The Hand Spinner

The hand spinner

10 March 2019

11:44

She takes the wool just as it is clipped from the sheep

Picks out the caught in twigs, straw, dead beetles

Parts soiled, muddied are separated, thrown into a tub for extra washing

 

She pulls apart the fibres 

Lines of the fibres on the carding pads

Places them carefully in a basket

 

Sitting at her wheel

Keep the speed constant

The wheel whirs as it spins

 

Fibres fed into the orifice

Thickness adjusted to suit the project

She must keep the thickness and twist constant 

 

Thick for Aran style knitting

Thinner for cardigans or lace

Two ply for knitting to stop the garment warping

 

Thin single yarn for weaving cloth for coats

Thicker single yarn for weaving rugs

Single ply for these the process eliminates the warping

 

Lazy Kate is used to make the wool into hanks

Wash the wool removes the grease

Now ready for the dyer

 

Away to the craft weaver, knitter, lace maker

Apply their skills to the yarn

Rugs, Best suit, Aran jumpers, Lace shawl

Wild Rose

10 march 2019

Reviews

[Mary Jo. Clare]

I loved this dissection of the 'hand spinner'! Truly amazing!

[Wild Rose]

Thank you Mary Jo
I looked for a photo of a hand spinner in my photos
Didn't find the one I wanted > So many are now external to my OC on discs {CD & DVD}
We are craft workers (retired from full time work - but still busy)
My wife used to be a hand spinner using raw fleece
I was a hand knitter and did a bit of weaving & Lace making (using bought threads)
We never attempted rug making
She now does cross stitching

[John Alexander McFadyen]

A lesson in yesteryears crafts as we are treated to detailed images of a bygone era long abandoned to the industrial revolution.

[Wild Rose]

There are many hand spinners/ weavers still around working in the crafts markets
Our loom would be use in industry as a machine to test new patterns > Set up to work in hours as opposed to dayd from industrial automatic looms