spinning

Spinning

Quote from an earlier blog post draft that I wrote in the first week or so of CWII:

        I've been reading the blogs of some of my fellow creative writing II people, and I've learned so much more about their lives and who they are that I never realized before. It's quite amazing. A small part of me wants to put deep, personal things out there, too, so they can get to know me more too, but the bigger part of me doesn't want to. The internet is a vast and uncontrollable place,

That's as far as I had gotten. I was reminded of this after looking at other people's blogs again today and seeing still more deep and personal and emotional things they had posted. I was looking and thinking about what to write for my blog post today so I could set a new blogging record for this week, two consecutive blog posts done by Thursday (now Friday, but it's still a record for me), and so I saw this draft and I thought, "maybe I can do something with this." It occurred to me that in some respect it could go along with another idea I'd had. And so that's what this blog post is based in: using some old draft I had started a while back as an intro to another post for which I had had a vague idea. 
        So, what is the deep, personal thing, yet thing which I am still willing to post on the internet, that I thought of to go with this? Well, as you have likely gathered, I'm kind of a weird person. And so I decided to do something about a weird, random fact about me / a weird, random thing I do. 

        It all started at Norwegian camp. (Isn't that one of the best anecdote-starters ever?) There, among many other neat things, we got to learn to spin wool in a really old-fashiondy way. Like, even more old-fashiondy than the way you see Rumpelstiltskin spinning in Once. He has a whole big fancy wheel; we had the much more basic form of spinning tools, which were basically sticks with hooks on the end. It was interesting but tricky to spin the wool. I took quite a lot of time to make not a great deal of thread, and mine, like most everyone else's, came out all lumpy. 

Here is a picture of my first "skein" (using the term loosely) of wool thread:

as you can see, it's not very good and it's not very much.

I took a little chunk of wool with me from Norwegian camp, because as tricky and strange as spinning it was, it was also rather fun and it felt nice to do with your hands, the spinning and twirling of the stick and the careful direction of the fluffy wool into a some semblance of smooth-ish thread. At this point you may be thinking that spinning isn't really all that unique of a hobby. I mean, it's old-fashioned and archaic and somewhat rare of a hobby these days, but it's not exactly a weird, random fact. Or maybe to you it is, but if it's not weird and random to you, don't worry, the spinning's not the part that I meant to be weird. 

I didn't really stick with the wool. No, I found a better medium. 

What else are you to do with all that hair that comes out in your hairbrush? It seems such a waste just to throw it all away. Sometimes, in the spring, you can put a scrap of embroidery thread in it and throw it outdoors. Then, birds will use it to make a nest, and if you're lucky, you can see which nest it is by the embroidery thread. But this doesn't exactly work in the dead of winter when it's -20 (sans windchill) out here in--well, to the internet, my location is Norway. In reality, it's probably been colder here than even Norway is. So, I thought, why not try and spin it?  
        Well, and also I'd seen a thing on animal planet about a lady who spins her cats' hair into thread and then knits sweaters with it. While this is tempting, especially because it's pretty much the ultimate way of saying, "I am a crazy cat lady", (which, by the way, one of my goals in life is to be an official crazy cat lady) we don't really brush my cats, and anyways, they're not really shedding this time of the winter. I think cat hair would be a harder medium, too, especially because its so short and often doesn't stick to itself well. My hair, on the other hand is an excellent medium. Allow me to explain by outlining my process. 

First, obviously, you must brush your hair. I have always loved my hair. It is rather long, though I'd like it to be longer (it grows quite slowly--I've never cut it short), it is a nice shade of blonde and has a gentle wave to it, and it is very silky and soft when it is washed, combed out, and smoothed. It is both a good thing and a bad thing that it is so fine, though, because it is very much inclined to snarling. In winter I have an almost perpetual and nigh irradicable rat's nest at the back of my neck, where scarves and sweater collars and coat collars and whatall rub and mess with it constantly. But the nice thing about this is, other than the fact that the fine-ness of the hair lends to its silkieness (when it is indeed brushed), it also leads to it sticking to itself better, and this is the principal reason I find it easier to spin than wool. 
        Also, it takes less preparation to spin hair than wool. At Norwegian camp, when we were going to spin the wool, we washed it in little kid swimming pools, and then we had to card it, which is where you use two brushes to get the wool smoother and all lined up in the same direction so that it can spin smoothly(-ish). With hair, these steps are both accomplished by the regular care of your hair. You don't need to wash hair in a tub of water when you wash your hair regularly while it is attached to your head. Really, spinning your own hair is much cleaner than spinning sheeps' hair anyways; sheeps aren't huge on baths, and I know where my hair has been, and I can't say the same for the sheep's hair. Also, as the hair for spinning is collected in your hairbrush, I mean, I guess I could still try and card it, but it's always seemed to me that brushing it effectively cards it for you, so I don't. 

