Elizabeth Johnston AKA Shetland Handspun, spinning Shetland wool on an old Shetland wheel

This is the sound of Elizabeth Johnston - AKA Shetland Handspun - spinning Shetland wool on an old Shetland wheel. Elizabeth Johnston produces outstanding handspun wool which she dyes with natural dyes such as madder and indigo. Elizabeth gets the best fleeces that she can through the Shetland Woolbrokers; once she has a few really nice fleeces, she hand spins and then dyes them. This is because it causes less damage to the wool fibres if they are spun before being dyed, rather than the other way around. As well as being an amazing spinner and dyer, Elizabeth is a talented knitter. I loved the afternoon that I spent with her, listening to her spinning wheels, talking about the rhythm and whirr of wheels, and looking through all the gorgeous hanks of handspun she had in her studio. In this recording, she is spinning wool and I am moving my microphones around the different parts of the wheel. The bassier sounds come from the treadle and the lower parts of the wheel which are operated by the foot, to make the wheel go around. The whirring, treble sounds emanate from the flyer, where the yarn is produced. Twist that is generated by the wheel travels up into the yarn as it is drafted out by the quick fingers of the spinner; yarn is made by adding twist to wool. This is the sound of yarn being made, as it has been made for a couple of hundred years in Shetland. Recorded with Naiant X-X microphones and FOSTEX FR-2LE.