Drop Spindle

[wildforyarn]

I do a little spinning with a top whorl. It is an Ashford. I took a class in Northern Wisconsin at a little yarn shop. She did not mention that the size of the whorl made a difference on the type of yarn you spun... but rather how you do with the stretching of the fibers while spinning.

She showed us a lace weight and a thick n thin yarn spun both with the same spindle. In the class I was really good at doing the spinning of a lace weight type yarn, but after I got home I was a little more of a worsted weight yarn when I was done, and sometimes, if I got lazy and was not paying enough attention, it was like a thick/thin yarn.

I don't know if this helps much. I do enjoy it and it is rather relaxing, but with three kids around (two mine and one I care for) during the day, and working part-time evenings, I don't have a lot of time to spin. I am looking forward to being able to purchase a wheel sometime and really get into it.

[amy]

I've only used top-whorl spindles. I like them because I can whip it off my leg to get it spinning fast when I'm cruisin' or doing fine yarn that needs lots of twist. Seems like a bottom whorl wouldn't like the shaft being rolled against the leg, since the yarn is running along the shaft; but I've not used them, maybe one could still do this.

BTW, CD spindles are great, good balance and weight. The wide diameter gives them good momentum, and yet they're not so heavy that they drop like an anchor. I dont' know where one gets the rubber insterts recommended to hold them on a dowel, but I've used masking tape around and around the dowel until it was thick enough to squeeze the CD on it. Not perfect, but it worked!

[Arugula]

I went to Home Depot, asked a guy and he got me the exact thing required, it is a neoprene grommet and has a groove on the outside that the CD fits in.

I wonder...would they cut and drill the dowel, even for a small fee?

[Arugula]

I found the dowels in the molding section (you know, like crown molding?) and they had a little station so you could cut your own molding. I just measured my dowel and cut it there. I don't think they'd drill it though. Maybe you could get a "demonstration" in the power tool area...

That sounds like a great idea!

I knew they'd cut stuff for you there; I just wasn't sure about the drilling. It's worth a try...

"Excuse me, but I'm not sure how to drill into a piece of wood this small; could you show me?"

[Arugula]

BTW Angelia, I LOVE everything you are teaching this week. You rock!

Oh, thanks! I'm teaching my favorite classes this term--all sorts of good stuff! I do need to update, though...we're leaving Candide and moving on to Gulliver's Travels!