Spindle Review

Well, the new babies are in and I'm really pleased.

First up, the Golding...I'm in LOVE!!! Where do I begin? The Brass ring makes for the best rim weighted spindle ever. It's perfectly balanced. I love the notches on the ring, it makes stablilizing the yarn on the hook easier. The ridges on the end of the spindle makes it a breeze to get a great spin with a flick of the fingers. ( Rolling off your thigh makes it spin like a tornado!) Lastly...it's just plain beautiful and a pleasure to use! This one is 1.9 ozs, and while I would have like it to be a bit lighter, there are a full line of various wts to be had, so I'll just order some differents wts later. This spindle gets a 10/10!!! I have manage to get a lace wt single on it without difficulty, and have half a cop on it now. Goldings are pricey for good reason...it's the little details. The hand carved whorl is a delight to behold. Their spindles are a work of art. The engineering is pure genuis from the perfectly bent hook to the ridges on the bottom of the spindle. I just don't think you could go wrong with a Golding spindle.

The Kundert sisters are wonderful too! At 1.1 ozs, they are very light. They are very well balanced. I manage to get thread wt singles with the little batt sample Amy sent with the spindles. I should have took pics, but was having such fun. I manage to navajo ply the single into a really nice fingering wt yarn, and knitted said yarn into a headband for the baby. I love the spin, it'll spin a long time, but maybe not quite as long as the Golding. The rim weight is not quite as effective as that brass ring on the Golding. I also find it's not as easy to finger spin, and found rolling it off the thigh most effective. (Those little ridges on the Golding are pure genius!!! All spindle makers should have this!) I'm going to have to give the Kunderts a 8/10. I would reccomend them...the price is certainly an incentive...you can get 2 Kunderts for the price of one Golding.

So there you have it. So far the Golding is my favorite for sure. I'm still waiting to get some Bossies to try out'! I hear they're really sweet!

Mastering the Drop Spindle

I admit, I've always been a backwards kind of gal. After spinning on a wheel for some time now, I've finally mastered the drop spindle! Check it out...40 WPI, consistent even single on a homemade drop spindle! It was totally by accident too! I was just fooling around, wanting to see what the roving I just dyed up would look like, and it just all fell together....I was spinning on a drop spindle. I love it! So much so, that now I want some nice drop spindles to spin on! So I'm ordering 2 Bosworth spindles, and a Golding. I'm on the waiting list for a Bosworth Moosie spindle too! It'll be June 2010! Over a year long wait!!! Now I have something else I can stick in my knitting bag for the trips to McDonalds while Aidan plays! (Need more trips to McDonalds!)

Finished Object !

Off the loom, her blankie! I used Brown Sheep cotton fleece for this one. She'll be able to use it in the summer months. I really love weaving, and have the loom warped up to start weaving a bag for myself with the churro fleece I've been carding up. I'm still debating whether to spin up some chunky yarn with it, or to weave with roving. I have some cotswold locks I want to incorporate into the fabric as well. It'll be a fun project.

Then there's the fiber I just bought from www.thesheepshedstudio.com , 10lbs of the Big Bale Sale, 2 lbs of cotswold locks, and 1 lb of nylon that feels and looks like silk. Well, it covers a twin size bed, plus the box in the back is full! That's a whole lot of fibery goodness, isn't it!

I took some of it and dyed it up! Who knew that the greys would dye up so well? The gold I decided to dye a darker brown. I've got more dyeing to do too! Next time I'll be doing pics of some of the yarn I've been spinning. (Yes, I've been a busy Nana!)