Drop Spindle Spinning

I am about to outline my experience with the Drop Spindle Spinning class I took with Nicola at Baaad Anna's yarn shop recently. Beware ~~I am a novice at this skill so what is about to follow describes an experience and should not serve as anything more than ramblings of a beginner.

First, let's discuss the drop spindle. It is easy to see why this is a popular way to spin. The spindle is so simple to use you can almost figure it out just by looking at it. Place the roving on the hook, give the dowel a spin and you are off to the races. Plus the investment is relatively minuscule, depending on the size of the spindle you choose, it will set you back between $15 and $40.

The second item needed to spin is roving. Roving refers to the fiber produced when clean wool has been carded. If carding is done by a machine the fiber is "lined up" in a sheet. All the spinner needs to do is feed the roving, in the appropriate amounts (called drafting), on to the spindle and spin. What results is single ply yarn. Here's what my roving looks like:

My BFL roving, see the "vegetable material" there in the mid-left

I used a lovely BFL roving (Blackfaced Leicester - a type of sheep that yields a very soft wool in natural colours of off-white/cream, gray and black.) If one wants coloured yarn the roving needs to be dyed, which is an entirely new technique to be learned. For my first attempt I choose to use a natural cream coloured roving.

Now for the spinning. The trick is to get the roving drafting properly. Drafting refers to managing the process by which you introduce twists into the roving. Sounds easy right, heck all you need to do is put a spin on the spindle. All this is true, but how this is done is vital because drafting is the heart and soul of the spinning process.

Let me show you how this is done by an expert acting as if she's a beginner. Rachel from Paradise Fibers has a nice 4 minute video showing how to get started with a drop spindle. It is worth watching an expert do this. Both Rachel and my instructor, Nicola, make this look so relaxing and easy to do. As you can see there's plenty of starting and stopping but as you get better the drafting becomes second nature and spinning becomes a continuous process. I can tell you that spinning causes you to use your arms/hands in ways much different from how they are used in knitting. Spinning in this way offers a great change of pace.

Two full hours were spent in class where I was actually trying to make some version of a smooth yarn. I did learn that once the roving has been spun one cannot take it apart and re-spin it; therefore you get what you get and what I got was a yarn that varies dramatically in thickness. Even after I turned my yarn into double ply, meaning I put two single ply strands of my spun yarn together, the variations remain very evident. In the end I made just under 5 feet or 1.5 meters of double ply yarn. Not enough to make much but then hey, I have just begun.

The variety of roving spun in class

My roving and spindle with my spun yarn

My washed and thwacked yarn

Yes, this "yarn" needs a bit of work, but you can see patches of success followed by patches that need improvement. I will find a way to use this just the way it is, however, and will continue to practice.

Next I'll talk about what I am attempting to do with a couple of cakes of pencil roving I bought several years ago. .

Anatomy of a Sock

I've been knitting socks for a relatively short time. One of the disconcerting things for me as I started following patterns for socks is the pattern designer assumes the knitter (in this case that would be me) knows all the parts of a sock. So I thought I'd devote a post to improve my own knowledge about the anatomy of a sock and maybe some of you will learn something about the humble yet necessary sock as well. Here's the names of the parts of the foot as I know them. #49 ankle, #50 heel, #51, instep, #52 ball, #53 big toe, #54 toe, #55 little toe, #56 toenail. There are some parts more important for this discussion; first the heel of a foot is generally used to refer to the entire C-shape from the ankle to the instep. Speaking of the instep, it refers to that curve near the bottom of the foot. And what seems to be missing in the design above is the sole which generally refers to the bottom of the foot in total or plantar aspect in more technical terms...

Ode to the Cat

It has been six months since Mike, the cat's, passing. I think of him every day and miss him especially when Paul is away. Mike was a being in the house with me and we were close. Grieving his death has been muddled with my Dad's passing and sometimes I feel guilty about that happening. As time passes the ache becomes less hurtful for both and I am starting to get mostly good memories in its place. Recently I helped celebrate Pablo Neruda's birthday with Jami, my poet and overall very creative friend. Guests were asked to select one poem written by Neruda to read to the small group who gathered for the celebration. I picked this one: Ode To The Cat -- Pablo Neruda There was something wrong with the animals: their tails were too long, and they had unfortunate heads. Then they started coming together, little by little fitting together to make a landscape, developing birthmarks, grace, flight. But the cat, only the cat turned ou...

Knitting-Related Guinness World Records

I had to share some of the Guinness World Records connected with knitting. It is amazing to me the type of skill, stamina and unique characteristics these record holders have in common. How about trying to knit with these SPNs?? Ingrid Wagner and her large needles and knitted swatch The largest knitting needles measured 3.5 m (11 ft 5.8 in) long and had a diameter of 8 cm (3.15 in). Ingrid Wagner, a rug and art creation artist, from the UK used the needles to knit a tension square of ten stitches by ten rows at the Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, on March, 10 2008. (And I complained about getting certain SPNs stuck in my clothes.) See how this swatch was done with merely 5 people managing the needles. And what about the yarn? It is truly ex-bulky. It looks like they're knitting in a warehouse, but with a wingspan of almost 24 feet or 7 m, you'd need all that space. Or h...

Flagel Knitting Files

Search This Blog