Then, when it gets full, I empty the brush. Another nice thing about using hair for spinning is that you get it bit by bit and so it's easier to spin it a little bit at a time. With the wool, you have to have some supply of it, and then you have to also be able to obtain wool somewhere in order to continue. With the hair, it comes in more or less regular amounts over regular periods of time. This also keeps the thickness of the yarn you're spinning more uniform and consistent than with wool. I have been working on my length of thread for a fair period of time now--I started not all that long after Norwegian camp ended last summer, and now it's late winter--and I have a fair amount of good yarn built up. The availability of the hair at regular intervals automatically paces your work on your spinning. It's quite nifty, really. 
       Though I don't card my hair, I do stretch it a little to get it in the right shape to spin. I pull it out into a length like this:

see how it's narrower and longer than the hairbrush? I just gently pull it out longer like this so it's all ready for spinning. 

Then comes the exciting part: time to get out my spinning stick!

this is my spinning stick with the hair I've already spun wrapped around it. The hook is on the end at the right; you can't hardly see it because my starting knot's so messy. It was much neater when I started, but it's broken several times. This is the biggest disadvantage of spinning my hair: it's fine but it's also weak, and my yarn has broken and come unknotted several times and so it's been repaired quite a few times. Other than the knot, though, it's stayed pretty neat when I repair it, because my hair sticks to itself quite smoothly. Its smoothness also causes my knot to slip sometimes, as well. My hair has its pro's and con's, but I still prefer it to wool by a good ways.

unwinding the spinning I've done from the stick so I can work on it again. My hairbrush, at ready, is seen in the background.

comparing my working length of hair-yarn to my 'skein' of wool-yarn. See how much smoother and nicer and more uniform my hair-yarn is? It's also much softer and less rough than the coarse woolen thread. My hair-yarn is very nice homemade yarn. 

drawing out the working length of my hair-yarn in my fingers, preparing to spin it. You can see that it looks curly because in this picture I have the strand a little slack, and so it's pulling in on itself. Spinning is basically just twisting it into a nice cord, so it's just all twisted up, and since this piece is unfinished, it wants to pull back in on itself and untwirl. 

I double the length of hair-yarn I'm working with back over the lengths of it being stored on the spinning stick. I catch it on the hook, which holds it in place and helps spin it. You can see the end of the thread, which is in my hand, is looser and less tightly spun than the majority of the thread. It has been worked less, and I never finish the end (or at least I won't until I'm done with my skein) so that I can attach the next piece I'm going to work with.  

the hair-yarn doubled back and caught in the hook, drawn out and taught, ready to spin a new piece on.

the hair I've spun starts from the knot, is spiraled down the stick, and then is stretched back up to the hook, which holds it as I draw it out to spin it. 

in my hand is the rough end where the new piece will be attached. Behind my hand the new piece awaits. 

attaching my new piece of hair to my old in order to begin spinning. I line up the piece of new hair on the rough end of the already-worked hair

and then I rub them together to attach them. I spread both ends out with my fingers and push them into each other to connect them. This part was nigh impossible with the stubborn wool, but my hair takes to itself quite easily. After just a little rubbing and working, the pieces join quite nicely, and I am ready to begin spinning it. 

drawing the hair up in my hand, ready to spin it. The newly-added piece is in my hand and so is harder to see, but it's there. I couldn't actually take pictures while I was spinning, as that just about takes three hands on its own, but this is close. You can also see in the background my homework stuff, as I do homework on my bed. I like to sprawl my whatnot out. So, this is a pretty honest look at my homework area of an average evening, though my stuff is shoved aside for my picture taking. Anyways, this is just before I spun, but when I'm all ready to spin.

a closer-up picture that shows my spinning much better. The already-spun stuff is to the right of my hand, and the new, not-yet-spun stuff is to the left of my hand, and I'm holding and guiding it with my hand. 

drawing the length up, about to spin. Imagine this picture is the actual spinning, because like I said, I couldn't spin and take pictures at the same time. It wouldn't have looked much different, anyway--I would just have the spinning stick in my hands instead of held between my knees. Really, the only way you could've told if I was spinning would be if I'd done a video. Perhaps some other time.

