I can walk and spin! I’m beyond excited. I took my merino wool roving and my bottom whorl drop spindle and headed off through the neighborhood. For fiber management, I wrapped the roving around my wrist, which works really well. I really expected the spindle to swing, but it stays mostly straight down, and I didn’t kick it even once. The psychology also worked, because I walked longer than I would have without spinning.
Bottom whorl drop spindle with “sage” merino roving blends into the pavement
One of my neighbors who was also out walking commented that from a distance it just looks like I’m waving my hands in the air. My fiber is rather road colored!
So many esoteric terms in spinning! (Here is a funny article from Spin-off magazine on hand spinning terms.) In this case, plying is spinning singles together to make a thicker stronger yarn. A cop is the yarn wound upon a spindle. I took the end from the inside and the outside of the cop and plied them together, essentially working from both ends of the single.
Cop on the left, two ply yarn on the rightPlied yarn completing a new cop
I’m still working on consistency, but it is the process I enjoy. It is meditative.
I continue my Frankenstein method of using drop spindles. The shaft is from a Turkish style drop spindle that I made, the whorl is a wooden toy wheel because it was lighter than the arms of the Turkish spindle, and the support is from my original experiments and made from the base of two aluminum cans. Why? Why do I keep piecing and parting? Well, because I want to walk and spin. However it is cold outside and my cat wanted a lap. Drop spinning in my recliner so my very long cat has enough lap room was awkward, then I remembered that cotton spinners use a supported spindle set up, so I dug out the aluminum can contraption. I did not care for supported spinning in the beginning, but it was just the trick this time.
Spinning merino wool with a supported spindle
I am able to mix and match because of the shape of the shaft. It tapers sharply to a point at the bottom, which allows it to spin in a rounded support, and has a long taper from the base to the top, which allows the accommodation of various hole sizes in whorls. As a bonus, the cop of spun yarn slides up and off the shaft, without having to rewind!
Cop of yarn removed from the shaft of the spindle
So, if you are new to drop spindle spinning and want the flexibility to try different methods, I recommend looking closely at the shaft of prospective spindles. Or making your own.
I thought I would be at the park and draft stage of spindle spinning forever. There I would sit forever, spinning the spindle to build twist, then catching the spindle between my knees, or under one leg, or arm, and only then letting the twist run into my fiber as I drafted. Managing both spin and drafting seemed unattainable. I was actually OK with it, except for the lure of an idea. The idea to spin and walk.
So I grabbed my Turkish spindle and some prepared merino roving and tried again. The spindle seemed too heavy, so I took off the arms and slid a light wood whorl down the shaft to make a bottom whorl spindle. (With park and draft I preferred a top whorl.) Oh my goodness, something clicked. Yes, I dropped the spindle a few times as I figured out which direction I was spinning (I couldn’t think S or Z, I had to think counterclockwise or clockwise). I tried using my distaff, but kept getting the fibers wrapped tight around it, so instead wrapped some roving around my arm. The fiber was bunching up, so I divided the roving in half. That seemed to do the trick! I was spinning while standing! Missy the pup helped me with the next step because when I am standing that means I can kick her ball, right? And if I can kick her ball, maybe I can walk and spin. For now, spinning will continue indoors, as it is cold outside. But when it warms up, it will be time to try to walk!
Missy helping me with the spinning goals by asking me to kick her ball while I spin.
When you haven’t spun in awhile, and open a new jar of vitamins.
Spinning cotton from a vitamin jar
Apparently I need to get back to spinning, because I really do have better fibers to spin than this. However, I feel like I need to make usable items from my spun yarn before I spin more, which is my hang up. I have several projects to finish up that are dragging on. So I guess I will spin the bit of fluffy packing material for now!
The spindle is one I made from an old button, a rubber band, and a steel mandrel (I used to make glass beads). I couldn’t find the spindle stand, so I used a serving spoon.
Critters and Craft 