Spinning yarns Robin Swindle, Phil Campbell spinner, tells her story Story and photos by MARÍA CAMP
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obin Swindle’s love of working with yarn started more than 20 years ago, when she bought an illustrated book and used it to teach herself how to crochet. These days, she still crochets but also knits, weaves on a loom and spins her own yarn using a spinning wheel. HOW IT STARTED The desire to take up spinning began with concerns about having enough yarn on an ongoing basis. “During the beginning of the pandemic, I got worried the stores might run out of yarn,” explained Swindle, “and I started Googling and found out people still make handspun yarn, so I set about learning how.” While on vacation in Gatlinburg in No-
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vember 2020, she discovered the Smoky Mountain Spinnery, a large specialty store for those creating all types of fiber arts. “I could spend all day in there,” said Swindle. “As soon as I walked in, I knew it was precisely my kind of place.” She started looking for a drop spindle, an inexpensive way many beginners start to learn how to spin yarn, and she wound up selecting one with a dragonfly because that’s her favorite insect. After a 10–15 minute in-store lesson on how to make yarn using the drop spindle, she said it was pretty much a matter of practice. “I just had to keep going with it. I was ‘bit by the bug’ right away, and I fell down all the rabbit holes.” She is mostly self-taught, using books and YouTube videos. She has also
started learning to weave, having received a loom as a Christmas gift in 2021. SPINNING WHEEL Swindle said she soon saw the limitations of working with only a drop spindle for spinning and realized she wanted a spinning wheel. She began digging deep into research about the different types and costs. “Some of them are quite expensive, but I just kept looking,” she explained. “During the February ice storm last year, I found the one I ended up getting, a Saxon-type spinning wheel. I bought it through Facebook Marketplace from a lady in Arkansas.” One feature of the wheel holds special significance for Swindle. Her father had passed away from multiple myeloma with-
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