How to hand spin wool into yarn using a drop spindle.

Learn handspinning can be a relaxing, enjoyable pasttime for knitters and weavers who really want to "start from scratch"!

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• fiber (sheep's wool, llama, alpaca, silk, soy silk all work wonderfully.)
• drop spindle (either top whorl or bottom whorl)

1. First, prepare your wool.
   It is relatively easy to find carded wool (wool brushed out and ready to spin) at many craft stores that sell yarn, many of which have convenient online shopping. Wool doesn't weigh very much, so shipping's cheap and easy. Separate a section a few inches long off the roving, take one end in each hand and gently tug it looser. You'll see the fibers giving (separating from one another, not breaking) and the wool will be much less densely packed together. If the wool separates completely, just add it back in to the section and continue. You will need to play with this a bit once you start spinning to decide how well loosened you prefer your fiber to be. Start your first spinning experience with your fiber loose at first. This will make for finer yarn, but fewer fibers to deal with and cause lumps in your yarn.
2. Preparing the drop spindle comes next. The easiest way to start is using a leader yarn. Take a piece of yarn a few inches long(store-bought cheap stuff is perfectly acceptable) and tie it to the hook at the top of your drop spindle. This is all the preparation the spindle needs, and you're ready to start spinning!
3. Place the loose end of your leader yarn onto the end of your loosened wool. Pinch the fibers and leader yarn together, and while allowing the drop spindle to hang suspended, spin the drop spindle clockwise to begin the spinning. The fibers from your wool will begin to draft onto the leader yarn, forming your first thread of home-made yarn.
4. Once the fibers have spun together for 12" or so, stop, remove the tie from the leader yarn on the spindle hook, and tie that end of your leader yarn with your new homespun yarn still attached onto the spindle. Wind the rest of the leader yarn and several inches of the new yarn onto the shaft of the spindle.(Note: For a bottom whorl spindle, tie it under the whorl, but then direct the yarn over the whorl and start winding it onto the shaft above the whorl). Wind it up the shaft and catch it with the hook so that when suspended, it still hangs perpendicular to the floor.
5. In order to control the thickness and consistency of the yarn you spin, you will need to control how many fibers go into each segment you spin. Where your fiber connects to the spun yarn (it is a triangle shape, the wider end toward the fibers, narrowing to the newly spun yarn) is called the "draft zone". The best method for controlling how many fibers go into the draft zone at a time is called the "inch worm method". In order to maintain proper control, one hand will be holding your fiber, and the other hand will be pinching and moving the fibers in the draft zone. The spinning and the yarn will want to pull as many fibers as possible into the draft zone, by inching your fingers back, you control the width of your finished product.
6. Your spin will slow quickly, the hand that is inching the fibers back to maintain the yarn will have to reach down and give the drop spindle a twist every so often to maintain the speed of the spin. This keeps the fibers drafting. ALWAYS SPIN CLOCKWISE! It will take some time to regulate the spin to where you feel comfortable. Practicing this will allow you to learn exactly what speeds and what spins work best for you.
7. Continue spinning and inching the fibers back to form the yarn. When your thread becomes too long for your arms to comfortably reach without the drop spindle hitting the floor, stop, and wind it onto the spindle as you did with the leader yarn.
8. Once you've filled the spindle, you'll need to unwind it. The best way to make a skein from a spindle is to use a niddy noddy, an 'I' shaped piece of wood or plastic that holds the yarn. If you don't have a niddy noddy, a piece of wood or plastic that won't warp in water will do. wrap it onto the piece tightly, and secure it with a couple of loose pieces of scrap yarn every 6 inches or so, to hold the skein together.
9. Setting the twist:
   In order to make sure your yarn holds its twist, immerse your spun yarn into HOT water for a few minutes, then remove. DO NOT TWIST DRY. Pat dry, or wrap it in a towel and squeeze, but be gentle! All those fibers want to hold on to each other and they will mat up inside the skein if you scrub it all together.
   
   Allow to air dry, and you have your first skein of handmade yarn.
10. Most yarns consist of more than a single ply (one thread) of yarn. In order to ply the yarn together, you'll need to take two of your finished (spun, skeined, and have had the twist set) skeins, and ply them together. This is done exactly like you were spinning, but instead of loose fibers, you put the two threads together (no need for a leader yarn, just tie them together and loop to the bottom of the spindle). The major difference: When plying yarn together, use a COUNTER CLOCKWISE motion. Once you've plied your threads together, re-skein and set the twist again. You're finished.

Tips & Warnings

• Practice makes perfect! If your first skein looks lumpy, don't be discouraged, EVERYONE'S does. Learning to properly control the draft zone will make your yarn smooth out.