Drop Spinning

From sheep to shirt

The art of spinning wool and other materials into a thread has been practised for thousands of years. In Britain during the Iron Age the use of drop-spindles was thought to have been wide spread, as a great number of spindle-whorls have been found on archaeological sites, and the remains of materials have survived in peat bogs. Very good results can be achieved using a hand spindle, as some of the remains of fabric has shown. There are pieces with up to 100 threads to the inch. Spindles are made of wood with fired clay whorls. The fleece from all sheep can be used and the sheep in the Iron Age would be similar to the Soay (early iron age)and the Shetland (late iron age) of today. The wool is spun unwashed as the natural grease (lanolin) helps in the spinning process. If wool is examined under a microscope you will see it is covered with small scales, these lock together as you spin the wool to make the yarn.

By following these instructions you can try spinning for yourself. If your first attempts look uneven or the yarn breaks, please try again as practice will improve your skill.

1.Take a handful of wool and tease it out until free from lumps or tangles. Draw a few fibres out from the wool and twist in a clockwise direction to make a thread about 4" long.

2.Take the spindle and attach the yarn to the notch at the top of the spindle.

3.Holding the fleece in one hand and the spindle in the other,twist the spindle in a clockwise direction. As the spindle is spinning pull out more fibres from the fleece. Allow the twist to run up the fibres to produce a yarn, but do not allow the twist to go into the fleece.

4.Continue spinning the spindle and drawing out the fibres until the spindle reaches the ground,then wind the yarn onto the base of the spindle allowing enough yarn to make a hitch in the notch at the top of the spindle stick.

5.Repeat the whole process, adding more fleece in your hand as required, until the spindle is full of spun yarn.

6.Wind the yarn off the spindle into a hank.Tie the hank loosely in three places before washing.