Spindlicity

Speed Plying with the Connie Delaney Kick

Ingrid Brundin

Why you should kick your spindles black and blue… Daunting or boring, plying on a spindle is often the least favourite part about making your own yarn.. But I have seldom felt like that, I mean after all, if you are in a hurry the yarn shop is often not that far away, is it? Spinning is about relaxing and getting into a meditative rythm, and plying to me was a part of this until I got it into my head that I wanted a cabled yarn for socks. A cabled yarn? A simple cabled yarn is just spin your singles, overply in one direction and then ply it once more in the opposite direction. Simple….maybe. I like the thickness or should I say thinness of German four-ply sock yarns like Regia, Opal, Lana Grossa etc,as they make a thin sock suitable for city shoes, so I started out by spinning THIN singles. And then I overtwisted them, wound them into tight balls and then I was in trouble when I started to ply. Snarls!!! I gave up after a multitude of terrible messes where the yarn snapped. Left the balls for dead and continued with my other spinning projects. But - an article in Spindlicity Fall '06 caught my eye. It was about speed spindling. I had just reread Priscilla Gibson Roberts' book High Whorling or as it is known now; Spinning in the Old Way and I had been reviewing the chapter on plying where she mentions using an overhead ring in the ceiling. So I had a thought, why not combine the two?

 
So I tried it - yes, brought out the two forlorn balls and started plying again. But this time I could keep the yarn tensioned with my hand if I liked or just let gravity help me as the balls were now on the ground and the yarn running from the floor to the ceiling and back again. Another bonus, I could ply twice or three times as much yarn in one shot than before AND faster too. Take a look at the pictures (this yarn is not the offending yarn, it is spindle spun merino dyed with Kool Aid but it is aiming to be thin cable plyed sock yarn just like the offending yarn).

Place two balls of yarn in a bowl on the floor. It can be any old bowl or jar, that you have around the house. Make a loop or use a leader if you are more comfortable with that.

Thread the yarn through the hook and onto the spindle.

Keep the yarn tensioned in your left hand (if you are righthanded).
 

Place the spindle between your feet. Wear shoes or sandals.

Kick or rub your feet together, and make sure the spindle is rotating in the plying direction.

Watch the twist travel up from the spindle and towards the hook in the ceiling. If you are plying two thin yarns you might want to help the twist travel past the hook by just briefly tug your yarn up and down. Watch the plying enter the section that runs from the ceiling to your left hand.

When you decide it is enough, catch hold of your spindle and start winding. Thin yarns need one good full kick, thicker yarns might need two or three kicks as thicker yarns present more resistance to plying. Use a heavier spindle when you ply compared to spinning- I must confess that while I don't like my Golding spindle as much as my other spindles as the shaft chafes my hand, the ribbed shaft is excellent for kicking. So - if you don't like a spindle and it is heavy enough, you can start kicking it around the house and ply some yarn. Put it to a good use! 

Ingrid lives and spins in Sweden. We hope to see more of Ingrid's innovations and her socks.

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Bead Whorl Spindles

Stephenie Gaustad

 

Appearing simple, just a stick and a bead, the bead whorl spindle is found among spinners across continents, around the world. Do you think the wide spread use of this tool indicates its attraction? It is portable, handy and it works! Let's take a look at the spindle parts.

THE SHAFT

Rapid twist insertion spindles have small diameter shafts. Those intended to be supported in either hand or in a small cup have points on the ends. Usually the shaft is out of a material that is lightweight and stiff, like cane, bamboo, softwood. The shaft is split into rough dimension, then tapered at both ends. It should be straight, between 8 and 12 inches long. I like barbeque skewers and sort out the bent or otherwise unacceptable ones. Chopsticks are also a good source of shaft material.

THE BEAD

The bead acts like a flywheel and can be spherical, a disk or cylindrical. When checking out tribal or ethnic beads choose those with a tapered hole. Non-tapered hole beads can be used, but it is more complicated to fit the shaft and keep the bead in place and have the entire affaire centered and concentric. Goes without saying that you can make your own beads from real and plastic clay, glass, metal, wood, seeds, etc. Choose a bead that is of consistent weight and mass so that when it is rotated it spins true. You can bring a test shaft to try out a prospective bead.

