All that and a box of flakes
Aug 22nd, 2010 by jennifer
I told M I wanted a couple different spindles. He’s made me several drop spindles, all with slight variations, to see which ones I liked for different reasons. He kept making them lighter and lighter because I’ve been on a lace knitting jag and I thought it would be nice to have a really light spindle to spin lace weight yarn.
I’m still new to spinning on a spindle, but I quickly figured out that using a supported spindle would increase my chances of spinning lace weight yarn as I wouldn’t be fighting the weight of the spindle. I spent some time reading about Russian support spindles and found some made by gripping yarns that I’m simply mad for. Lisa, the owner of gripping yarns, has also made several wonderful videos about supported spinning. It’s from these videos that I learn to spin this way.
Armed with a photo of the spindle I’m pining for, M made me the one in the center. The other support spindle in the picture is the result of M trying to teach me what you can and can’t do on his lathe. Not quite as pretty as some, but it spins beautifully.
Here is one of the drop spindles M made me full of yarn spun and plied on drop spindles.
Here is the skein, 103 yards, 16 wpi, 26 grams.
Then, just to break things up, Olivia and I spent some time making speakers for our ipods. We used the speakers from those annoying greeting cards that play music when you open them. They work great with the ipod, but without an amplifier, they aren’t loud enough to use with a laptop.
After all the spindle spinning, I was ready to break out my spinning wheel. My hope was that all of the close up attention I’d given to drafting would pay off. In my opinion, it has. Here is my skein of Blue Face Leicester, 104 grams, 366 yards, 14 wraps per inch. I spun this worsted, which I’d always had trouble with doing successfully. The secret for me was to divide the top in to strips and then predraft.
I can’t really explain why the experience of spinning is so satisfying. I simply love having my hands in the fiber. While I’m busy contemplating this, I’ll just keep spinning while listening to books on my iphone as played through my bran flakes box.
