Men carved spindle whorls for their sisters, wives and daughters. Snuneymuxw women were talented spinners, making balls of wool from tufts of white mountain goat and dog hair, duck down, and fluffy nettle and fire-weed strands. Once these fibres were collected or traded, they would be carded, combed out to make them light and free of tangles and dirt. By spinning the wool, the Snuneymuxw women were twisting the fibres together, making the wool free of knots and suitable for weaving blankets.

An experienced Snuneymuxw spinner started by taking raw materials for spinning from her work basket and twisting them. She would thread this twist, called a roving, through the centre hole of the whorl and then slide the shaft through until it fit snugly. The spinner would deftly twirl the spindle by supporting one end of the shaft in her hand so that she could roll the other end along her thigh. The spindle was continually lifted and rolled along the thigh in the same direction, with the whorl somewhere between the knees. Once a thick yarn began to form, it would be wound above the whorl, and the spinner would take up more raw materials from her basket. Once the yarn was spun, it was ready to be balled and stored.

Snuneymuxw wool can be made by rolling the fibres between the hands or against the thigh, or with the beautifully carved spindle whorls. Beryl Cryer wrote of visiting a Snuneymuxw woman by the name of Tsass-Aya, late Elder Jenny Wyse, in the 1930s. Cryer notes two variations of the spindle whorl. One is a pail lid, the other a re-fit sewing machine.

"Instead of the old and tedious method of spinning with a pointed stick driven through the lid of a lard pail, used by my old friend, Tsass-Aya had her machine. It was an ordinary treadle, but across the top was a short, heavy stick [that was] the peeled branch of a tree … beneath this stick was a large spindle, so fastened to the machine that it turned rapidly."