Position the bead at least an inch from the end of the shaft. If it is a large bead, a couple of inches is good. There are bead whorl spindles with the bead in the middle of the shaft. When the bead is in the middle, then yarn can be stored both above and below the whorl. Size of bead is up to you. I have seen bead whorl beads 2 plus inches in diameter, and beads 1/4 of an inch. Larger beads are for coarser yarns, or for plying but since the spindle is worked in a supported mode, what is comfortable for you and your hands is more significant. In general small beads and lightweight spindles are for the finest yarns. One last consideration. The size of the hole in the bead determines the size of the shaft. That shaft needs to be stiff. There are lots of jewelry beads ½ inch in diameter with fine holes. A bead like that on a fine bamboo shaft can bend and bounce the spindle. You may end up using a steel double pointed knitting needle which only adds weight.

HOW TO USE IT

A simple way to use the bead whorl spindle is with one tip in a shallow cup or bowl. This keeps the spindle from "walking" as it spins. The other tip is held by the fingers of your master hand, pinky and ring finger clustering the shaft (keeping the spindle from falling out of your palm) and index and thumb at the tip of the spindle. (See photo 1) The spindle is rotated by flicking your thumb/index fingers. For me, the most familiar movement is like snapping your fingers, thumb goes slightly up, index down which in a right handed person puts an "S" twist on the yarn. In a southpaw, a "Z". Other people favor index finger moving up, relative to the thumb, a sort of "flicking something off your finger" move which puts (right handed) a "Z" twist on the yarn. So long as you keep going the same direction you started it doesn't matter which direction you pick.

Remember I said, cluster your little and ring finger around the spindle to keep it from falling out of your hand. Practice with a bare spindle for a bit until you are familiar with its movements. The bead whorl spindle has no hook. So it is used like the spindle on a great wheel or charkha. During drafting and twisting, the yarn comes off the end of the spindle at a minor angle. Each time the spindle rotates, the yarn falls off the tip. It puts a pulse into the yarn. But if you were to angle the yarn directly off the tip of the spindle, all the yarn wrapped around the shaft would be stripped off. During twisting there must be a slight angle to the yarn.

HOW BIG?

Spin a fine yarn. Now, spin a finer yarn. This is a small, lightweight spindle. Heavy yarns stall it.

WHAT FIBERS?

Cotton, rabbit, downs, fine wools, pre-drafted silk. Anything you can draft easily with one hand. When a length is ready to be wound on, unwind the yarn by pulling on it and permit the spindle to unwind to cast it off. Change the angle of the yarn to 90 degrees and wind on the finished yarn close to the bead. (See Photo 2)

NICETIES

Since the bead whorl has no hook, it is possible to unwind it off the tip, end-feed. But in order to do this attention must be paid to how the yarn is laid onto the spindle.

I like to start with a firm first layer put on as a cylinder, an inch to 2 inches in length laid at the top of the bead. Then back at the junction of the bead and the cylinder I begin to form a cone until the cone grows in diameter and is about the size of the beads diameter. On that cone I build a series of cone on cone, each succeeding cone slightly smaller in diameter than the prior one.

At some point the spindle will get awkward, reticent and sluggish. Time to unwind it. That can be done by holding the spindle and pointing the tip at whatever tool you are unwinding onto. Unfortunately, our old friend the niddy noddy is howling bad news at this point especially with fine yarn on a small spindle. A small swift, storage or shuttle bobbin or boiling cone/cylinder are more sane choices depending on what is the next step.

FINAL WORDS

This is intended to be an introduction, a meeting, a first step towards the large world of the bead whorl spindle. Bead whorls range all over the world and back in time. Stone, clay, wood, bone, ivory, glass spindle whorls are found often by the thousands near cities and encampments. What does that say about the tool and its product? Their use is skill-based. It takes practice to build confidence and get comfortable with them. They are easily found, ready to hand and quick. .

 

Stephenie Gaustad was trained in fine art, and has wide experience in weaving, spinning, dyeing, fiber processing, and partnering a spinning tool business. Her articles have appeared in Spin-Off, Handwoven and Shuttle Spindle and Dyepot.

The green alligator glass bead was handmade by Gayle Herring.

