Unless you are lucky enough to have pencil
roving, you will have to do some pre-drafting to your fibers before you
can actually spin with them. Gently pull off a piece of top/roving about
12 to 14 inches long; it will probably be as thick as your wrist.
Carefully separate it into two lengths of equal width; keep splitting it
until its about the width of your finger, which is probably 8 pieces. Be
careful not to make it too thin as it will collapse. If that happens,
don't worry, it can still be used for spinning.
Take a length of the roving and start
drafting: pull it gently to lengthen it and separate the fibers. Roll
about 6 to 8 inches of this on your thigh to get it to twist enough so
that you can attach it to the neck of the spinner by a half hitch knot.
Hold the other end pinched between your fingers, about 5 or 6 inches from
the knot. You are now ready for the serious stuff!
Hold your arms out in front of you so they
are both roughly horizontal and rotate the spinner. You will see the spin
slowly moving up the fibers, which tighten and get firmer as the twist
gets stronger. Once you have enough twist, usually when it gets a bit
difficult to spin, park the spinner between your knees without letting go
of the fibers. This is what is called the park and draft method. With your
spinning hand, replace the hand that is holding the fibers and move that
hand a bit further up the roving, drafting as you go, then pinch the
roving again. Slowly let your spinning hand slide up the roving to join
it: the twist will travel up with you.
Have a good look at it, and bring your hands
closer to the spinner. If the yarn loops back on itself, you can slowly
inch your hands further up the roving and spin more yarn without turning
the spinner again. Aim for a 45 degree angle on your yarn to begin with;
it's a bit tight but it won't fall to pieces. Once you are satisfied that
you cannot inch any further, rotate the spinner again and repeat the
process.
When you have enough yarn to wind on, untie
the half hitch knot and wind the yarn onto the broad bit of the spinner
for storage. Retie the half hitch, and start spinning again.
Adding on fiber is easy as the twist draws in
the fibers, so all you have to do is hold the last few fibers of one piece
of roving together with a few fibers of the new piece of roving and let
the twist do the rest. This is how you use those bits and pieces from your
trial drafting efforts.
With a little practice you will get faster
and your movements will become less jerky until you can spin and draft at
the same time. You will also find that you can control the twist to allow
it to become as tight or as loose as you want it to be. Aim for a twist
that just holds the yarn together.
When you have wound on so much yarn that the
spinner won't take any more and had become quite unwieldy, it is tome to
stop and unwind the yarn. You have spun what is called a singles yarn
which can be used for knitting or crochet or as a weft for weaving, after
it has been set. Or you can wait until you have more so that you can ply
it together. Plyins is spinning two or more singles together, usually in
the opposite direction from which they were spun, to make a stronger and
thicker yarn.
Wind you spun yarn into a skein. Usually this
is done on a Niddy Noddy, but can also be done using a metal clothes
hanger to wind the yarn around. Pull the hanger top, sides and bottom
until it makes a rectangle and wind the yarn onto it. Tie the skein at
four points or more to hold it together, until you are ready to go on with
the next stage.
To set the twist, dunk the skein into very
hot water being careful not to swish it around, as this will felt it. Take
it out of the hot water, supporting it (a colander will do nicely) and
dunk it in cold water, also no swishing. This will shock the yarn into
fluffing up, and set the twist so that it doesn't unspin itself. Hang the
yarn to dry out of direct sunlight, and weight the bottom slightly to
stretch it as it dries.
