Wed 21 Jan 2009
Jocelyn asked for a video of my spinning technique in the comments a few posts ago, so Branden and I took advantage of some rare sun last weekend to shoot a brief segment.
(I’ve had this whole post written and ready to go for a week, but we were having video compression issues. Sorry for the delay, but hopefully the problems are all sorted out now…)
Before I show it to you, I need to add the disclaimer that I am a new spinner, I don’t have formal training, and I don’t honestly know much about what I’m doing. I’m just playing with yarn, and doing what feels right to me. So, this isn’t a tutorial…go to more experienced people for that!
After reading a little more about drafting techniques on Spinning Spider Jenny’s blog, I think I am doing some kind of variation on an American supported longdraw.
When drafting, I just increase the length of my drafting zone at the same rate that I add twist, so that I have the same (low) twists per inch throughout the draw. When I finish the draw, I have to feed the yarn into the flyer slowly, because this is where I actually add the real twist. If I let it in too fast, I don’t have a stable yarn. If I want more twist, I just let it in more slowly.
The video is shot from the front, by the flyer, which makes it seem like your attention should be on my left hand, but it’s actually the right that’s doing all the work. The left is just there to pull against for drafting, and to keep the yarn from rubbing on the orifice while I do a right-side draw. All of the thickness control is done by the right hand, by varying how hard I hold the fiber, and how far back I am on the staple.
If there’s a dense spot in the top, I sometimes get a thick spot in my yarn, but there isn’t much twist in the longdraw, so it’s easy to pull thin again. This happens once about halfway through the video. To fix it, I just grab the two ends of the thick section, separated by about two staple lengths, and pull gently. If there’s too much twist to move the fibers, then I roll the ends between my fingers to let some of it back out again, and continue pulling until it’s the thickness I want.
So, that’s how I spin. How about you?
Thanks for sharing that, it was mesmerizing to watch! I would love to learn to spin someday. On an unrelated note, I really like the color of the walls behind you, it looks great with the white baseboards.
Thanks for the video!! I continue to be amazed at how many different ways there are to make yarn, and it's fun to compare the different hand movements and fiber control. As a spindler, long draw scares me. LOL!
Thanks for posting the video! I get it now (I somehow thought you were doing it all one-handed, which I couldn't visualize for the life of me). It definitely looks like a modified long draw, which is something I haven't gotten the hang of (you make it look so easy!). I tend to use a modified short forward draw, so that my forward hand is doing most of the work, and my back hand is simply holding the fiber and providing something for my forward hand to pull against… I'm pretty sure it's not particularly technically ept, but it works for me. I'll definitely have to keep trying a backwards long draw…
You know, my spinning is sometimes all over the place, but I love it for what it is (for the most part- there's also the super-anal part that hates it and wishes that I was perfect.)
But I would love to take a few classes somewhere- maybe a weekend retreat with Jenny. She seems to know SO much about spinning and seems to explain it in human terms. Someday… 🙂
Thanks for the comments too.