Here's a video all about Turkish spindles, with Abby Franquemont, who is the Master of All Things Spindly. I watched that one, as well as several others, as I got ready to give my new toy a whirl.
Assemble the parts.
I love how it sits at a jaunty angle when at rest, rather than rolling off into the next room when it hits the floor. Or worse, rolling towards the nearest cat, who will be utterly convinced that you've brought it the Best New Cat Toy EVER. (Woohoo!)
There was a learning curve, combined with a re-learning curve. I haven't done any spindle spinning in at least 3 years, and I've only used a top-whorl spindle. The weight distribution of the bottom-whorl was a little hard to get used to. (I may try to assemble this one upside down and see it it's usable that way. Experimenting is always fun.) (Well, not always, but usually.) (Well, sometimes.)
Once I got some singles built up, I pulled the pin,
yanked off its arms,
and was left with a little center-pull ball ready to be plied.
I tied the leader back to the spindle
and plied from both ends and ended up with a sweet little ball of yarn.
It's not my best spinning ever, but it's by far not my worst, either. (Full disclosure - there was a lot of cussing involved in the plying process. Those singles were really lively and prone to twist. With each other, with themselves, with my hair, with the spindle itself. It wasn't all "Tada! Yarn!")
And even though it's all neatly packaged in a nice center pull ball, I'm going to hunt up my kniddy knoddy and wind it off into a skein so I can soak it to distribute the twist a little better.
I'm really pleased with this new spindle. It's fun that it disassembles to pack flat, which makes it beautifully portable.
I'm already planning to make a bag for it, too. Because obviously I don't have enough to do.
7 comments:
I know nothing about wool so this was very interesting to read. Now, how many times do you need to "ply"? (I had to look up that word, just to say how much I know about wool.) The ball of wool doesn't look big in the pictures. How big a ball can you spin with this?
P.S. a very well tanned Brazilian please. <8^D (lol)
;^)
I tried drop spindle once - felt like I had two left hands.
May I suggest you use your two-ply to knit a toy for your cats?
Respectfully,
Molly
Neat! I have considered try a spindle, but Mom's got the spare wheel, so I think I'm just going to keep practicing on that. (Who am I kidding, I'm going to just keep stealing HER handspun)
aha once again you were nearby and I could have met you.
I usually go to sheep and wool but didn't this year. I would have been even more upset to not meet up if I had gone. LeeAnna
Lovely sheen to a beautifully rustic yarn. I thoroughly enjoyed your post, thanks!
I'm thinking I'd better go watch the movie when I get a chance. I'm not sure what just went on there but it looks pretty awesome.
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