Spinning Long Draw

Janel Laidman

 

 

 

 

Spinning from the Fold

Beth Smith

 

Spinning from the fold is a great technique for spinning slippery silk, and slippery man-made fibers like tencel, soysilk or bamboo. But that's not all spinning from the fold is good for! You can use this technique to get a loftier yarn from combed top by mimicking a less aligned preparation like a carded preparation. By pulling the fibers out sideways from the combed top, they are able to incorporate more air into the finished yarn giving you a lightweight, lofty, warm result.

Watch Beth as she shows you how spinning from the fold is done.

 

 

Spinning Down Fibers

Janel Laidman

Down fibers are the fibers found in the soft undercoats of many fiber-bearing animals that live in very cold climates. They are short and fine and some of the softest and warmest fiber known to man. Examples of down fibers are cashmere, yak down, buffalo down, quiviut (muskox) and camel down. These animals have more than one coat, a coarse outer coat, called guard hairs, and the soft short warm fibers that help keep the animal warm. Down bearing animals shed their downy coats in warmer weather and the down is harvested at that time.

Down fibers can be bought raw or processed. The raw fibers need to be washed and have the guard hair removed. Processed down fibers should come to you clean and dehaired. Down fibers can come in a loose fiber or in a processed top. Because down fibers benefit from being spun woolen, rather than worsted, a combed prep is not really necessary, however combing can help ensure the uniformity of the fiber.

To begin spinning a down fiber, you must first learn how to hold the fiber. The best way to spin down fibers is a woolen spin with a long-draw. To do this you must hold the fibers loosely in your fiber hand and well back from the drafting zone. You don't want to be pinching and choking the drafting triangle, because you want to allow the spin to enter the fiber source and pull out the fibers.

To spin these fibers with a spindle, you want to use a supported spindle. Supported spindles do not use gravity to pull fibers into the twist, therefore it is possible to do a long draw on them because the fibers are not pulled in as fast and your hands can keep up and control the long draw. A supported spindle has a pointed top and a pointed bottom, you spin by twirling the spindle with the bottom of the spindle resting in a small bowl or on your thigh.

To start the spin, grasp the spindle at the top between your thumb and first two fingers and "snap" your fingers rolling the spindle through them. Immediately you should take your thumb and middle finger and form a circle around the tip to corral the spindle so it won't stop, but without hindering its spin. The spindle will touch your circled fingers and eventually stop, but you have successfully built up spin in your thread.

While your spinning hand is snapping, spinning and corraling the spindle, your left hand is holding the fibers but not actively pulling back to make thread. The spin step is meant to build up spin in the thread leader coming off the spindle. Once the spin is sufficiently built up, perhaps 2 or 3 snaps (or more, you will learn by feel over time how much is right), then it is time to begin drafting. To draft, hold the top of the spindle stationary and gently pull back with your fiber hand drawing away from the spindle. At this point you are letting the stored twist energy run into the fiber supply and draw out a thread.

If you find you have slubs (thick spots in a thinner thread), pinch off the twist between the slub and the spindle tip and grasp the thread ahead of the drafting triangle with your fiber hand. Both hands should be grasping spun thread. Then gently pull back with your fiber hand to draw out the slub and allow the twist to enter the slub. If your slub won't budge, you may have to slightly untwist your yarn by rolling your pinching hands in the opposite direction of the twist and then drawing back. When you let go, the twist will run right back into the slub which is now thinned out from drawing it.

Down fibers really benefit from plying. Because the fiber is so short, you don't want to use a down fiber single in knitting because the yarn will be unstable. However, you could use it in a tightly woven piece. If you intend to use your fiber in a lace knit pattern, a 2 ply is sufficient. If you plan to knit other types of garments, a 3-ply is ideal as it will give the yarn a more rounded cross section, and more luxurious loft.

To finish off a down fiber yarn, you want to wash it and help the fibers set and bloom. Wash your skein in warm water with a little soap, then squeeze it gently or put it in the washing machine on spin cycle (with no water running or agitation) to remove the excess water. Then take your skein and give it a nice cracking whack against a table top or other hard smooth surface. Whack it several times on one end, then switch your grasp to the other end and whack again. The whacking helps the fibers bloom and will give you an incredibly luxurious and lofty yarn for the most delicious textiles!

 

Janel Laidman is the editor of Spindlicity. She has recently become quite excited about supported spindles and down spinning. Special thanks Judith MacKenzie McCuin for her expertise in down fibers and down fiber spinning.

