Fran Sale Stafford

A Sucker Born…

A few weeks ago, I began a destash of some fiber tools, mostly spindles I didn’t use. I own a 2018 Jenkins Aegean Turkish Spindle and a new Golding 3″ ring spindle and I use both. They travel well, pack nicely, and allow me to spin whenever I feel the urge. I am currently working on a pound and a quarter of Shetland that I want all drop spindle spun to knit a shawl.

Today I went to our spinning group. One of my friends has sent out an email that she was bringing spindles and weaving yarns to spinning, some she was giving away, some she was selling to destash. She had a 2012 Jenkins Delight Turkish Spindle (they are discontinued) and two Golding ring spindles. One of them was another 3″, a Celtic design and the other a 2 3/4″ with a cut out flower. She had another Turkish spindle, several heavier top and bottom whorl plain wooden one, several 3D printed ones. I couldn’t resist. I bought the Jenkins and the smaller Golding, so now I’m back to 4 spindles that will get used. She gave me a 3D printed one for kids to use and they will join the wagon wheel ones I make for kids.

At least these are ones I will use regularly and they don’t take up much room. They are spindles that hold their value as well. But enough is enough, I must stop.

Wheel Wobble

Yesterday when my friend was using my Kromski Prelude, I noticed the wheel was wobbling a bit and as I watched, I realized that the drive wheel supports were both a tad loose. I have two Allen wrench sets in my tool box, one metric, one American standard. Since the Kromski is Polish made, I brought in the metric set, which is missing the 3 mm size. I feared that the Allen head screws were 3 mm, but got lucky, they were 4 mm. Now the set is missing two sizes because I put the 4 mm one in my wheel repair kit. Hopefully if I need it elsewhere, I will remember where it is. The design of the wheel makes it very difficult to get to those two screws and I feared I was going to have to remove two legs to tighten them. That would have been a hassle as the treadle and its connected footman are attached to one of the legs. With some difficulty and the short end of the Allen wrench, I managed to get them tight and the wobble is gone.

As I was so enamored with my new spindle, I continued working with it last night until the entire fiber sample was spun. Then I hand wound it off the spindle into a tiny center pull ball and plyed it on itself. It was such a tiny amount, that it produced only 24 yards of light fingering weight yarn.

With the 73 yards spun on the Jenkins Turk recently, if I can find a good coordinating fiber to spin, I will use those two as garter ridges in a hat.

Tonight, I am spinning on the wheel, some Coopworth and Alpaca roving, and on the new spindle, I have some silver Shetland. I want to finish the fiber on the wheel, there is very little left, but the bobbin is getting full, so I may be playing chicken with the bobbin. When I leave for my fiber retreat weekend next Thursday, I want to leave with empty bobbins and some fun fibers to spin. I have one colorful BFL braid, two others at least 4 ounces and a 2 ounce due in the mail, hopefully to arrive before I leave.

I also need to make some lip balm that has been requested by friends prior to my leaving. Hopefully, the bobbins will be emptied, the lip balm made and I will concentrate on knitting the Close to You mini shawl and the strandwork hat both on the needles and spin on the spindles until I leave.

A New Treasure

I knit because I make yarn, but given the opportunity to just sell the yarn I make, I would just spin.

Today, a friend that I started on spinning about a year ago came over with a bag of gorgeous Leicester Longwool lamb roving, and an entire Leicester Longwool lamb fleece in the raw. After she started spinning with a drop spindle I gave her, then a Turkish spindle I sold her, she bought several more spindles on her own, and then the travel wheel that I had tried her on. I had gotten a small Saxony wheel made by Kromski and previously owned by a good friend who passed away. The little Saxony is one I can take to retreats and to costumed demonstrations and the travel wheel was not being used. She has become quite a good spinner, but is having some difficulty with the travel wheel due to it’s size. She came over to discuss how to clean raw wool, to try my Kromski to see if it might be a wheel for her to seek out, and a lesson in using wool combs. We had a very nice afternoon playing with fiber and broadening her scope a bit.

After she left, I anxiously dashed up to the mailbox as I was awaiting my newest spinning treasure, a Golding spindle that with it’s dark wood and black ring will be one I can take to demonstrations. Each Golding comes with a small sample of wool usually from Inglenook Fibers. I had just ordered some fiber from them and looked at the colorway that was sent as a sample. If I had just waited a few days, I not only would have bought that colorway, but would have gotten a discount from them. Maybe if I sell another pair of fingerless mitts or a hat, I will return to their online shop and purchase more of it.

This spindle spins forever. I love my little Jenkins Turkish spindle, it is fun to use and to ply from but very limited in amount it will hold, but the Goldings are primo.