Drop spindle experiment

On March 26, 2021March 19, 2021 By CarynIn Craft

I’ve started to reread the book that started me spinning “Respect the Spindle” by Abby Franquemont. I don’t reread books often (Terry Pratchett excepted), and usually use books on craft as quick reference, but since I’m really enjoying spinning, and have been spinning daily, I thought I might understand the text better now. And I do.

The half hitch on my bottom whorl spindle has been giving me trouble, slowing down the production and acting a a frustrating bubble in an otherwise smooth flow (for a relative beginner). In her book, Ms Franquemont mentions many different methods for securing the yarn before adding twist, including using a notched shaft. I don’t have any notched shafts. So I made one. Rather than notch the shaft of my thin olive spindle, I started with a scrap of dowel from the garage. I shaped it using my belt sander, started the notch with a small saw, and refined the shape first with needle files, then with folded sandpaper.

I kept the dowel thickness in the middle to try making yarn balls as one would with a nostepinne (yup, that is new to me too, but so cool!) The shaping is like a Russian supported spindle (roughly, the pictures I’ve seen are more elegant), but I’m using it also as a drop spindle (so I can walk and spin). I had to start spinning to test the notch, so my yarn may have a bit of wood dust as I refined the shape, spun, and refined some more.

View of notch grooves from the top of the spindle

My goal with the notch was to get the yarn closer to the center of spin as well as be functional for spinning clockwise or counterclockwise. The cone tip helps with flicking the spindle to spin, and the grooves actually help with grip. I have not applied any finishing oil as I may still tweak the shape. Sanding down to 400 grit though keeps the yarn from catching on the wood.

Gimp yarn

On March 21, 2021March 18, 2021 By CarynIn Craft

I read about gimp yarn in Spin Off magazine, and thought it would be good to practice making different thicknesses of yarn. Gimp yarn uses a thin single and a thicker single plied to make a bumpy looking yarn.

Two yarns, thicker and thinner, rinsed, dried, and wound into a cake in preparation for plying

I transferred the singles from my spindle to a niddy noddy, rinsed them to set the twist, then let them dry before winding them into cakes. I did all this rather than plying from cops because I wanted a smooth center pull for plying. To ply, I tucked the yarn cakes into an arm bag that I made long ago for carrying crochet yarn. They fit perfectly! And it is easy to feed the two singles from the bag and ply. I have also discovered that it is easier to get my spindle spinning counterclockwise if I flick the bottom instead of the top.

Plying yarn from cakes tucked in to the arm bag

My singles don’t have an extreme difference in size, but it was enough to get the effect (which reminds me of my grandma’s rickrack trim).

Left over thin single, and two cops of plied gimp yarn

Spindle bumper

On March 20, 2021March 18, 2021 By CarynIn Craft

Now that I’m getting more comfortable spinning and walking I tend to drop the spindle more. With any luck, even more practice will reduce my tendency to skitter the spindle down the road, but in the meantime I put a bumper on the bottom of the shaft. A pencil eraser works well to cover the end, and protects the wood from sudden impact!

Pencil eraser as a make shift spindle bumper

Weaving on a wire jig

On March 17, 2021March 12, 2021 By CarynIn Craft

I had a small amount of two-ply hand spun merino wool left. Not enough to weave on my frame loom, but if I could rig something up a little smaller it might work. So I tried weaving on one of my wire jigs.

I used my smallest pins to hold the warp threads and a tapestry needle to pass the weft through to make a plain weave. As the weaving progressed, I had to hold down the pins as they tended to pop up out of the jig. On the whole, the idea worked, but it wasn’t a pleasant experience since the pins were only loosely set and it was difficult to do the final passes. Mark that up as a nope.

Watch of merino wool woven on a wire jig

Nålbinding swatches

On March 16, 2021March 12, 2021 By CarynIn Craft

I did some crochet, some knitting, and now it is time for nålbinding! I only had two ply and four ply yarn left, but I tried using a tapestry needle as well as a hand-made nål on the two ply. Sizing the loops to the tapestry needle was much too small and much too tight, but the 25mm diameter nål made a nice fabric for both the two ply and the four strand cable ply. I stitched in the round, then cut the tubes open. The swatch does not unravel when cut! Although a few tiny bits of yarn do fall out. Of the three methods of fabric construction, nålbinding is the slowest, but I enjoy it the most. The process is soothing and the resulting fabric is nicely stretchy (at least with this stitch).