Biggest Spindle Ever!

I had several tasks on my list this morning as I was sipping my coffee.  One of which was to keep the wood stove going, because it is really cold here right now, unusually so.  We were in the single digits last night.  I just heard on the news tonight, that this has been the 17th coldest January on record in our area.  So, wood stove is stoked and purring, and plenty of wood in the rack to get us well into tomorrow.

Next there was  the necessary chore of catching up with the laundry, it turns out that there were really only 5 loads in the baskets, but it looked like a lot more!  Along with laundry, and a good fit for that task, is the paperwork I need to wade through to get us ready for our visit to our accountant.  Each time the dryer let me know it was ready to be emptied, I would rise from the paperwork spread about me, very happy for the break!  By early afternoon, I had finished both tasks, well, at least I had done all the paperwork I could do for the present , and the laundry was down to todays offerings.

Finally the last task that I had to do was a post for the blog.  I pondered all day, about what I would blog about.  Unfortunately, I did not get up to the studio this week, even though I promised to.  So, I pondered through the woodpile, the paperwork and the laundry.  I ran out to do some errands a little later in the afternoon, still pondering.  It seemed that I wasn't going to be able to quickly do some weaving, to have something to post about! (Yes, that does happen at times)

All of a sudden, I remembered that I hadn't posted about the Navajo Spindle I picked up in Asheville earlier this month.  It is a spindle that I have looked at for a number of years, and really I did not have any interest in purchasing one for the longest time.

What got me interested in this spindle is the fact that the antique spinning wheels that I am getting interested in all have small bobbins.  This is fine for spinning singles, but when I want to ply 2 bobbins together, these small bobbins can't hold it all, so that I am forced to make smaller skeins than I would like too.   Even a couple of my more modern wheels have small bobbins.  Only my Louet S-10 has bobbins that can give me a great big 4oz skeins that I love.

 You can see the Navajo Spindle along side the Ashford student spindle, which is not a small spindle at all!  Dear one and I had gone to a retreat, where he would be doing some speaking, and I would have quite a bit of free time. :)  I brought some singles to ply, and wool to spin.

I was quite pleased with the skein of yarn that I plied that weekend, yes it was slower than plying on a wheel, but I enjoyed it.  It was almost as if I was able to take greater care as I plied each section, before winding on.

You may not have seen one of these spindles in action, but it is really quite simple.  I watched several YouTube videos to get an idea of how I was to use it, so I had the general idea.

 To spin a single with a Z twist, which is the most common singles twist, you start at your knee and roll the spindle towards your hip a couple of times to get up some speed.  At the end of the stroke, you can cradle the spinning spindle loosely in your fingers.  For an S twist for plying, you roll from your hip to your knee.


I had a little trouble with the tip of the spindle sliding on the floor.

I got around that by putting the tip in Dear Ones running shoes!  It worked fairly well, but I think I will be getting the "rock" that they use to keep cellos still.

So that is my post, my last task is done, just a little later than usual. :)

Until next time, Happy Spinning and Weaving, Tina