Spinning

In the beginning; when man began living together in organized communities; the trade of hand spinning has been in existence. Hand spun, hand woven garments have been recovered from the ancient tombs in Egypt dating back thousands of years.

During the colonial period, (1607-1774) British subjects were dependent upon English trade ships for woolen and linen cloth. During the years leading up to the American Revolution Patriots became more and more self-subsistent. American patriots freed themselves from dependence on English woolen mills and began producing their own cloth. In fact, the Daughter's of the American Revolution's official insignia is a spinning wheel with a flax distaff lying on its side. DAR is a woman's patriotic organization dedicated to preserving the memory and the sacrifices made by the patriots who fought in the war for independence from Colonial Rule under King George the third. In the United States of America, Spinning wheels are equated with freedom and Independence from British tyranny.

Sixty years passed and the industrial revolution was ushered in with the invention of the steam engine. Soon the majority of clothing was woven up on machines in America. Woolen mills sprung up all through out the New England states.

Forty years into the 19th century President James Polk; following in the foot steps started by President Thomas Jefferson, encouraged west ward migration in order to ensure that America indeed would spread from sea to shining sea. "HEAD WEST YOUNG MAN!" Became the guiding phrase drawing the pioneer families to load up their covered wagons with supplies enough too get them to the places called -The Oregon Territory, California and Utah. Most self-sufficient Pioneer woman knew the art of spinning and weaving as well. She would not think of heading west without the spinning wheel. Her wheel was stacked inside the covered wagon along with her other precious lightweight tools needed to maintain a pioneer home.

During the long tiresome journey west no spinning took place. Each day focused on getting there alive. The spinning of wool would wait until she came to her final destination. Now that you have learned a little about spinning history, let us learn a little about the art of spinning itself.

Ever since American Bicentennial in 1976, spinning and the handcraft movement have enjoyed a tremendous renaissance. Today men and woman alike enjoy the fun of spinning and find peace, and relaxation in spinning the wool. Spinning guilds have sprung up across America in the last 30 years. Guilds provide a place for spinners to gather, share and teach this age-old craft. Today spinning is no longer considered," something they did ONLY in the old days." Let's learn more shall we?

Spinning is the process of twisting wool or other fibers into yarn. For our purposes we will only be referring to sheep's wool. There are several steps that must be taken before the raw fleece can be spun into useable clean yarn.

Before the process of spinning can begin; a tradesman called a "SHEARER" must first shear wool from the living sheep. Next is a step called SKIRTING the fleece. Skirting removes the soiled, stained, and less quality wool. The process involves hand picking around the edge and throughout the fleece and discarding the less quality wool.

After the wool has been skirted it is ready to be scoured. SCOURING is the washing process to remove the lanolin, and dirt. To scour the wool it is carefully submerged into very hot soapy water. It is best if this is done in smaller quantities making the job more manageable. Care should be taken to avoid agitating the raw wool or it could FELT thus making the wool impossible to comb out and be spun into yarn. After the hot scouring water has cooled to room temperature this buttery soft water is poured off. Gardens love this kind of lanolin rich soft water. If the wool is extremely dirty it may require a second scouring. Next the wool is gently lifted strained and set into fresh hot water for several hours to rinse off all soap. After the rinse water has cooled to room temperature, the water is poured off and allowed to drain through a screen. Present day hand spinners then transfer the wool to a pillowcase and put it in the spin cycle of their washing machines. In the past the wool was put into a sack and spun by hand to get rid of the excess water. Lastly the wool is set out to dry on screens or towels. It takes several days for a whole fleece to dry.

The final step before spinning can begin is called "CARDING". The wool is combed using wool brushes called "hand carders". Carding creates roulags and roving, this gives the wool a thick puffy texture perfect for spinning; carding also removes any remaining twigs or vegetable matter still in the wool. The next step is the spinning it's self.

Although there are several varieties of spinning wheels, they are all simple machines. The energy that operates a spinning wheel comes from the spinner herself. Spinning wool is essentially two actions, one is to spin the fibers into either a "S" or "Z" twist. The second action is the act of winding the fiber around the bobbin or the drop spindle. Once the spinner has two or more full bobbins or spindles, she then plys the two single strands together into a multiple strand yarn. The finished yarn is removed and wrapped onto a Niddy-Noddy. The last thing to be done before either knitting or weaving is to SET THE TWIST. This is done by heating the yarn in warm water, allowing it to cool, spinning the water out of it, and hanging it to dry. The yarn is then placed onto the "umbrella swift". The wool is wound off the "swift" into a ball. Now the wool is ready for either knitting of weaving.

There are several great books describing all the steps and the history covered above. Just look on line or go to the INTERWEAVE PRESS web site. Now don't be shy let your self go and don't just sit there SPIN!