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Underground > Creation >

Spinning.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

00:15 / 26.09.05

No, not the stationary bike excercisey thing, the making of fibres into yarn by hand. I've done a little of this in the past, and I'm getting back into it.

To get the ball rolling:

Currently I'm making a drop-spindle and looking out for fibres to spin with it. I'm drawing a blank on fleece, and I don't want to spend a fortune ordering things off the internet, so can anyone suggest a good source of natural fibres, preferably fibres that will take a dye well? I've been toying with the idea of cotton-wool, but I think the fibres would be too short.

Quantum

13:31 / 26.09.05

You can get a whole fleece for about a fiver from any wool farm. Maybe not too many of those in your neck of the woods though, but I'm pretty sure you can order them online and have 'em delivered.
My SO is a spinner and weaver, I'll ask her advice. I think the first thing she might say is 'A drop spindle is really hard work'.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

21:41 / 26.09.05

Yeah, it is hard work, but I did loads of handspinning as a kid and I rather enjoyed it.

I'll have to see if there's a wool farm I can get to easily from where I am. Might make a nice day out.

Quantum

09:42 / 27.09.05

My lady recommended internet delivery of a fleece as easiest, because it comes cleaned and carded, but visiting a wool farm would be cool anyway. Isn't drop spinning quite difficult though? Get yourself an Ashford, what's a wicked witch without a spinning wheel? ;]

Sekhmet

12:31 / 27.09.05

Can somebody explain to me how a drop-spindle works? The explanations I've been finding online are confusing my poor tiny brain...

Lilly Nowhere Late

18:16 / 27.09.05

What about a llama farm? A past friend who had two llama's was always anxious to give her excess llama ummm, fur? hair?, whatever, away to spinners.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

19:57 / 27.09.05

Whoa. I don't think we have a llama farm round here. I know that there was a guy who used to heard sheep and goats past the student halls where I lived before we moved to this flat, so I guess there must be a sheep'n'goat farm around there.

I'm trying to find out about the Spanish handspinning scene online. I'm coming up all history, which is fascinating but not much help to me right now. It's one of those situations where knowing what each individual word is in Spanish really doesn't help...

Less searchable M0rd4nt

22:31 / 27.09.05

Can somebody explain to me how a drop-spindle works?

Essentially, you fix one end of a sausage of unspun fibres (called a rolag) to the top of the spindle, and slowly feed this through your fingers while you spin the spindle (which hangs freely from the yarn that you're spinning) with your free hand. The whorl (weight) of the spindle keeps it spinning around at a fairly even rate, and ensures that it continues to spin around its central axis without wobbling. You twist the spindle in the air like a spinning top and keep feeding the fibres through your fingers, letting the weight draw them gently along.

Sekhmet

14:04 / 28.09.05

I guess what's puzzling me is why the spindle doesn't eventually reverse its direction and unwind the yarn, because it seems like a twisted cord would want to un-twist. Do you have to catch the spindle at a certain point and re-spin it before it does this, or does it just not happen?

17:27 / 28.09.05

I tried spinning kapok once. It would have been great if it had worked. It didn't. The fibres are too short and slippery, at least for a novice like me.

But think of it. Kapok yarn.

I'm a big fan of the method where there is essentially a drop spindle in a holder that you turn with your foot.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

22:22 / 28.09.05

Sekhmet: you catch it before it reverses its direction. Because it's weighted, it'll keep spinning one way for a while before it slows down, stops, and untwists. The trick is to keep on twizzling it with a regular rhythm. You sort of flick the top of the spindle between your fingers like a top, catching it everytime it slows down too much.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

22:25 / 28.09.05

Quantum: Isn't drop spinning quite difficult though? Get yourself an Ashford, what's a wicked witch without a spinning wheel?

It's quite labour-intensive, but I have other reasons for doing this besides making the yarn itself (the whole handspinning thing is tied into my spoOoOokay stuff, funny you should mention witches). I'l eventually like to get a spinning-wheel, but right now: too pricey, nowhere to put it.

Sekhmet

13:03 / 29.09.05

Ta, Mordant, I think I'm clear.

Now I want to try this...

Less searchable M0rd4nt

21:31 / 08.10.05

Feck.

My glass spindle whorl is broken. Which leaves me in the market for a flat round thing with a hole in the middle, made out of some kind of transparent stuff. Doesn't have to be perfectly transparent or flawless or anything, and the colour isn't terribly important. Plastic resin would be just peachy, as it could be moulded, but I don't know where to come by a very great deal of plastic resin.

I have some vague idea of getting hold of some kind of resinous or plasticky varnish and building it up in layers until I had a round transparent thing with a hole in the middle. Do-able? Stupid? Cake?

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