Help with scratch spin?

That's kind of how I felt too when I was learning my scratch spin. Took me forever and many many falls before I could cross my feet. At first, go into it slowly. Make sure you're well balanced and centered before you start bending your free leg. Otherwise the momentum generated by pulling in will throw you off even more. Your free leg should be slightly to the front, turned out and foot pointed, which will make crossing over the knee easier. You should make like a number "4" with your free leg bent and remember that your arms should come in with your leg. Then slowly slide your free foot down flexing your ankle to a neutral position so that you don't catch your toepick. Also, when the spin starts getting faster, sometimes there's a tendency to go on the toepick, so try to ease back a little on your skating foot to stay on the sweet spot of the blade. If you feel like you're going to fall, just put your free leg down to terminate the spin. I would sometimes get caught up in my pant leg, so wearing leggings might help you feel more confident. Well, at least while spinning. I'm not a fan of men in tights but do what you need to do.

What cured me of that before it even began was an exercise my coach ran me through. She would get me to glide on one foot in a straight line, and then move through the scratch-spin position. So, leg up, foot to knee, arms out in front. Then close arms and slide foot down leg until completely crossed over. Worked like a charm, and I never tripped once!

First of all, just be patient and practice a lot! Take it slow going into it, I think it's more important to get the (cross) motion down, and then improve on your speed. It might take a few falls, but don't be afraid to fall. Also, I don't know if you have an off ice spinner, but those can be really helpful! It will help you get your technique down off ice, and then it will improve a lot on ice! Just a suggestion. You can buy them for like 10 or 20 bucks from rainbosports.com Hope this helps! :)

You've had some good technical answers - I'll just suggest that you think about what you're wearing. Is there something loose/baggy round your ankle that you're specifically worried you're going to catch your toepick in? If so, try a different set of trousers :)

start out slow, starting to cross your legs, then work you way faster and faster....it will take a few trips and falls, but it is easy to adjust to when you slowly work your way in it.