Three types of spinning

[@faramund9865]

Great stuff. All the old Dutch imagery I found uses the distaff and diagonal hold.

[@uneautrepairedemanches2190]

The video I had been looking for for sooo long! I am French and can't even find any informations in French about French grasped spindle... Although it has been the most popular way of spinning in France for centuries!

[@tracyl1693]

Thanks for sharing this. I learned on a drop spindle in the 70's. Now I'm finding out how many ways there are to spin and I want to learn them all. I'll be watching this again and again as I try to learn this technique. .

[@kathelyne5947]

Thanks Tracy! It's always great to see people giving grasped spinning a go!

[@candiedginger8729]

Thank you so much. I am still learning about hand spinning and your breakdown of the various techniques and combinations of them is very helpful.

[@SpinningShadowsFiberArts]

This is a very interesting video, Thank you for posting it! This is my second time watching it. I'm still learning the different methods for spinning, but I find grasped (or as I call it, 'in-hand') spinning to be quite fun.

[@ColorsofHopeCraftsASMR]

This was interesting to watch. It reminds me of the JillianEve channel. She does a lot of spinning with spindles.

[@BeverlyTilton]

Thank you for sharing this. I try to explain this to people, now I will just point them to you!

[@shoepixie]

Oi, can you share with us where you got your shaft and whorl? I have to admit, this style of spindle has caught my heart and won't let go! Not to mention, the interchangeable nature of it has just enchanted me. It's so lovely to be able to change out the whorl when the yarn makes the spindle so heavy. Anyhow, thank you for saying all this! I hear a lot of talkin about spindle type (I am fair new to this) but not a lot of talk about preperation/drafting, which SEEMS to affect things quite a bit! So, thank you. I wish there was far more talk about the other elements, as you say. Perhaps a helpful chart about how all these various stles interact! But I am especially interested with clasped spinning because it seems so doable for me, often moving between sofa, computer, outside - as you said, moving between sustended, clasped, supported easily depending on where we are and what's going on. That sort of flexibility is so precious to me! But yes, I am looking for a spindlestick and whorl, are there makers you reccommend?

[@farnorthweaver7793]

Excellent! Thank You!

[@Irinairir]

The one thing that is not quite clear to me is how to hold the supported spindle in "grasped" spinning.

[@sarahcherry2760]

I have a question! What kind of fiber is that you're spinning? I assume it's wool, but specifically I was wondering about the breed, and why you chose it with relation to 15th century spinning, or if that factored into your choice at all. I really appreciate your demonstration of the different techniques and bringing grasped spinning into the light, because I hadn't really heard of it before today. Thanks!!!

[@kathelyne5947]

Sorry for the late reply Sarah. In this video I'm spinning a commercial prep of Merino top chosen because in Australia it is local and available. I have begun researching the different breeds of medieval sheep, but not gotten far yet. One issue is that the sheep have changed, so even if we had the same breed of sheep then that's not to say the wool is the same now as then, so I plan on looking at other factors such as micron count, staple length, crimp etc. That said, I've spun with other things including my own handcombed wool and the technique doesn't differ that much. The exception for that is flax which is a bit different than wool.

[@sarahcherry2760]

I've had a similar problem trying to pick wool to spin and weave authentic cloth for medieval Ireland. I have a theory (without much facts to support it) that the micron and crimp of wool available to the area might be one of the factors in why they chose to wear linen between wool and their skin, rather than inventing garments where the wool might sit directly on the skin, especially in winter. Thanks for your reply!

[@shoepixie]

@@sarahcherry2760 Linen wicking sweat and being a lot easier to wash than wool might have been a factor, innit?

[@whitetigerpwns]

What do you think about Mayan or paddle spinning? Would you consider it to be a type of loose spinning?

[@Irinairir]

I see you are throwing half hitches, it looks like using a drop spindle.

[@Spinkamer]

In-hand spinning has been done in a lot of countries and 'people' sure do know it exists! There are even people that see their relatives spin from youth and they will do it quite early in youth - and later on as adults - to make warm clothes for their family. I am a bit surprised that you call it 15th century spinning as it is a present day spinning style (still) in a lot of communities and not called grasped, but simply: 'spinning' , in various languages.

[@SpringSpinner]

I might venture an answer here. Among the spinners today that do it as a hobby in America, and I assume England and Australia, places where it isn't out of necessity, you don't see grasped spinning and few even know of it. I never heard of it before following her blog and videos. I love her research into the European late Middle Ages of spinning. From the time I learned to spin and was taught by hobbyists, and what I've learned historically recently is a world of difference. You won't find this technique and spindle type being sold and taught by any of the major or semi-major companies selling spindles. Maybe a small minority that you have to dig to find, but I haven't seen it by any of the big players.

[@kathelyne5947]

Sorry for the belated reply. In the video I was talking casually, not from a script. The people who know about this spinning method sure do know it exists, by 'people' I was speaking specifically the English speaking re-enactment and crafting world. For example, a popular book called 'respect the spindle' makes a very brief glancing mention of this style of spinning as half a sentence in speaking about supported spindles and that is FAR MORE than most modern craft books spend on the technique. There are far more modern crafters and re-enactors who know about this method than when I first started. There was a LOT of opposition a few years ago to the existence of this technique. 'People' said no one COULD spin this way, that they WOULDN'T, that they DIDN'T. It's been a hard slog to prove to these people it does exist I am not saying all this style of spinning was ONLY done in the 15th century, but I am a 15th Century re-enactor and am attempting to reproduce the 15th century techniques, proving it was done right into modern day times is part of my research and part of the way I prove to people that this spinning method exists but it doesn't change the time period I re-enact.

[@kathelyne5947]

Thanks Julia. One of the three main criticisms I get, after "this technique doesn't exist" and "your technique is invalid because you don't always use hand combed top" (working on that last one, I have combs now) is "why are you bothering, everyone knows about this method, this is normal, not special". I wish more of the people who found this method "normal" were posting about it!

[@candiwoods3593]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/iZm2eoJ8ZdRooNU

[@minecraftingmum5574]

A point to remember is that for European spinners there has been a break between spindle spinning and now. In the meantime the spindle was replaced (predominantly) by first the spinning wheel and then machine spinners. Only those who needed to continue to spin fibre for their own use would have continued with spindle spinning, and many of them went away from the spindle. In other words we lost many of the techniques that we once used with the spindle. There are mediaeval paintings showing women spinning and people have had trouble figuring out 'how' they were doing it and this lady has just demonstrated that technique. It's the combination of grasped and then allowing the spindle to drop. Most Europeans learnt to spin from the (I think) South Americans and their drop spindle technique.