also very rewarding. It is important that we keep historically important arts and crafts from being lost to future generations and moreover handspun yarns are so comfortable to wear as they are soft and the finishing touch is better than ready made yarns. So, happy spinning folks!
