Spinning Toys

Two years ago I was adamant about my "no spinning" policy. Now that is history. I've entered the world of spinning and I'm having a ball. Yes, another stash, another reason to shop and the danger of branching out into yet another craft.

The hardest part for me was learning how to draft. I watched a lot of you tubes, watched people spinning and tried a wheel a couple of times. I found that using the drop spindle was a way to slow down things so I could get the hang of drafting out the fibers. Also pre-drafting prior to spinning helped me get the feel of the fibers slipping out. I still find my drafting is not very fast using a wheel.

Adding the foot action was another story. I practiced with some unspun Lopi. It needs no drafting so I could practice the foot and hand motions without having to worry about how much fiber was slipping out (or not slipping out).

I had 4 things on my shopping list for the Madrona Marketplace...traveling kate, wool cards, WPI tool and Majacraft bobbins. No spindles on this list. Sandy said "don't hold back" so in addition to filling my list I have 3 more spindles.

Leopardwood square spindle from SpindleWood CO. It's square, but it really spins nicely. It's quite light for it's size.

This Turkish spindle was a gift from blogless Sandy. Thank you Sandy! It's made of ironwood by Jenkins. It spins great and you have a center pull when you are done. It comes apart like tinker toys. Quite an amazing little invention.

Bosworth Featherweight in walnut. Amelia Garripoli (AsktheBellweather) who taught Sandy's drop spindle class had a whole container full of these babies. Score!


WPI tool of Hawaiian koa wood. I couldn't pass it up and it was on the list;) The Koigu key chain was a little freebee from the Madrona people.

Just think about all the shipping costs I saved!! :)