[pagancrafts] spinning etc.
Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1998 12:08:55 -0800
From: Beverly Viel
Organization: Round Table Kitchen
Here is a place for Hand Spinning etc.
Hand Spinning
Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1998 18:18:16 -0800
From: Marilyn Warren
Organization: Crone's Network
Hi again. I have a spinning wheel and have done quite a bit of spinning, but simply do not have the time anymore. What I would like to learn is how to hand spin with a spindle. I could do this while I am waiting at any time I have to wait, such as at Dr's offices, checkout lines or simply walking along the road.
[pagancrafts] Spinning & Spindles
Date: Sun, 01 Nov 1998 16:41:52 -0800
From: Crone
Organization: Mama Yasmini's Place
Guys, here are a couple of excerpts from posts sent to another list a while back. Thought they might be of interest to some of you - like you, Marilyn. (smile)
"Spinning is really very easy once you get the hang of it. My first few skeins on the drop spindle were kind of sickly looking, but I did finally manage to get it right :0) Drop spindles are very inexpensive (mine was less than $12) and ready to spin wool (no carding or cleaning necessary) that is a decent quality can be gotten for $10-12 per pound. I dont know of anyplace where you can get a pound of 100% wool yarn for that little. You should try it :0)"
And...
"Have to jump in on this one. I've only been spinning since last fall and have only used a drop spindle - somewhere down the road I hope a wheel is in my future! It's become so much second nature that I now spin while reading messages, watching tv, etc. I've spun up enough corriedale that I have finished knitting the back and front of a cabled cardigan! Just ordered 2 lbs. of merino for some baby sweaters! The only downside is that when I spin too long over the course of a few days my shoulder and upper arm really aches.... At one point I actually saw the doctor because the ache had gone into spasms - probably was because I was using a too heavy beginner spindle. It's amazing what a difference a couple of ounces makes. Lately I've been making some spindles out of dowels and toy car wheels. If they were painted they would look just like the fancy Lollipop spindles. I've read that you can make spindles out of stacked discarded CD's! Haven't seen one but it sounds interesting.
Cindy (CC)"
And...
"Since there is some interest in how to make hand spindles from those formerly useless CDs in your life, I thought I'd share how I did it. You'll find more info by going through the back-digests of Spindlitis, starting around the end of March or early April. The following was originally posted to Spindlitis, and has been slightly modified.
I was inspired to make a CD drop spindle when other people posted to spindlitis about them. They really work great, especially considering how little they cost to make!
I used 2 CDs for the whorl. I like to spin fine, and this gave a nice weight without being too heavy. You can easily add another one or two CDs to the stack without too much trouble. Two CDs gives you a spindle that's a bit lighter than a Mongold - maybe 2 oz. or so. I've been using it as a top-whorl spindle.
We used a rubber grommet to hold the CDs together firmly and fill in the center hole. I'm not sure what size it was - there's a random assortment in my husband's electronic supply doodad box. If the grommet was too big, he did surgery on it, cutting out a section of the ring to make the diameter smaller.
Pick a dowel size depending on how small the center hole on the grommet is. A 5/16" diameter dowel worked best for our grommets. If the CD whorl is a little loose, you can wrap some tape around the dowel to give a firmer fit for the whorl.
I didn't glue the whorl. It's nice that it is removeable. That way, it's easy to disassemble and pack for travel. Another advantage is that one can have several dowels and switch the whorl from dowel to dowel so that you don't have to remove the singles in order to do something else. Also, you might want to experiment with whorl placement on the shaft, and/or switch from bottom whorl to top whorl or vice versa.
And that's all there is to it! You can notch the sides of the CD if you'd like, but I prefer not to. The long shaft length makes it easy to spin off your leg and really get it cranking. Sometimes the whorl won't quite be perpendicular to the shaft and the thing will have a slight wobble, but just push down on one side of the CD until it's sitting true again. Even with an occasional slight wobble, it spins for a long time. With one good leg-roll, I can usually draft and spin until I can't reach anymore, then reach down and stop the still-spinning spindle.
Watching it spin is quite hypnotic, whether the metallic or the printed side of the CD is facing you. I put mine together so that the metallic side shows on both faces, but I have a few sitting around that look good with the printed side spinning.
Other people have used lots of electrical tape wrapped around the dowel in order to mount the CDs on the shaft, or used rubber bands to hold the CDs in place. Ann Wilson used mobile home rosette buttons, glued to the top and bottom of the CD, with a hole drilled through. Someone also mentioned using a stack of 5 CDs and a 36" long dowel to make a CD Navajo spindle, using rubber band "gaskets" to hold the CDs in place. Some people like to decorate their CD spindles. One person mentioned using paint, rhinestones, and stuff like that. Another had access to clear plastic disks that protect the stacks of CDs (she's a computer tech). She took several of these and put pressed flowers between the layers to make a really beautiful spindle.
My apologies about all these "someones" I'm mentioning. Either I don't have the poster's e-mail address, or more than one person mentioned the technique, or I'm paraprasing from personal e-mail that I don't have official permission to quote from.
Have fun with your CD spindles!
Theresa (CC)"
Hope these are of interest to some of you. And, Marilyn, there's a video on how to spindle spin that the Cindy in the second note above has. She's trying to find the 800 number and the name of the company that carries it. I'll post it as soon as I get the info.
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