Long draw on spindles

Long draw on spindles proved quick and easy to learn at my Beginners Class at the Sheep Shop Cambridge last Saturday. Seven people booked in and by 11am seven people were spinning and have a lovely time. Very satisfying day especially among such lovely yarn – I could have brought quite a lot of it home had I not had so much of my own already. But it is always inspiring to see other yarns – there were some spectacular hand dyed yarns in the colour of dragon flies and mallard ducks. However the long draw on a drop spindle class used my Blue faced Leicester yarn which is very easy to spin. First of all we made yarn without a spindle – putting in twist by hand; Hold lock of fibre between fingers and thumbs halfway down the staple using both hands, keep one hand still and twirl the other  and then draw a thread, then we made a yarn using the same principle but putting in twist with he hook of a top whorl spindle on to the left side of the lock of fibre and drawing out with the right hand. Then we put in twist by rolling down left leg, then rolling off the leg and letting it spin and drawing at the same time. They finally learned Andean plying  – rolling down the right let – to finish off. It proved very easy to the seven ladies who got a place on the course. To find out more see my article in Yarn maker magazine link magazine October 2014 – Long draw on a drop spindle.