MY SPINNING JOURNEY: Learning to Spin Yarn With a Drop Spindle and Spinning Wheel (and more!)

Let's talk spinning! This week I'm sharing how I learned to spin yarn on a drop spindle and spinning wheel, along with my favorite tools, online classes, books, and more. Please enjoy!

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// SHOP MY FAVORITE THINGS & ESSENTIALS (KNITTING & NON-KNITTING RELATED)

// MUSIC

Theme Music: Mozart's "String Quartet No. 5 in F Major K158 Allegro".
All music is provided by Epidemic Sound

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// SPINDLES

- AaronMakesStuff

- Bosworth Spindles

- Spanish Peacock

- Golding

- Trindle

- Subterranean Woodwork Turkish Spindle

- Jenkins Turkish Spindles

// MY WHEEL & OTHER GADGETS

- Lendrum Original Double Treadle Spinning Wheel

- Lendrum Double-Treadle Spinning Wheel (Complete Package)

- Akerworks Bobbins and Drop Spindles

- WooLee Winder

- Electric Eel Wheel Nano

- Classy Squid Fiber Co.

// ONLINE SPINNING COURSES

- Spindling: From Fluff to Stuff (Craftsy)

- Drafted From Worsted to Woolen (Craftsy)

// BOOKS

- Respect the Spindly by Abby Franquemont

- High Whorling by Pricilla Gibson-Roberts

- The Intentional Spinner by Judith MacKenzie

// PATTERNS

- Tan House Brook Shawl by Jennifer Lassonde

- Tiny Birds of Happiness by Sara Elizabeth

- Spun Right Round Fiber

[davidhensley]

Hi, Sis. I'm studying to become an American Sign Language interpreter. I practiced interpreting this video.

[lisaporch]

Oh I love my EEW!!!! I love it so much I just ordered the EEW6 the big one!!! I despise plying on my spinning wheel so I will be using the EEW6 to ply!!!!

[stillarobyn]

I LOVE how much spinning content is coming up lately on YouTube from people both new and old to the craft. I'd love to see more.

[eddavanleemputten]

I absolutely love my EEW Nano2! I tend to spin really fine and the Nano2 is great at just that. Nowadays it’s being sold with suction cups.

I live in Europe. Work/life balance is a really big thing at my job and our standard lunch break is one hour on office days (as opposed to work-from-home days). A sandwich and a chat will take 15 minutes. The remaining 15 minutes I’ll spin, either with a supported spindle, a Turkish spindle or my Nano2. I can still hold a nice conversation with my colleagues while my hands are busy creating yarn. 😊

[jamiethrogmorton]

I’m a brand new spinner, literally finished a 2-Saturday intro class last week! Didn’t enjoy the spindle but I found a used Ashford Traveller so I’m starting with that. I’ll be watching all of your beautiful and helpful videos!!

[LochBriarKnits]

Perfect timing - I just bought my first spinning wheel this week - Lendrum DT! Can't wait to get started! I'm taking the Craftsy course you mentioned and it's really helpful.

[elizabethsovern]

Look at you with your two camera shoot! Enjoyed the spinning info, thank you.

[lindaviteretto]

Thank you for inspiring me to pull out my spinning supplies. After an out of state move which involved living in a hotel room for 8 months with everything in storage it was wonderful to set up my studio again. But, it has now been 6 years in new home and I may have spun once🫣. I have some lovely drop spindles and a fabulous Hanson E-Spinner. The E-spinner works great as I also have back problem and now knee issues. Like you, I love doing all the “things” and get sidetracked. I quilt, sew etc and then started painting in acrylics and now watercolor. At least we will never get bored!
I’m going to play with my spinning today!

[catardif]

Thank you for sharing your spinning journey. Have you every though of adding some hand dyed fiber to your shop? ❤

[carolyndaly]

I love this video!! More spinning please🤗🤗🎊

[josephascroft]

Really informative helpful video for me I’m just starting spinning and have a homemade spindle made of two jam jar lids and a paint brush handle lol, anyway thanks for the video and God bless you 🙏🏻

[valerieellison]

This info is so inspiring! I think turkish spindles are absolutely gorgeous! But I am trying to be practical. I want to make embroidery thread in the future and think a supported spindle is what I should be looking into.

[karenbochinski]

Thanks for this informative video about spinning

[alekfelis]

Thank you so much for this video! It's dear to my heart as it was tradition in my family that is lost now!

[OliverRainKnits]

This is a rabbit hole I've been considering for a while now and here you are just beckoning me in, you siren 😉 I liked the new setup but then I enjoy everything you do

[jessicavenable]

I'm digging the spinning content, for sure! I have a similar spinning story to yours-- encouraged by friends to start about 8 years ago, went from spindles (so many spindles!) to wheel (mine's a kromski minstrel that I bought online sight unseen, I also didn't take mine for a test spin. oop) and now an EEW6. It's such a nifty hobby, and it dovetails nicely with knitting. ya know, if you actually knit with the stuff you spin. :P

[adriac]

Thank I loved this episode. I’ve been wanting to spin I did buy 2 drop spindle but have not tried it yet hopefully this year is the year.

[josephporter]

Love this video. I bought an electric eel probably about 2 years ago and I've failed to ever get it to work for me, hopefully this gets me trying again

[JelMain]

For beginners, the secret is to use a pair of wool carders to open the combed roving up into a really floofy rolag. You're trying to draft 12-15 fibres out into each thread, which the wheel spins together. You then ply up to four threads together into twine/3-ply/4-ply, so working backwards from the wool you know gives you the thread.
Let's work from the other end. The sheep has wool, which is putrid. First thing to do is to clean it, removing lanolin, pee, poo, mud, half the countryside, best done in a tub of lukewarm water with specialist detergent. You then start to separate the locks, which are kind of aligned, and are combed into alignment, maybe on some lethal viking combs, in general going into a mat called a batt on a drum carder. The fibre's drawn through a small hole in a metal diz to produce roving, a long fibre belt you can pull apart, Wool can be bought at any stage, raw, batt, roving, and can be dyed at any stage.

[QueensYarnBoutique]

I have a Schacht drop spindle and I have been thinking about getting an Electric Eel Wheel Nano. I want to practice on those before investing in a spinning wheel.