A Different Spin

Day 147: Spinning cotton is quite another breed of cat from spinning wool. Cotton is a "short staple" fiber, i.e., the length of the individual fibers is much shorter than that of wool. This means that it needs substantially more twists per inch to make a sturdy thread. Although some standard spinning wheels can be set up to spin cotton successfully, mine does not accommodate a high-ratio bobbin, so I spin cotton on a charka wheel. Not many spinners work with cotton, but of course I am always looking for new challenges, so last year, I indulged a whim and bought my "book charka" after playing around with a manual, supported tahkli to see if I could get the hang of it. I am happy to say that now I can spin a consistent, fine thread which holds together nicely and can be plied into a double strand. If you study the photo, you will see that the big wheel in the foreground drives the smaller wheel at the midpoint. In turn, the smaller wheel drives the tahkli at high speed. Each turn of the main drive wheel results in over 100 turns of the tahkli to put plenty of twist in the thread. That said, this is where your long-draw skills come into play. One hand runs the wheel while the other manipulates the cotton fibers, drawing them out from roving or a puni as far as possible. Then the fiber can be pinched off as more twists are added. Then the thread can be wound onto the tahkli in a self-building cone called a cop/copp. Once you have two tahklis fully loaded, it's time to ply. Of course, you may choose to leave your thread as a single, but it won't be as durable.