MAKING ROPE AND TWINE

1. Take out a length of twine, binding fiber, or twisted rence.

2. Examine the twist of the twine to determine the direction of the twist already present.

3. Cut three equal lengths, each equal to the desired length of the rope.

4. Tie a small loop in one end of each strand (a loop big enough to slip a finger or stick through will work).

5. Fasten the strands together and then to a stationary object.

6. Twist each strand to create tension, not letting the strands kink.

7. Once each stand is sufficiently twisted to tighten, hold tension on each line and bring the loose ends together without losing the twist or tension.

8. Twist the three together in the opposite direction, while holding tension on the whole thing. The memory of the fibers will produce a simple three-strand rope.

SPINNING THREAD

1. First attach the leader cord to your spindle. A leader is a piece of yarn used to anchor your fiber to the spindle. Use a piece of yarn 12-18 inches long for your leader. Tie one end of the leader around the spindle just underneath the whorl, or round part of the spindle. Turn the other end of the leader back on itself and tie a loop (use a square knot or an overhand knot, not a slipknot to do this).

Bring the looped end up over the whorl and wrap it a couple of times around the hook. Let the spindle hang beneath your hand, suspended by the leader. As you spin thread, store it on the spindle by wrapping it in a cone shape below the whorl.

2. Take some time and get used to the motion and feel of the spindle. You may spin the spindle in either direction to make your yarn; however, a rule of thumb is to always spin the spindle clockwise (to the right), also called a Z-twist, to make a singles. Spinning counter-clockwise, or an S-twist, is then used to ply two or more singles together into yarn. The important thing here is consistency� if you begin to spin clockwise and change to counterclockwise your thread will fall apart!

3. Tear off a 6-inch piece of fiber and split this piece 3 or 4 times down its length. Hold one of these sections loosely in your fiber hand. Don't clutch your fibers� you will bunch them up and sweat on them and make them unpleasant! Relax as you spin� if you tense up, you are trying too hard!

Lay the fibers across your palm and gently hold them in place with your thumb. Use your drafting hand to pinch the tops of a few fibers and slide them out a bit� you don't want to separate them from the fiber mass, just pull them out an inch or two. Put these fibers through the loop in your leader and fold the end back upon itself into the fiber mass. When you twist this it will attach your fibers to the leader.

4. Hold the ends of the fibers together with your fiber hand and twist the spindle a few times with your drafting hand. The twist runs up the fibers to the thumb of your fiber hand. You are pinching off the twist with your thumb and index finger at this point and not allowing the twist to enter the large mass of fibers. Give the spindle a good spin with your drafting hand, then stop it and park it (put it between your legs or under your drafting arm.)

Use your drafting thumb and index finger to pinch off the twist (replacing your fiber hand) and gently slide out more fibers. The fibers between your drafting hand and your fiber hand form a small triangle called the drafting triangle. You should try not to allow the twist to run up into the fiber mass in your fiber hand, that hand should always be gently pinching down on the undrafted fibers.

5. It should be time to add more twist to your thread. What you are doing in this process is storing up extra twist, using most of it up drafting new thread, then adding more twist to strengthen your thread. Stop drafting now, while pinching off the twist in your fiber hand and pick up the spindle with your drafting hand and give it a spin or two. Stop the spindle before it slows to the point of reversing the spin and hold the spindle with your drafting hand. Allow the yarn to relax by moving your hands a little closer together. You want to have enough extra twist stored up to allow you to draft more.

If the relaxed yarn snarls up and makes little twists on itself you have enough twist, if it lays limp you must add more twist to keep going. You may find that the fibers seem loose or will not hold together this means you have drafted too many fibers for the amount of twist stored, move your fiber hand back along the thread to where the fibers are staying together and spin the spindle again. Let it spin a while, then stop it and park it and slide your hand back over the loosely twisted yarn to allow the twist to run up into it. Stop when you reach undrafted fibers, spin the spindle a time or two to store up some extra twist and repeat the drafting process.

6. To remove the thread from the spindle, simply roll it into a ball.

Hand spinning, once the basic technique is mastered, is highly relaxing and quite portable. If you then knit or crochet the finished thread into something, your pleasure and satisfaction in your skill will be doubled.

Spinning Wool

Always check the maintanence of the spinning wheel.

You may use a short draw to achieve a more tweedy look such as in blankets and certain tunics, or a long draw which if the conbination of silk and wool is used is best.

Know the wool You are using. Do a count as to get the number of hanks of yarn before beginning to spin from the first 1/4 stone of wool top from the sheared animals.

Knowing a count of 50 means 1/4 of a stone of gorean measure of top would yield 50 hanks or 56,000 ah-ils.

Check the "hand" of the woolen fibers and cleanliness to see which will be satisfactory against the skin for the making of tunics and blankets, disguarding the coarser less favorable fibers for the fashioning of small area rugs or blankets for saddling the kaiila.

If fleece is dense, will hold the dyes if used and, very springy.

If in finding it is medium fine,(most verr and hurt are, except the larger Hurt tend to be course) It will have a 1 1/4 hort staple, between 26 and 40 microns(urthen measure), with a count of 44-52. A typical fleece is approximately 1 full stone.

Also take instance notice in picking that some of the fleece must have been stressed, if removing the tips often brake the fibers.

The roving as it comes off the card has no twist. It is held together by the oil and natural hooks that exist on the surface of the wool fibers. The spinning frame will put the actual twist on the roving and turn it into yarn. This is collected on wooden bobbins.

Set to use a firm tension when spinning and a balanced spin. Making sure the fleece is neither under spun which will show up the spongy character nor over spun which robs the light airy texture of the yard.

The tension set, place Your foot to work the foot petal of the spin which will turn the wheel in either short or long draws, as the woolen fibers are spun for use.

Spinning is a tideous process, however as the spinning continues, the fibers of the wool turn to durable yarn.

When the wooden bobbins are full of yarn, they are placed on a cone winder and the yarn is transferred to paper cones for use in weaving and knitting. It could also be put into skeins of yarn which are the form that knitters like to use.