Two Looms, Two Bands, Two Methods

Day 180: Obligations kept me away from home most of yesterday and I was unable to give as much attention to my weaving as I would have liked. Frustrating, when you have a new toy and can't find the time to play with it! But my mind was hard at work, and although science might pooh-pooh the idea, I think I was building muscle memory even without performing the physical actions. When I was finally able to sit down with Jutta, my treadle foot and hands seemed to know what they were supposed to do. The blue band is my "skill-building project" for Jutta. The mushrooms are krokbragd, and are being woven on the bonker (Glimakra band loom).

As a sidebar here, I have a little story to tell. Since I was going to be sitting in a waiting room yesterday for a couple of hours, I needed some handwork to occupy the time. I thought it might be a good time to conduct a social experiment, so I packed up the supported spindle, some of my Ice Caves wool blend, and two small skeins of the finished yarn I've made with it so far. I positioned myself in the room at a point where I could be clearly seen by the office staff and milling salespeople and began spinning. It took slightly over an hour before the first curious onlooker dared approach me. "What is that?" she asked. "A supported spindle," I said. "It's a technique for making yarn." There was a pause, during which I drew out another length of wool and set the spindle to turning in its bowl. "You're...making yarn?" she said. I pulled the two finished skeins out of my bag and handed them to her. "Oh, that's LOVELY!" she said. "What will you make with it?" I told her it was destined to become socks, and explained that I'd combined wool with rayon to make them durable. She went back to her desk and I resumed spinning. Over the next hour, several other employees went to her rather than approaching me. "What's she doing, anyway?" and she would explain, "Making yarn!" It was a subtle way to increase awareness of the craft, a "free demo," if you will, which I hope might lead at least one of them toward their own exploration of fiberarts.

Tools - Style, Size And Shape

Day 173: Winter and gas prices are proving to be remarkably persistent, so I'm not getting out much these days. I know you're probably a little tired of fiberarts posts in what was primarily intended to be a blog of science and natural history, but I ask you to bear with me a little longer. Believe me, I would much prefer being on the trail to being housebound.

Today, I thought I'd give you a size comparison of three different styles of spindle. While they are all capable of doing the same job, there are many reasons to choose one over another. Here, I've used my "Ice Caves" blend of Corriedale wool and bamboo fiber on all three. Initially, I simply wanted to see what it would look like, so I spun up a little bit on a tahkli, the smallest of these spindles, and an excellent way to do a trial run. Tahklis are bottom-weighted and spin very rapidly. They are normally used for spinning short-staple fibers like cotton, but can be used for longer fibers as well. A supported spindle like the Tibetan style (green whorl) can also be used for short or long staples, but are more versatile in that they hold more. They come in various lengths and weights. Drop spindles are larger and also come in assorted weights. They allow the spinner to form a longer strand, especially if used when standing. Although I've never really mastered bottom-whorl spinning with a drop spindle, I did put it to good use plying from the tahklis (my spinning wheel was otherwise occupied). Drop spindles hold quite a bit of yarn! Spinning in this manner, regardless of which type of spindle you use, can be a very relaxing process. It's easy to learn, and a wonderful way to get started making your own custom yarns.

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.