Drafting: The process of allowing the fibers to slip past each other as they are about to have twist added to them.
Drafting Triangle: A triangular shape created by the spinner’s hand to make drafting easier and more controlled.
Drafting Zone. The area between the fibers held in the spinners hand and the newly spun yarn where the fibers can still draft apart. There will be some twist in the drafting zone if spinning woolen. There will be no twisting in the drafting zone if spinning worsted.
I’m really beginning to feel the momentum of my learning with spinning wool. I’ve successfully replaced a bobbin, tied on a leader, and started spinning a consistent thread for the first time. Reading blogs and watching videos on the skill are now starting to make more sense because of my practical understanding of some key terminology, such as the drafting zone.
When my friend Barbara first gave me the 101 on spinning, she poured of all sorts of words I had never heard before, “whorl” being one of my favorites. She mentioned “drafting” and as she demonstrated the roving turning into a spun fiber, I sort of grasped what she was speaking about; it’s a very active space this “drafting zone.”
I was thinking about all the other definitions of the word “draft” to see if I could make more sense of what she was doing with the fibers. Cars drafting behind semi trucks, a draft of cool air snaking and rolling throughout a home, line-work for building plans, or even the first words set to paper before it’s final review. It all seemed to some how parallel or imitate what Barbara was doing with her fingertips and that spinning wheel.
Drafting is patient and attentive. It has it’s own life and you must allow it to do what it will, and at the same time apply light control to help coax it back to it’s path. It’s zen, and peaceful, and at the same time nerve-racking and child-like as it spins with reckless abandon.
I drove up to Barbara’s farm this weekend to fetch more bobbins for the rest of my spinning. I have 8oz of beautiful merino wool from a local yarn shop called, Camelot Dyeworks. Once I spin up the remaining roving I’ll be setting up a date to learn the plying method with the wool wizard, Barbara.