I decided to play with some Norwegian undyed top (I think it's top) on the mini-spindle and am soooo glad I did. It was ridiculously fun to spin with and I think has really really helped me get a bit better at drafting. For the non-fiber fanatics who read the blog drafting is pretty much pulling fiber apart enough to create a thread of desired thickness via twist from spinning the spindle without pulling too much and having the spindle drop. If you don't pull fiber apart enough you wind up with thick, chunky yarn, if you pull too much the fiber can't sustain the weight of the spindle and breaks.
I have a spindle I bought for my birthday last year that is a bit heavier and in the range for medium weight yarns and recommended for beginners. While I've made some progress with it, I had big problems drafting, mostly with my yarn being waaaay thicker than I wanted.
The smaller, lighter mini-spindle seems to have really, really helped me get the hang of drafting and general hand motion. I'm still doing park-and-draft, but I'm getting better at it.
2 comments:
I love that picture. You need a sister to measure the thread and another to cut it.
YAY, SPINNING!
That's another person assimilated. Heh heh heh.
I'm hoping once you get good at it, it works like it does for me, and is relaxing. I prefer spinning to Valium - no side effects and it works just as well. PLUS YOU GET YARN!
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