365Caws is now in its 14th year of publication, and was originally intended to end after 365 days. It has sometimes been difficult for me to find new material, particularly during the winter months, but now as I enter my own twilight years, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide daily posts. It is my hope that along the way I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world. If so, I can rest, content in the knowledge that my work here has been done.
Sunday, April 2, 2023
Supported Spindle
Day 171: In typical Crow fashion, I learned support spindle spinning from the "top down," i.e., starting at the advanced level using a tahkli and cotton, a notoriously short and difficult fiber to spin. I soon came to love the method: slow but portable, and a meditative practice for stressful times. It must be said that I have never mastered the allied art of drop-spindling despite having learned to spin on a regular wheel before I was of kindergarten age. I found using a drop spindle tedious and too cumbersome to be enjoyable. On the other hand, supported spindling is performed identically to spinning with a tahkli, albeit on a larger scale, so when all thoughts of upgrading my spinning wheel were squelched when my heat pump died, I bought a supported spindle instead. I've chosen to spin my "Ice Caves" blend with it. This is a Tibetan style spindle, 10 inches in length, weighing 23 grams with a whorl diameter of 1.5 inches, perfect for my purposes.The bowl is the one I use with the tahkli, not optimal but serviceable until I find someone with a lathe who is willing to craft one to spec.
Labels:
Ice Caves blend,
spinning,
supported spindle,
tahkli
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