Spindle Spinning

This week all the 3rd and 4th graders started learning to spindle spin.  (I'll be taking pictures next week since my hands were busy all class time this week)  They got to take home their spindles and fiber to practice with. I'm going to post a couple of YouTube videos that they can watch to help them and/or you can watch to help them.

Two things that are good to constantly remind new spinners about are:

1.ALWAYS spin the spindle CLOCKWISE.  Some of the kids had trouble figuring out which way that was.  We had a convenient clock in our room that I could point to, but putting a sticker on their right hand could work too.  I'm going to try that next week.

2. Practice, practice, practice!  This is something that will take time to learn.  The yarn will break as will the piece of roving which might also get tangled with the spindle.  The yarn might come unspun or fall off the spindle.  If you are getting frustrated, put it away and take it out later.

I posted this video last week but I will post it again since it is just like what I taught the kids in class.  We used the "park and draft" method that she demonstrates in this video.




All the kids are still working on drafting appropriately.  This is something that takes a while to figure out how to do correctly and consistently.  Their yarn (in general) right now is very thick.  This is because they are not pulling back enough on their fiber before they let the twist in.  It can be very frustrating doing this at the beginning because if you pull back too much the roving breaks.  When that happens or when they are adding a new piece of roving, I explained that they need to put wispy ends on top of wispy ends and then spin as usual.  Here is a video specifically showing drafting close up.



We will work more on drafting next week.  When their spindle gets full, and with the kids spinning thick yarn it happens quickly, they need to carefully wind it into a ball.  The first part of winding is the most important because they need to be careful to not let the yarn untwist. Letting it sit on the spindle overnight will help it to not untwist as it is rolled into a ball, but I know that many of the students don't want to wait so they just need to be extra careful.  I'm so glad all the kids seem so excited about spinning.  They can spin all they wool they have, I will bring more for them next week.

8/31/2013 and 9/6/2013

1st and 2nd Grade

On 8/31 we started our weaving unit.  The past two weeks everyone has been weaving paper placemats that I will be taking to laminate so they can actually be used.  We talked about some weaving vocabulary like warp, weft and plain weave.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the project.  Here are some pictures of everyone hard at work.

Next week we will start straw weaving to make a bookmark.  Most of my waving lesson plans come from this wonderful book.  It is just an awesome book for anyone wanting to teach kids how to weave (it is slightly deceptive looking like it is for kids, but really it is for teachers), I highly recommend it!

3rd and 4th Grade

On 8/31 we talked about how wool (and all animal hair) can felt to make fabric and shaped items.  Everyone made a small piece of flat felt in a baggie.  Here are all the pieces of felt drying in my back yard.

Soon after this picture they were moved to my garage due to the wind picking up and starting to blow them around.  We will use this felt in a future project.  Everyone also wrapped a wool ball blank in colored pieces of wool.  I then took them home, put them in the legs of pantyhose and washed then with laundry to make finished wool felt balls.  I passed them out at the end of class last Friday and took a picture of each class with their balls.

This week, 9/6 we talked about spindles, their history, the different types and watched some YouTube videos of them being used.  Everyone also got to decorate their own high whorl spindle and a fabric bag to carry their spinning tools back and forth to co-op with.  Here are some  pictures of everyone working hard on their projects.

Here are some of the YouTube videos I showed.

 

This is the best YouTube on the basics of spindle spinning I've found

 

This is one of the coolest YouTube videos about native textile arts I've ever seen, BUT it is most interesting with the English captions which I had trouble getting to show up on my Kindle Fire which is what I was using to show the kids the videos, so I haven't shared it with the kids yet.  Anyway, I totally want to go to Peru now and visit the villages these women work in and buy lots and lots of fabric from them.  If you are even slightly curious about native cultures and/or fiber arts this video should hold your attention.  I found it fascinating.

 

Next week we will start learning how to spindle spin.