 So, when you spin this way, you twist the stick in one hand, typically my right (the story of my hand dominancy is complex enough for a blog post of its own. I'll put it down in my ongoing idea list) and hold the thread with your other, typically my left. I re-spin the old stuff a little more before I go to the newer stuff, to help it get tighter and more uniform. When you are spinning, you are literally just spinning the stick. You twirl it in your fingers and it twirls the threads together and makes it into a cord. To spin the new part, you spin the old part up tight, until it has a little too much spin in it for just it, then you slide your fingers back over the new stuff, and the tension of the twirl spreads out into the new part. It spins itself with the saved-up spinning from the stick you've transferred into the thread. Then, the new length becomes one with the old length and you've got yourself a few inches more yarn. 

This is the new part looking like the old part. It has officially become hair-yarn. You can see here that there is still a part to the left of my fingers that is unspun; this is where the next new piece will attach. 

The length of my new spinning

my new loose end.

now, I take the end out of the hook and wind the hair-yarn back up around the spinning stick to store it until I'm ready to spin again.

here is my new length of spinning, all wound up around the spinning stick. I'm getting a fair amount built up! Eventually, I'll be ready to make something with my own hair-yarn. I'm not sure what I'll make; I know how to crochet, but I could learn to knit. We shall see. 

My complete hair-spinning kit. My hair brush and my spinning stick all laden with hair. The loose end is shown out toward the hairbrush, which will supply it with its next piece of new hair.

my lovely hair-yarn, all smoothly twirled up around my lovely spinning-stick. 

all wrapped up and ready to put away. 

Where I keep my spinning when I'm not working on it, a windowsill in my bedroom. On the right, you can see a random length of purple ribbon I hung up, and slightly to its left you can see the string from which my zentangle robot (I'll explain it another time) and on the far left, from the turn-handle that opens the window, you can see a cool bead-strand hanging. I have a bunch of stuff hanging up all around my bedroom. Maybe some time I'll have to do a post on my bedroom. Maybe not. But, so, that's where I keep my spinning. 

a cool perspective close-up on my spinning on its shelf. 

a little farther out picture of my spinning on its shelf. You can more clearly see the bead strand and you can even see the top of my jewelry board, and a little of the corner of my shelves on the left. Oh, I'd forgotten I'd hung that pencil there. It's hanging from my Zentanglebot string. Because, where better to keep your spare pencil than hanging from the string of your Zentanglebot?

Now you can go and spin your hair if you'd like. Of course, I don't know where you'd get a spinning stick if not at Norwegian camp. It might not be too hard to make something like that, though--just a stick with a hook of some sort on the end. They probably even sell big fancy spinning wheels like Rumpel's somewhere, though I wouldn't have a clue how to use one of those.

from somewhere on the internet.

I hope I've offered a fairly decent explanation of my process, not to mention revealed some interesting stuff about me, though hopefully to strangers of the internet I still remain rather vague. I like spinning my hair, and I think it's a good, weird, random fact about me to share. It's fun, and it's nice to think while you work through the spinning of it. It's very fiddly with your fingers and hands working the stick and the hair around, and it's a good occupation for hands, and it just has a nice physical flow as your doing it, and it still lets your mind wander freely. In a way, it's a practical second use of my hair. I just love the old-fashioned-ness of it, and imagining I'm in a time long ago whilst I spin, and more recently the way I feel like I could be in Once Upon a Time while I'm doing it, though I've been spinning my hair far longer than I've been watching Once. In a way, though it is like I'm spinning gold--just look at the color of my hair! ;) It's just a fun hobby, and I like that it's pretty unique, too. I like being weird. :D 

       We spin straw-like hair into silken gold yarn beyond the violet mist.