Guest Author - Pegg Thomas

Here’s a question that gets asked frequently, “What’s the best fiber for a beginner to learn on?” If only there was one pat answer that fit all situations! But there are some general guidelines to help beginners get a good start.

Perhaps a better approach is to ask if a beginner should start with fleece or roving. Many beginners want to do it all and that’s great! However, it is easier to begin with prepared roving. Until you learn to spin well prepared fibers, it’s difficult to learn how they should look and feel for the best spinning. If you’ve never worked with well prepared fibers, how can you know if your carding job is adequate? So in this case, you do want to put the cart in front of the horse and buy already prepared roving.

Sheep wool is the most common fiber people learn to spin. There are many reasons for this, including availability and price, as well as ease of spinning. The beginner should try other fibers after they are comfortable with drafting and spinning wool. There are many wonderful blends out there that make a nice intermediate step between wool and pure luxury fibers.

The #1 mistake that new spinners make is not drafting out the fibers quickly enough. They put too much twist in before allowing the fibers to draft out. Therefore, an easy drafting wool roving is a must. (Slowing down the feet and mastering the tensions are necessary too and improve with time and practice.) Choosing an easy drafting wool roving is a combination of breed of sheep, condition of the wool and the way the roving is processed.

My favorite breed of wool to start a beginner on is Romney. It is easy to draft and easy to obtain since Romney sheep are quite popular. They also come in a wide variety of natural colors and can be dyed to any color imaginable. It is not very fine wool or a coarse wool, but somewhere comfortably in the middle. Other good breeds include Border Leicester, Cotswold, Perendale, Lincoln, and Coopworth. These breeds typically produce fleeces that are longer stapled (less likely to come apart in the beginner’s hands) and have less crimp (for smoother drafting)

While many veteran spinners love to spin from combed top or sliver, these are not easy for most beginners to learn on. Plain wool roving that is not thick and bulky is best. A roving no bigger around than a quarter is perfect. Thick, bulky roving is best pre-drafted thinner or torn into strips before spinning.

Look over the roving carefully for vegetable matter (known as the dreaded VM in spinning lingo) and nubs, bumps or noils. The latter can make for some nice novelty yarns, but can frustrate and boggle the beginner. Give a little tug on part of the roving to make sure it drafts apart easily and is not compacted down tight. And lastly, give it a good sniff. Fresh roving spins better than old roving and if it smells stale or old, move on and find a fresh one.

Good luck beginners!