The spindle used in this article is a Forrester support spindle from French Hill Farm.

How to Use a Half-Hitch on a Spindle with No Hook

Abby Franquemont

 

One of the questions I hear often these days is “I have a spindle with no hook or notch to hold the yarn — how do I work this half-hitch thing I’ve heard about?”

I grew up spinning this way, on Peruvian low whorl spindles which are as simple a spindle as you can get: a stick with a weight near the bottom. Although I do now often use other kinds of spindles, including ones with hooks and/or notches, I still find the Peruvian low whorl spindle with the half-hitch on the smooth shaft to be the fastest.

Why? Because there’s no looking involved — you can do it all by feel. This is great for spinning while you’re doing other things, like walking around. When you need to wind on more yarn, you simply flick the half-hitch off the end of the spindle shaft with your thumb, and it disappears immediately (even if you’ve used more than one) . If it doesn’t slip off easily, just pinch it between your thumb and forefinger and slip it off.

Being comfortable with this technique allows a spinner to use a wider range of tools, such as Andean spindles or Turkish spindles, neither of which traditionally use a hook or notch. You can also put it to work doing things like turning your top whorl spindle upside down and spinning it like a low whorl, for improvising a spindle from any stick and moderately balanced weight, or dealing with problems like a broken spindle or missing hook. You can use it to secure your cop (the spun yarn you’ve wound onto your spindle) for transporting your spinning, too. Lastly, while I do love some of my top whorl spindles, all of which have notches and hooks in them, I do find that when I have them in my carry-around bag, sometimes the hook will get caught on things and cause me to become irritated; and hey, hooks are commonly made of metal and you know how those airline screener folks are these days — but they’re usually pretty easygoing about letting you have a stick.

The half-hitch can be done essentially one-handed (indeed, I did it one-handed to take these photos!) and with practice, is one single fluid motion. For demonstration purposes, I broke it up into 10 steps which are easier to describe than a single motion.

The mechanics of putting the half-hitch on the spindle shaft are essentially the same as one of the simplest cast-on methods for knitting, the half-hitch cast-on, or single cast-on. The only difference is that you most likely have your spindle shaft held vertical instead of horizontal (like you’d have needles), and you should only need one or two half-hitches to hold your yarn securely. Here it is, in pictures (featuring me and my dye-stained fingers!):

 
Step 1: Yarn goes over your thumb.

Step 2: Yarn comes back under your thumb.

Step 3: Yarn comes back over your thumb.

Step 4: Hook your thumb to hold your loop.

Step 5: Bring your hooked thumb, with the loop around it, up between the yarn coming off the spindle and the L between your thumb and forefinger, and this is what you’ll see.

Step 6: Put the tip of your thumb on the end of your spindle shaft.

Step 7: Start sliding the loop off your thumb, right onto the spindle shaft.

Step 8: Pull the half-hitch tight.

Step 9: This is really an alternate view of Step 8. Note that the loop goes OVER the yarn that you’re about to keep spinning; this is what makes this work.

Step 10: Once you’ve pulled your half-hitch tight, this is more or less how it will look. Use additional half-hitches if you find that this slips off too easily.

A few final tips: slippery yarn very well may call for more than one half-hitch. Use as many as you like, they’ll all come undone when they slide off the shaft. You can also reverse these directions so that instead of having your thumb under the yarn in step 1, your thumb is over it; play with this to find which way is most comfortable for you, because that’ll be where your speed comes from with this technique.

 

Abby Franquemont has been involved in the fiber arts since birth. The daughter of field anthropologists and fiber artists, she spent much of her childhood growing up in the Peruvian weaving town of Chinchero, learning those traditional arts in traditional ways, in addition to learning Western-derived fiber arts in the United States.

Abby weaves, spins, dyes, braids, crochets, knits, sews, mends, designs, and teaches, and is always eager to further her fiber arts repertoire as well as spread knowledge about textiles. She owns and operates Franquemont Fibers / Abby's Yarns in southern Ohio, and serves on the board of directors of Andean Textile Arts, which sponsors the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco.

This is a repost from Spindlicity Winter 2006

Using the Russian Lace Spindle

Spinning Cashmere, Yak and other down fibers