Day 179: Spinning cotton with a tahkli proved to be so enjoyable that I decided I would indulge my fiber-arts habit with a new toy when and if the gov'mint saw fit to stimulate my personal economy. This odd device is a "book" charkha, which is to say it's a spinning wheel which packs up to the size of the current edition of Hitchcock's "Flora of the Pacific Northwest," eminently portable and entirely self-contained. Every component locks in place, both for use and for storage, and it can be assembled and ready to go in less than two minutes. The workmanship on this particular model from India is exquisite, right down to the finish of the wood. Three tahklis are included so that when two are filled, the threads can be plied together on the third. It even includes a yarn swift! Although I'm not yet spinning threads as fine as I could achieve on the tahkli, I've only had the charkha for less than 24 hours and am still in the process of learning to control the feed of short cotton fibers to the degree I eventually hope to achieve. The ratio between the large drive wheel, the accelerator wheel and the spindle imparts an incredible amount of twist to the thread with very little effort. The spinner turns the drive wheel with one hand and manipulates the raw cotton with the other, drawing it out to the desired thickness until arm's-length is reached. Then a few full turns of the drive tightens the twist and it can be wound onto the tahkli spindle. Yes, I think it's time for wool to move over. I've found a new love in cotton.
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