Spindle Collecting

*

Regular readers may recall that I took some spinning classes back in October, both wheel and spindle-spinning. I don't yet own a wheel, and am not going to get one for awhile -- I'm purposely not bringing a wheel into my house until there's actually room for one. And that might actually require moving. (I say that only half in jest.)

In the meantime, I'm enjoying spinning on drop spindles, and I've acquired several over the past few weeks, all from various internet sources.

Let me introduce you to them....

First, there are those in the pretty dark woods:

Clockwise from top:

• Bosworth midi-spindle in paduak wood
• Greensleeves "Ethan Jakob" in redwood burl & purpleheart
• Greensleeves "Vixen" in paduak wood

Next are the ones with stone whorls:

All made by ButterflyGirlDesigns
(clockwise from top):

• Turquoise Howlite
• Dalmation Jasper, 1.5" whorl
• Dalmation Jasper, 2" whorl
• Jadeite

These are my bigger, heavier spindles, which I'm told are good for plying:

Clockwise from top:

• Louet student spindle - my first!
• Cascade "Mt. Pilchuck" in maple
• Kundert "Squiggle" in walnut, cherry & maple

And these last two, (not shown in the first grouping), are my current favorites:

Left: Lily spindle in holly, black walnut & olive woods
Right: Golding spindle in walnut, with vintage turquoise ring
*

Those two are my favorites not only because they're prettiest, but also because they spin the absolute best of all of them. Isn't it nice how it worked out that way?

What I really love about the Lily is that the flower design provides a built-in notch between each "petal", making the spinning process all the more mindless. It also spins and spins for me with just a flick of my fingers -- no thigh-roll required.

resting on Crown Mountain Farm pencil roving in Plane of Bliss
*

The Golding spindle has very quickly become my heart and joy, and working with Tom Golding to design it was a lovely process. I knew I wanted one with a vintage turquoise ring, and he sent me the following two photos so that I might choose my own:


It was hard decision, but I do like my final choice:


And bowing to my Irish heritage and love of dark woods, I had him carve some pretty celtic knots into a walnut whorl:

resting on CMF pencil roving in "As Above, So Below"
*

This spindle, like the Lily, also spins and spins and spins with just a flick of my fingers, and keeps on spinning even as it's about to hit the ground. It helps that Tom cuts notches in the shaft -- that allows for traction that gives a little jump-start to the spin. Heavenly. I could spin with it all day, and I have, almost. It's been wonderful to sit at my desk while on a conference call and spin. I'm building up the copp to be fairly large, and yet it continues to spin well for me, and fairly finely, at that.

Now I just need to decide how I want to ply everything I've spun thus far. Maybe I'll work on that this weekend.

Oh, and don't let me forget to show you some more pretty fiber I've acquired recently:

Those batts are blends of merino, alpaca & angora from Poppy Flower Fibers in "Garden Song" and "Earth & Sky" colorways. Verrrry soft. Can't wait to try spinning them. I just need to free up those favorite spindles of mine!

The package containing these batts was what was in my mailbox Monday night when all the commotion took place. I would have been more than a little peeved if they'd been blown up, that's for sure!

One more bit of fiber acquired recently is 4 oz. of Romney roving from Spunky Eclectic in her "Green Gables" colorway:


Three of my spindles also came from her shop, and with each one ordered she sends a little sampling of her roving so you can start spinning right away -- in my case, some Blue-Faced Leicester in her Rocky Mountain High colorway. Those little samples of BFL are my first exposure to spinning with this particular fiber, and it is soooo incredibly soft and wonderful to spin. I will definitely be getting more.

So, with twelve spindles and several kinds of lovely fiber, I should be a happy spindler for awhile. I just need to find me a niddy noddy!

*