Question!!!

[SarahsStitches]

Hi! I was wondering, can you spin with a drop spindle, or do you have to have a spinning wheel. Is there any other way you can spin without having to buy a spinning wheel? As you can tell, I've never spun but I kind of want to! Thank you!

[losingmymind2]

You can spin with a drop spindle, in fact you can find patterns to make your own drop spindle with an old cd and a cup hook. I can't SPIN on one yet, but I do have a couple drop spindles to learn on.

[MullersLaneFarm]

Actually, you can make yarn from fiber with nothing more than stick to wind the yarn on.

 

Having a drop spindle/wheel/electric spinner just makes spinning faster.

 

Spinning, no matter what you use, has only 3 parts. Drafting your fiber to the diameter you want to spin, putting a twist in the fiber and putting it on a device (bobbin) to hold it.

[SarahsStitches]

Is it just as easy to use a drop spindle, or is it a lot harder?

[sammimag]

As far as harder goes, I think it depends. I decided I wanted the speed of a wheel. But I think there are spinners out there who are pretty dang fast on spindles. Spindles are the least expensive way to get started.

 

A good wheel wood wheel coats about 500$ give or take. There are some that are more and some that are less than that. One good thing about wheels is they really don't lose there value. If you go out and buy a $500 wheel you can recoup much of that if you decide spinning isn't for you.

[YankeeMom]

I just ordered a drop spindle today. They look like fun. I've become obsessed with hand-spun yarn lately.

[MullersLaneFarm]

Check out

on drop spindling. It's the best out there as far as I'm concerned!

[Stashaholic]

I learned on a spindle before graduating to a wheel. I'm glad that I did - it's much slower and allowed me to understand what I was doing before adding the speed of the wheel.

[sammimag]

It's interesting how everyone learns best. Although I'm glad I did some spindling first. I also think it didn't translate as well for me to the wheel. The hand actions felt different some how.

 

Not that I would say someone shouldn't drop spin before they wheel spin just to say that it might not always help everyone. Now that I have wheel spun for a while my drop spinning had improved since I needed to learn how to speed up my drafting.

[Toady]

I learnt to spin on a spindle back in October '07, I'm one of those people who took to it like ducks to water (ie found it easy)... I got loaned a wheel in January and too kme a bit but I find that the spindling helped me with things like drafting and how much twist was needed.

 

I still use both and am getting almost lace weight yarn from both. I do most wheeling at home and my spindles when I'm out and about.

[crochetrenee]

I also learned on a spindle first. It is a very inexpensive way to spin yarn, and I teach spindling at my LYS. I make the spindles from dowels and old CDs. They work very well. If you go to http://www.interweave.com and click on the link for Spin Off, there is an article you can download/print on an easy way to make the CD spindles. After six months of spindling, I decided I liked it enough to invest in a wheel. I have an Ashford Traveler and love it.

[White Lotus Alpacas]

Can I ask, what is LYS? New here, and I live in the West. Never heard of LYS. Even when I lived in California.

 

Having never spun successfully on a wheel before, and am only at the park and draft level of spindling. No experience on a spinning wheel.

 

I bought a single treadle Ashford Traditional, and I do think that if I had known anything before, I would definitely have bought a double treadle wheel. I think I'm going to have to pony up for the upgrade kit for the double treadle pretty soon, or make one myself, since I'm pretty handy. I'm a both side of the brain type of person, so one treadle just doesn't quite make it for me, as far as I can tell with my limited practice so far.

[sammimag]

LYS is short for Local Yarn Store.

[White Lotus Alpacas]

Oh, haha! Funny! So many acronyms one has to get used to on all these discussion groups! Gonna have to start a list of the alphabet soup pretty soon!