#supported spindle

[allonsybadwolf]

look at how beautiful this spindle is 🐑🌈✨

(spindle is by Woodland Handcrafts and fiber is South American wool and viscose in "Taste the Rainbow" from World of Wool)

[milkweedman]

Decided to try silk spinning again using some silk brick that I have. First I was trying to just spin it like I would wool, which was very difficult because I could hardly draft it. Then I looked online and determined I should spin it from the fold instead. It certainly works much better in that i can actually draft it now, but omg, spinning from the fold is very hard. I think this may be the first time ive ever tried it for more than a minute or two. It doesnt want to stay on my finger, and I cant really figure out how to hold the twist back, so sometimes it creeps into the fiber, which stops the silk from sticking together, which means it runs thin and snaps and I have to reattach it. So its a lot harder than I was expecting. But man, the result is so pretty....

Lot more halo than I wanted though. I think if I was spinning this on a wheel or espinner i could do a worsted spin, but i never did figure out how to spin worsted on a spindle.

Encountering lots of my spinning blindspots right now, thats for sure.

[guardevoir]

Fiber arts update: New spindle!

Bought at the very tail end of June, largely because my rainbow nonsense budget went unused this year - but also because I had my eye on this design for a while now, and so when this one got put up for less than half the usual price for quality control reasons, I couldn't resist. 19€. I mean, c'mon.

(Shop's Spindeleien on etsy, maker of the most stupidly precise supported spindle I own, so I correctly assumed that his "second choice" spindles would still hold up pretty dang well)

The funny thing is that I can get it to run almost perfectly evenly, it's just a tiny bit more finnicky than its brethren that actually passed QC. Doesn't make much of a difference while spinning, tbh.

It's a bit heavier than I usually prefer, weighing in at 39g*, but it works with the whorl shape, and it does less delicate fibers a little more readily, which is what I was hoping for**. I currently have a bit of Portuguese merino on it that my fiber arts friend found too short-stapled to be comfortable on the wheel.

Not the best fiber choice for supported spinning because the fibers are extremely grippy, but if you're not too into perfectly even yarn, it works.

So, yeah! Look out for that one during Tour de Fleece, I guess! I'm sure it'll make appearances here and there.

*my most comfortable supported spindles are a little over half that weight ** I love supported spinning, but it can't always be fine alpaca or yak or camel... and there's only so much cotton I can spin without losing the rest of my sanity

[definitelynotanarchfey]

To exactly no one's surprise, I have gotten another spindle. This one is a tibetan support spindle.

Admittedly this purchase was well thought out. I even borrowed a friend's spindle to see if the tibetan style is better for me than the russian support spindle I struggle so much with.

Considering this is what I made on first try, I would say yes. It is absolutely more comfortable for me.

[lightsandfire]

Between (still) recovering from surgery and generally being tired, I haven't posted a single tour de fleece update, oops

But! Behold my new (and only) supported spindle:

It is a +-20grams walnut spindle, an applewood ringdistaff and a spinning bowl on a little cushion (don't remember the wood type, oak maybe?) from Regenbogenwolle.

It spins better and better the more fiber you put on it! This is +-20 grams of Texel, and it could definitely take more. Gonna take this off, ply it with itself and then start some merino/silk on this spindle (the rainbow one I'm also spinning on my turkish spindle).

Bonus, the size of the cob in perspective:

Other than spinning away at this I have been spinning some more advent mini's from last year (3× 20grams on my electric wheel), carded some Texel fleece to start a sweather spin (did a second test spin today, still have to ply, about 700grams total of white and dark Texel), and made a little progress on my Zwartbles vest spin (about 400gr to handcard and spin left) and a random merino/alpaca blend I found in the box my carder was in (300grams to go).

Enough projects, not enough wrists!

[koniknits]

Yay! After quite some deliberating I ordered a supported spindle and a drop spindle from regenbogenwolle. They look gorgeous. Looking forward to getting to try them out.

(shame about the AI generated clip art)

[batbetbitbotbut]

I had been missing two of my spindles since, idk, November? I had ransacked the whole living room and all my bags so many times without success. I had looked in all the logical places and all the illogical ones.

Yet today! At last, without even looking! I found them! They were in the spinning fibre stash all along.

Therefore here is my collection as it stands (requested by @degenezijde months ago but at the time I could only find two spindles which didn't feel like enough to share). Left to right:

1) Ashford top whorl drop spindle, 44g. I learnt to spin on this at age 11 or 12. The orange merino yarn was made on it when I relearned at age 22 (taught by @akhuna).

2) Supported spindle made by a friend of mine last year from a chopstick, a plastic bead, and some clay (plus chopstick rest spinning bowl), 30g. I struggle a lot with it and I've had a little more success with a different supported spindle at a workshop (when I couldn't find this one) but I'm not sure it was enough for the technique to stick. Have only spun a few yards on this ever, need more practice.

3) KerrySpindles (Etsy) top whorl drop spindle, 31g. I don't like how this one is balanced - maybe too much weight in the shaft compared to the whorl? - so it's not my usual choice but I spun a bit of flax on it last month.

4) NiddyNoddyUK (Etsy) French spindle, 44g. No whorl but it's thicker at the bottom and grooved at the top. Currently spinning miles and miles of Wensleydale which I will ply on the Ashford spindle or my wheel, as I don't think the groove will play nicely with spinning in the other direction.

5) Probably KerrySpindles top whorl drop spindle, 19g. I've spun and plied whole laceweight projects on this, such as the brown Romeldale in the corner. I use it so much I'm slowly eroding the shaft. This spindle was a gift in my teens so I can't be certain of the maker but @ginneke identified it as a probable KerrySpindles product and the maker agreed it was likely (though after at least a decade she can't be certain).

Spindles I would yet like:

A big one for plying! KerrySpindles sells a "large parasol" plying spindle but I'm undecided on whether I want a third one from her, when (a) of my current spindles from her I adore one and dislike another and (b) other spindle makers exist and the more the merrier. Etsy keeps showing me an enormous Turkish plying spindle but the USA-based shipping is more than the spindle itself...

An itty bitty one to see how small I can go! Like, 10 grams or even less. This just sounds fun and challenging.

Bottom whorl spindles! Ones without the grooved tip, to practice my technique with half hitches/ in hand spinning/ supported spinning.

Anything novel and pretty, anything that fills a niche. There are worse things in the world than a spindle collection...

[disgruntled-lifeform]

Guys look at my cool new stick