What is Spinning?
We take up a mass of unformed fibre — be it wool, fur, silk, cotton, or many others — and gently pinch a small section, pulling it out and away from rest. On its own, this pulling out, called drafting, would result in a wisp of fluff separated from the mass. But we don't let this happen. Instead, we twist the fibres as we draft them out, and, as if magic (or physics) they lock together, forming spun a thread.
Spinning is really that simple — drafting fibres out, and twisting them together. So is spinning easy? It can be, particularly given time and practice. But spinning can also be challenging, it's a fine motor skill that requires a delicate balance between opposing forces: Drafting is a drawing out — a pinch of fluff pulling away from the mass, the fibres sliding past each other as the soon-to-be thread elongates. Twisting is a locking together — compressing the fibres in the thread, that the friction between them stops any movement apart.
It's about balance — too much twist, and the fibre mass itself will lock together, preventing fibres from drafting out — too little twist, and the drafted fibres will pull apart before they have the chance to become thread. Learning to spin is learning this balance; not just understanding, as you might from reading this paragraph, but learning through feel, learning with your hands. It takes time and practice, and it can't be forced.
Spinning short lengths of thread entirely by hand is a wonderful way to begin developing this feel, before introducing any other tools or forces into the process. And we can go one step further, by taking the spun length and doubling it back on itself — the two halves will naturally twist around each other, resulting in a small stable section of yarn that can be pulled free of the fibre mass. This is plying — twisting two or more threads together, in the opposite direction to which they were spun. Plying is a fascinating subject on its own! But for now it's enough to know that this is a step that generally goes between spinning the initial thread and creating what we recognise as yarn
Of course spinning entirely by hand is a particularly laborious process, with inherent limitations. And this is where we introduce additional equipment — from the most basic spindles, to spinning wheels, to industrial spinning machines. All of these are tools that, with varying degrees of automation, assist with spinning. They also provide another important function, taking up the spun thread so that the spinning can continue without creating a tangled mess! But regardless of how sophisticated our tools become, the fundamental process of spinning remains the same — drafting fibres out and twisting them together.
