Spinning or Weaving? Where to Start With a First Craft
Start with what you want to make. If it’s your own yarn, start with spinning. If it’s cloth, such as a scarf, start with weaving. Neither depends on the other. Ashford’s first weaving project uses ready-made yarn, and handspun yarn can go on to knitting, weaving and fiber art. If you’d like to read the basics first, see what is spinning and what is weaving.
What each one involves
| Spinning | Weaving | |
|---|---|---|
| You make | Yarn from fiber | Cloth from yarn |
| First project | A small skein (a coil of finished yarn) | A striped scarf |
| You need | A wheel or spindle, about 50 g (1.5 oz) of wool, some practice yarn, a chair, a winding tool called a niddy noddy | A loom, yarn, scissors, a tape measure, cardboard sticks, a long table |
| First thing to learn | Working your feet and hands together | Getting the warp, the lengthwise threads, onto the loom |
Spinning: hands and rhythm
Ashford’s Learn to Spin booklet has you start with no wool at all. You practice the foot pedal, called a treadle, on its own, then practice with plain yarn. Only then do you move to wool sliver, a ready-to-spin strip of fiber. It tells you to take time to “feel the rhythm of treadling and working with your hands.”
From there you draft, which means pulling out a few fibers at a time, and let the twist run into them. You fill two bobbins, which are the spools the yarn winds onto, then twist the two strands together, called plying. That gives you your first hank of handspun.
You don’t have to begin on a wheel. A drop spindle is a weighted stick that you set turning by hand. Kromski’s spindle manual lets beginners rest the spindle while drafting, and recommends help from a fellow spindler or online. Ashford’s e-Spinner 3 swaps the treadle for a motor. Spin Off has Learning How to Spin Yarn: Spindle vs Wheel if you want to weigh that choice.
Spinning is a good fit if what you want is your own yarn, and the rhythm of hands and feet appeals to you.
Weaving: setup, then cloth
Weaving starts with warping, which means putting the lengthwise threads on the loom. For Ashford’s scarf, that’s 84 threads on a 2 m (79 in) warp. You clamp the loom to one end of a long table, or two tables pushed together, and a peg to the far end. Then you wind on and thread up.
Ashford suggests a friend to hold the warp as you wind, and its solo warping sheet covers working alone.
After that you pass a shuttle, the tool carrying your crosswise thread (the weft), from side to side, and gently press each row into place. Off the loom, the scarf gets a wash so the threads open up and fill the spaces. Kromski’s Presto scarf takes a similar path to a narrower 15 cm (6 in) scarf.
For a first loom, teacher Kelly Casanova recommends a rigid heddle for anyone completely new, and says it’s “lightweight enough to carry from room to room.” Tapestry weaver Rebecca Mezoff says small frame looms suit samples and small projects. Handwoven has Learning to Weave: Five Videos You Need.
Weaving is a good fit if you want a finished piece of cloth from your first project, and don’t mind a stretch of setup first.
Questions to ask yourself
- Yarn or cloth? This usually settles it.
- Do you already knit? Then you already use yarn, and spinning would let you make your own.
- Do you have a table about 2 m (79 in) long, or two to push together? Ashford’s scarf warp needs that length.
- Do you want to take it with you? A small frame loom and the e-Spinner 3, at 2 kg (4.4 lb), can both travel.
- Company or quiet? Ellen Peller of the Spokane guild calls weaving “a solitary activity,” and joined a guild to meet people.
Try before you decide
A guild is the local club where spinners and weavers meet, and some let you look first. The Susquehanna Valley guild lets you attend one meeting free, and its members can rent spinning and weaving equipment. Triangle Weavers opens its meetings to the public and lets members rent looms and equipment. The Handweavers Guild of America keeps a directory of affiliate guilds.
FAQ
Can I do both?
Yes. The Handweavers Guild of America brings weavers and spinners together, and handspun yarn can go on to weaving projects.
Which is harder?
They ask for different things. Spinning’s challenge comes first, in coordinating hands and feet. Weaving’s comes first in warping. Kromski says spindling takes practice, and Ashford tells new spinners that uneven yarn is fine.
Your next step
For spinning: follow how to start spinning yarn, then find the wheel that suits the yarn you want to make.
For weaving: follow how to start weaving, then find the loom that suits what you want to make.