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Step 6Park and draft
We're going to cheat a little and learn with training wheels first. Spinning is really just adding twist to a controlled amount of fiber, but you'd be surprised how challenging it can be to do both things at once (that is, adding twist, and controlling the amount of fiber getting said twist.) It's kind of a pat-your-head and rub-your-tummy maneuver, so we will remove half the challenge by using the "park and draft" method. The "park and draft" is easiest to do when sitting in a chair so that you can hold the spindle between your knees, leaving both hands free for fiberwrangling.
Bring your right hand up to meet your left, and pinch where the twist ends, freeing up your left hand to move back. The fiber between your hands is called the "drafting triangle." The amount of fiber in the drafting triangle will determine the thickness of the finished yarn. If you want a thinner yarn, draft out the fiber in the triangle more. When you are satisfied with the thickness of the drafting triangle, release your front (right) hand, letting the twist run up into the triangle, and making yarn!
Repeat this process, moving the front hand up to the new end of the twisted section, moving your left hand back, drafting, and letting twist into the newly drafted fiber. When you want to add more twist, hold the yarn with your left hand at the bottom of the drafting triangle, where fiber turns into yarn - it is important to keep a leash on that twist. Use your free hand to spin the spindle, building up more twist, and park it again. Keep going until you have a foot or two of yarn, then go on to the next step.
Tip: If you find there is too much twist in your drafting triangle to comfortably draft, try untwisting by rolling the fiber in your right hand. You might also find that you do not have enough twist, and it feels like your yarn could easily be pulled apart, in which case you'll want to add more twist.
Don't worry about how it looks at this point, worry more about how the process feels, and just let your hands do a lot of the understanding.
Bring your right hand up to meet your left, and pinch where the twist ends, freeing up your left hand to move back. The fiber between your hands is called the "drafting triangle." The amount of fiber in the drafting triangle will determine the thickness of the finished yarn. If you want a thinner yarn, draft out the fiber in the triangle more. When you are satisfied with the thickness of the drafting triangle, release your front (right) hand, letting the twist run up into the triangle, and making yarn!
Repeat this process, moving the front hand up to the new end of the twisted section, moving your left hand back, drafting, and letting twist into the newly drafted fiber. When you want to add more twist, hold the yarn with your left hand at the bottom of the drafting triangle, where fiber turns into yarn - it is important to keep a leash on that twist. Use your free hand to spin the spindle, building up more twist, and park it again. Keep going until you have a foot or two of yarn, then go on to the next step.
Tip: If you find there is too much twist in your drafting triangle to comfortably draft, try untwisting by rolling the fiber in your right hand. You might also find that you do not have enough twist, and it feels like your yarn could easily be pulled apart, in which case you'll want to add more twist.
Don't worry about how it looks at this point, worry more about how the process feels, and just let your hands do a lot of the understanding.
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