I was talking to someone about pulling out my spindles and I finally did on Friday. I took a Trindle to the spinning guild meeting and fell in love with spindling all over again.
On Saturday, I finished up the doubleweave sampler from last November's class. I'll post a picture of it when I pull it out again to sew the ends and finish it. I wove 1" tubes across the width alternating the colors. I am going to make it into a circular needle case.
But back to spindles. That session on Friday night made me continue to spin a bit every day. I also took out my tiny spindles because I won a tiny Bee Jenkins at their New Year's Bee drawings. It weighs 2 g and I have to show you a photo in context. You can see it here at their site. I spun a little on it using the sample fiber that came with it to cushion it. It is a Pygora/merino blend and is absolutely gorgeous. Of course the little spindle backspins a lot so it is slow going to spin on it.
But I got the Kuchulu and my 3D printed Snyder Spindles Destiny Turkish and got back to spinning the cashmere/silk from Corgi Hill Farms that was my Tour de Fleece spinning from 2015. I was spinning it on a Nano Trindle and the cop is all messed up. That made me put it in time out. And I decided to spin it on the Turkish spindles instead.
First I struggled with getting a self-leader on the Destiny,. It has 4 arms and they were all flailing about as I tried to spin the leader. I generally do some variation on this method by Wanda Jenkins.
So I started spinning a leader on my Finch Turkish with some discarded yarn I found in the spindle box. I must have been teaching someone to spin because it was all thick and thin with varying amounts of twist. I spun it and plied it but I didn't like putting it on the Destiny. So I went back to my usual method and with a little patience managed to get it started. But I don't like spinning cashmere/silk on it. The wooden shaft has enough grab that it snags the yarn. But it is a lovely spindle and I should spin something on it.
There they are. The Kuchulu on the right and the Destiny on the left. Yes, that is a whole lotta purple.
And here is the thick yarn on my Trindle with the heaviest arms I own. This shaft is only set up for 3 arms but I could switch to another one which has 6 holes in the neoprene ball and get a heavier spin. But this is doing fine, in fact it is easier than the heavier spindles I was using. I am also winding the cops off as soon as I am done so they don't get all messed up. There is a big plying ball that is growing day by day as I wind off from the Forester and the 3D printed top whorl Snyder Spindle. I have a paper towel roll with more singles that I wound off my Bosworth before donating it to a new spinner. So each cop I spin on this one has a matching second ply coming off already spun yarn. That is all that is left of 8 oz so it should be ready for plying soon.
I am also making progress on the Onyx to Crimson gradient but it is very boring taking photos of it. It is at the point where the red is almost black, just before the all black. It is hard to even see on the bobbin. I had to resort to putting a spinning cloth on my lap so I could see what I was spinning.
The Navajo rug is almost done. Someone was getting rid of some unwanted straight needles at the guild meeting and I snagged 2 as shed sticks. Mine went from really fat to pretty skinny and these two fit nicely in between. But it is almost time to remove the two heddles and work on picking up every other strand. There is only 1" left on top and it is already difficult to get sheds. I might try one or two picks more with the heddles before I remove them.
On Saturday, I finished up the doubleweave sampler from last November's class. I'll post a picture of it when I pull it out again to sew the ends and finish it. I wove 1" tubes across the width alternating the colors. I am going to make it into a circular needle case.
But back to spindles. That session on Friday night made me continue to spin a bit every day. I also took out my tiny spindles because I won a tiny Bee Jenkins at their New Year's Bee drawings. It weighs 2 g and I have to show you a photo in context. You can see it here at their site. I spun a little on it using the sample fiber that came with it to cushion it. It is a Pygora/merino blend and is absolutely gorgeous. Of course the little spindle backspins a lot so it is slow going to spin on it.
But I got the Kuchulu and my 3D printed Snyder Spindles Destiny Turkish and got back to spinning the cashmere/silk from Corgi Hill Farms that was my Tour de Fleece spinning from 2015. I was spinning it on a Nano Trindle and the cop is all messed up. That made me put it in time out. And I decided to spin it on the Turkish spindles instead.
First I struggled with getting a self-leader on the Destiny,. It has 4 arms and they were all flailing about as I tried to spin the leader. I generally do some variation on this method by Wanda Jenkins.
So I started spinning a leader on my Finch Turkish with some discarded yarn I found in the spindle box. I must have been teaching someone to spin because it was all thick and thin with varying amounts of twist. I spun it and plied it but I didn't like putting it on the Destiny. So I went back to my usual method and with a little patience managed to get it started. But I don't like spinning cashmere/silk on it. The wooden shaft has enough grab that it snags the yarn. But it is a lovely spindle and I should spin something on it.
There they are. The Kuchulu on the right and the Destiny on the left. Yes, that is a whole lotta purple.
And here is the thick yarn on my Trindle with the heaviest arms I own. This shaft is only set up for 3 arms but I could switch to another one which has 6 holes in the neoprene ball and get a heavier spin. But this is doing fine, in fact it is easier than the heavier spindles I was using. I am also winding the cops off as soon as I am done so they don't get all messed up. There is a big plying ball that is growing day by day as I wind off from the Forester and the 3D printed top whorl Snyder Spindle. I have a paper towel roll with more singles that I wound off my Bosworth before donating it to a new spinner. So each cop I spin on this one has a matching second ply coming off already spun yarn. That is all that is left of 8 oz so it should be ready for plying soon.
I am also making progress on the Onyx to Crimson gradient but it is very boring taking photos of it. It is at the point where the red is almost black, just before the all black. It is hard to even see on the bobbin. I had to resort to putting a spinning cloth on my lap so I could see what I was spinning.
The Navajo rug is almost done. Someone was getting rid of some unwanted straight needles at the guild meeting and I snagged 2 as shed sticks. Mine went from really fat to pretty skinny and these two fit nicely in between. But it is almost time to remove the two heddles and work on picking up every other strand. There is only 1" left on top and it is already difficult to get sheds. I might try one or two picks more with the heddles before I remove them.
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