Spinning a Yarn

 As a child my family always kept goats, pigs and chickens in the back garden. When I met my husband he was interested in continuing that lifestyle and we soon had a couple of rare breed pigs in our back garden. A few years later we started to keep a small flock of sheep on my parents’ newly acquired farm. We started with 6 Norfolk Horn ewes, chosen by my husband because they are a local rare breed, and 2 Gotland sheep selected by my Mum, who is a lifelong knitter and crocheter, for their excellent fleeces. As happens with these things the flock quickly expanded. We added 3 Southdowns as a subflock for our young son, who was six at the time, to begin to manage. Of course we had lambs each spring, which quickly increased the numbers. We now have a lovely mixed flock of ewes, lambs and rams. 

After 4 years of keeping the sheep and each year throwing away the fleeces because we just didn’t know what to do with them, my Mum started to look into spinning classes. My craft was always fabric based, I had recently started teaching quilting and other sewing techniques alongside my part time Primary school teaching job, so I wasn’t really interested in fibre or learning to spin. But as a good daughter willing to keep my mum company I went along to learn how to prep fibre and to use a spinning wheel. It takes a lot of concentration to learn to spin, a bit like patting your head and rubbing your tummy. You need to coordinate several never tried before skills in order to get a constant flow of yarn winding onto the bobbin. It is frustrating at first but so satisfying when it starts to come together. 

It is quite a big commitment working out whether you are going to continue a hobby that needs an expensive piece of equipment like a spinning wheel. Although wheels can be picked up quite cheaply from places like Ebay, that is not the best place to start as until you know what you are looking for you don’t know that it is in full working order. Although I enjoyed the class more than I expected I didn’t know whether a wheel is something I would continue to use.  

 

About a year later Mum decided she’d like to try again. This time we went on a 2 day workshop, the first day we re-learned how to spin with a wheel and the second day we really just sat and practiced. We took wool from our own sheep, drum carded it and spun ‘in the grease’, which is unwashed fibre full of lanolin (and other unmentionables!). I still vividly remember sitting there watching these creamy coloured fibres from our own Norfolk Horn sheep pulling out of my fingers and twisting themselves together to make a continuous yarn. The gentle clack of the wheel and the speeding flier became mesmerizing. I came home from that session at about three in the afternoon exhausted and slept for two hours. The concentration required for those two days was pretty intense! 

 

A few weeks later my Mum bit the bullet and bought us a second hand wheel from a reputable company who specialised in refurbishing spinning and weaving equipment. She let me have it first and I never looked back. Barely a day has gone by in the last 5 years when I haven't spent some time spinning. It now comes naturally and is the most relaxing way to pass some time. I have mastered creating several different types of yarn, although there is always more to learn. I have 4 spinning wheels now and absolutely love teaching others this age old super power. It has led onto an obsession with weaving, something I am very much at the beginning of even after 3 years. And of course this takes me full circle because I am now creating my own fabrics which I can sew into all manner of garments, cushions, bags and more.