How to Make Wool Into Yarn: From Fleece or Roving to a Finished Skein

Choose where to start: raw fleece or roving

Raw fleece comes straight from the sheep and holds grease, dirt and plant matter, so it needs washing and carding before it can be spun. It is the cheapest route and lets you pick the breed, but it adds hours of work. Roving and combed top are cleaned, carded or combed and pulled into a long rope of aligned fibers, so you can start spinning at once.

Beginners usually learn faster on roving. Merino is soft but slippery with short fibers, and a medium wool such as Corriedale is easier to draft. The guide to wool roving for spinning compares merino, BFL and Corriedale by micron and weight, which helps you pick a first fiber.

Compare wool roving for spinning →

Wash and prepare raw fleece

Skirt the fleece first by pulling off the dirtiest edges and any heavy vegetable matter. Then soak it in very hot water with a small amount of dish soap, without agitating, and drain it gently. Rinse in water of about the same temperature. Sudden temperature changes or rubbing can felt the wool, which ruins it for spinning.

Press out the water without wringing and dry the wool flat on a screen or towel. When fully dry, tease the locks open with your fingers to loosen the fibers before carding. Grease is not always removed at one wash, so a second soak may be needed for fleece from sheep with a lot of lanolin.

Card or comb the fibers

Carding separates the fibers and lays them in a loose, fluffy rolag or batt with fibers going in mixed directions. Hand carders are two paddles with fine wire teeth: load wool on one paddle and brush the other across it several times. Carded wool spins into a lofty, airy woolen yarn.

Combing uses long tines to line fibers up in parallel and removes short ones. Combed wool spins into a smooth, strong worsted yarn. The two choices make quite different yarn from the same fleece, so pick one on purpose. Drum carders speed up the work for larger amounts and also make batts, which are covered in the article on wool batting versus roving.

Draft and spin on a drop spindle

A drop spindle is a weighted stick that you spin so that it twists fibers as it hangs. Split a length of roving lengthwise into a thinner strip, which makes it easier to draft. Attach a leader of yarn to the spindle, overlap the wool with the leader and start the spindle turning.

Drafting means gently pulling the fibers apart so that only a thin section is fed into the twist. Keep one hand holding the unspun wool and let the other hand pinch just above the twist, so twist does not run up into the unspun wool before you want it. Let the twist enter the drafted fibers, then slide your hand back and draft again. Fibers drafted too thin leave weak spots that break, and fibers that are too thick leave lumps. Expect uneven yarn at first, as this evens out with practice. When the spindle reaches the floor, wind the spun yarn onto the shaft and keep going.

Ply, set the twist and finish the skein

Single spun yarn has twist in one direction and wants to twist back on itself. To balance it you ply: wind two singles from separate bobbins or balls and spin them together in the opposite direction. The result is a stable two-ply yarn that lies flat and holds up better in knitting. Spin the singles clockwise and ply counterclockwise, or the reverse, but keep to one rule for the project.

Wind the plied yarn into a skein, tie it loosely in several places so it does not tangle, and soak it in warm water with a little wool wash for about 20 minutes. Press out the water and hang the skein to dry, ideally with a light weight at the bottom to relax the twist. This step, called setting the twist, evens out the kinks. You can then wind it into a ball. To estimate how much you made, wind the skein on a niddy noddy or a swift of known circumference and multiply the wraps by that length.

Spun yarn versus bought yarn

Hand spinning is slow: a skein of a few hundred yards can take a whole weekend as a beginner. If you need yarn for a project and not for the craft itself, buying is faster and the weight is consistent. The guide to wool yarn compares 100% wool, merino and chunky skeins, and notes which ones felt.

Spun wool yarn also suits needle felting details, since untreated wool yarn felts into the surface while acrylic yarn does not. Keep short lengths of leftover handspun for hair, whiskers and decorative wrapping.

Compare wool yarns →

Frequently asked questions

Can I spin wool without a spindle? Yes, in a rough way. You can twist roving by rolling it against your thigh or between your palms, which makes a weak but usable thick yarn for craft use.

Do I need to card roving before spinning? No. Roving is already carded or combed. Split it lengthwise to thin it and start drafting.

How much yarn does a pound of wool make? It depends on how thin you spin. A pound of fiber can make from several hundred to well over a thousand yards, with thinner yarn giving far more length.

Why does my yarn keep breaking? The usual causes are too little twist, drafting too thin or fibers that are too short for the technique. Add more twist or draft a thicker strip.