Transcript for
Episode 120:
I'm a Knitter/Crocheter/Weaver: Why Should I Learn to Spin?
If you're listening to this podcast, your probably already a spinner. In this episode, I want to enlist you in the project of creating some new spinners! Specifically, this episode is for the knitters, crocheters, and weavers who are spinning-curious, but who haven't yet taken the plunge. I'm going to talk about three ways that learning to spin can make you a better knitter, crocheter, or weaver.
Hello there, dear Sheepspotter. Welcome to episode 120 of The Sheepspot Podcast. I'm Sasha Torres, I'm very happy to be back after my month off, and my job is to help you make more yarns you love, and in this episode, to maybe make a few more spins you love as well.
I can vividly remember telling Mr Sheepspot, in 2009, that I was not going to learn to spin. I was sitting on the daybed in my study. It was a summer day. I had just come back to knitting after a long hiatus, and I was really in love with knitting in that moment. I was making the transition away from working with polymer clay as my main creative focus, and I was acutely aware of the fact that I had an extremely well-stocked and equipped polymer studio and all I wanted to do was knit. I did not need another hobby. I did not need another whole set of tools and supplies.
Well, as Taylor Swift would say, the angels were rolling their eyes at that moment, because they knew what I didn't--that within a month I was going to need some roving for a needle-felted detail on a knitting project, and that in the search for that roving I was going to stumble upon a spinner and fall completely head-over-heels in love with spinning (which, yes, was a whole other hobby that did come with a whole other set of tools and supplies).
So I get it. I really do. It can be hard to dive into a whole new thing that's going to involve a new learning curve and lots of new stuff. But I'm so glad that I did it. For lots of reasons, one of them being that I'm a much better knitter because I'm a spinner, whether I'm working with handspun yarn or not. Whatever you currently do with yarn, spinning will make you better at it. Here's why.
Spinning will allow you to more deeply understand the whole process by which random bits of fluff ultimately become cloth, by requiring you to learn about fiber, fiber preparation, drafting, and plying. In the process, you'll understand the impact these elements have on cloth, and how to mix and match them to create just the cloth you want.
Learning to spin will forever change the way you look at yarn, whether handspun or mill-spun. Spinning will teach you about the enormous diversity of kinds of yarn and the key differences between them. You'll understand the building blocks of yarn (fiber, ply structure, twist) and be able to predict how they'll interact to determine the character of the cloth you want to make. Spinning will make you a yarn-choosing ninja.
Finally, knowing how to spin will enable you to make intentional choices at every stage of making cloth: you can select just the right fibers, preparation, drafting method, and ply structure to produce exactly the cloth you need for your project.
All of these--having a wholistic understanding of the process of making cloth, developing a deep knowledge of yarn and the ability to predict how it will perform when in use, and being able to make intentional choices about every element of your yarn and thus your cloth--really boil down to one thing, and that is understanding and being able to manipulate the materials you're working with. And whether you knit, crochet, or weave, that knowledge will make your creative life infinitely richer and will massively help you successfully realize your creative ambitions.
So, dear Sheepspotter, will you do me a favor? Will you send this episode to a knitter, crocheter, or weaver in your life whom you suspect might be curious about spinning? Let's expand the number of spinners in the world and help our non-spinning fiber friends understand what they're missing!
There's a dedicated discussion thread in The Flock where you can comment on this episode and discuss it with me and other listeners. The link is in the show notes for this episode, which you'll find right inside your podcast app. So just open up the description for this episode, click the link, and you'll be taken right to the the thread.
If you haven't joined The Flock, Sheepspot's free online community for inquisitive handspinners, you should! You'll get access to all of the freebies I've created for the podcast, as well as several self-guided spinning challenges, our weekly spinning check-ins every Friday, and lots more. Join us at theflock.sheepspot.com.
Darling Sheepspotter, that's it for me this week. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back next week with Three Things I Wish I Had Known When I Started Spinning. You don't want to miss it. Until then, spin something! I promise it will do you good.