Ilga is sometimes asked how she achieves her high spinning productivity. Here is her answer. This has previously appeared on the Edgewood Garden Studio Facebook page, and on Ravelry, but we post it here so it will be easy to find in the future.<\/p>\n
Well, first, I spin every day\u2026or pretty close. If I am FLYING somewhere, I don\u2019t take a spinning wheel\u2026but if I am DRIVING and will be gone overnight, I generally have a wheel with me.<\/p>\n
The other BIG productivity help is that I do NOT inch-worm spin. When I used to teach (decades ago), I really discouraged people of spinning that way. It is slow and it can never BE fast because of the actions required. I draw against the pull of the wheel\u2026and not against my hands (which saves my hands, too). I used to long draw, but the body parts (as in shoulders) don\u2019t want to do that any longer.<\/p>\n
Depending on what I am spinning, I spin between 150 and 375 yards an hour, average 250ish. I approached the \u201cproduction speed\u201d problem by doing what my typing teacher in high school (Yup, my parents made me\u2026.that \u201cjust in case\u201d stuff.) which was that I spend a few days every other week or so alternating between spinning for accuracy and for speed. So one skein is SUPER FAST, the next one SUPER ACCURATE\u2026and I do that for three or four days. It usually improves BOTH speed and accuracy.<\/p>\n
If a skein is too much, try an hour (or half an hour or 15 minutes) of spinning as fast as you can while still making a functional yarn. (Use some stash wool you don\u2019t LOVE anyway\u2026.and don\u2019t worry about how it turns out. This is about PROCESS, not product!) THEN, do an hour of PERFECT yarn. Then FAST, then PERFECT. Repeat. You will be surprised how quickly both of them improve.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ilga is sometimes asked how she achieves her high spinning productivity. Here is her answer. This has previously appeared on the Edgewood Garden Studio Facebook page, and on Ravelry, but we post it here so it will be easy to … Continue reading