I reworked my spindle design in the Blender software and asked my local 3D printer to print it in cream resin for me. I redesigned the head and neck to make the top lighter and route the yarn better.

It spins easier than the first prototype, and is a bit more elegant, but isn’t quite where I want it.

I have realized that elegance is really what attracts spinners to a spindle. Yes, sometimes we need a workhorse to just get the job done, but a tool with elegance or history, or both, sing more to the soul. I have recently learned, when watching a history piece on spindles by Judith MacKenzie, that it possible to spin yarn by thigh rolling. No wheel, no spindle, hands and leg together to not only spin, but ply simultaneously. (I will report back on my attempts at that!) So why accumulate a collection of different objects to do the same thing? Because we are hoarders that like shiny things. We like to share and show our hoard and thus spread the knowledge farther. It is not a bad thing, in balance, and a good reason to strive for elegance on occasion.