Welcome to Introduction to Fiber!

A Bolivian man with his Alpaca (herd in background). Source: Wikipedia Commons

Hello Friends of Fiber,

In our first class, we start with the base line of fiber (pun intended!) by learning about the carding and preparing of wool fiber for spinning. The practice of spinning fibers into yarn or some type of filament for use in making textiles has an immense and broad history, with varying traditions having developed around the world over the millenia! We are just scratching the surface.

examples of various wools and their staple lengths. source: Wikipedia Commons

A great place for some technical information online can be found at The Joy of Handspinning.

Another good source of history and information is: Spinning on the Drop Spindle

Ancient Roman carved bone spindle whorls, 1-2 cent. A.D. source: http://www.ancientresource.com/lots/roman/spindle-whorls.html

source: Wikipedia Commons

Woman in traditional Alsatian costume, 1870s. Photography, albumen print, source:http://www.bassenge.com/

If you are interested in acquiring your own drop spindle, you can order a spindle online, but you may wish to consider the alternative: making your own!