My journey with learning to handspin yarn by hand started as many such tales do: I took a class and learned the basics of spindle spinning. It was a useful way to begin, but the potential speed and efficiency of using a spinning wheel was a big lure.
Unfortunately, my first wheel and I never seemed to click, and for a couple of years, spinning on the wheel was an unenjoyable struggle resulting in yarn I wasn’t particularly happy with.
Eventually, after trying a couple of different models of Schacht wheels, I finally found one that felt natural and easy for me to work on – the wheel I’d been waiting for! Now I enjoy spinning and have made several batches of hand-spun yarn.
As I learn more I’ve come across a couple of books that have a lot of great information if you want to try creating different styles of yarn. Yarnitecture: A Knitter’s Guide to Spinning by Jillian Moreno and The Spinner’s Book of Yarn Designs: Techniques for Creating 80 Yarns by Sarah Anderson.
If you’re interested in starting with a hand spindle, check out these two videos:
Make a drop spindle out of CDs
Basic drop spindle tutorial.
