Selfsufficientish.com

http://greenupgrader.com/2138/handspun- ... aper-yarn/

I do wonder if I'd have the patience, but interesting

That's AMAZING!

I really like that too ...

I have wanted to try spining for ages and every now and then something crops up as if I am being told to get my act together ...

So I googled drop spindle and found a lot while I think they are worth the cash being asked for them the less I can pay for my first one in case I dont get on with it , then all the better. So anyone who uses a drop spindle is this ok

http://www.winghamwoolwork.co.uk/eqp_sp ... indles.php as its very cheap...

woo cheaper than the ones I got from
http://www.ascott.biz/ - in fact I just noticed those ones have gone up by quite a lot since I bought mine

Some of them are very pretty - and very expensive - and I'd be sure to sit on it or something equally daft

I've known someone who made a drop spindle by sticking a pencil into a potato. It worked.

I have this vision off folks watching while you spin with a spud .... they already say I mad...

There's a hommade one on th web (somewhere) made from dowling and old cd, that's the one I made I think this is the link
http://danielson.laurentian.ca/qualityo ... pindle.htm

when I stop using newspapers for animal bedding (shredded) I'll definitely look further into that, its amazing!

I can recommend Wingham Wool. They were at Wonderwool at the Royal Welsh Showground this year - lovely people and a wide variety of craft supplies at reasonable prices. I think they have 'How to' books, too.

I started spinning with a bottom whorl spindle - which just means the disc is on the bottom end of the stick - and it is true that you can spin with just about any stick-and-a-weight when you've got a bit of practice. The important bit is drafting the wool out between the fingers of both hands, and the spindle then gives it the twist that makes it stick together. You can either have a stick with a hook in the end to catch the thread, or make a half-hitch around the stick (which is the ancient way of doing it).

Spinning newspaper is one of the ideas that's on my to-do list, followed by weaving it on a peg loom or using it as garden string, depending on how good it is.

Hmm I think I'll stick to composting it and using it for starting bonfires on the allotment when needs must.

Silver Ether wrote:I have this vision off folks watching while you spin with a spud .... they already say I mad...

LOL get wierd looks anyway - especially if on a train/at a bus stop/in a cafe
got some very wierd looks when I made one of a pringles lid and a pencil at work, when I'd spun some (wool not paper) I passed two pencils and the yarn to my workmate and she knitted it into a mini scarf.

Well I have ordered one as they are so cheap and I am supporting a little firm. So I can at last have a go .... seems to be plenty tutorials about so fingers crosed not just for the newspaper. Thanks for advice...

I belong to the Yahoo Spindlers discussion group, and they have a thing called Spin-Out Friday, where they encourage all spinners to take their spindles out to spin in public on Fridays, wherever they happen to be.
I don't usually do that, but whenever I know I'm going somewhere where I'll have to wait for a while (the last time was the dentist's waiting room) I take some portable craft item with me. A lucet is a good one, because it's something very few people have ever seen, and you can just pick it up and put it down instantly. It's a medieval device for making cord, which I also use as part of Living History displays, along with the spinning.
I often get the "Oh, I wouldn't have the patience for that," comment, but I don't have the patience to stare into space after flicking half heartedly through a limp magazine. I'd rather keep my hands busy and my mind off what the dentist is about to do to me!

Eigon wrote:I belong to the Yahoo Spindlers discussion group, and they have a thing called Spin-Out Friday--//--

me too

I have a pair of very old, very comfortable chairs, and I think the seats and backs are made of (brown) paper yarn. If it wasn't for the cats using them as scratching posts, I think they'd last forever! Have always wondered how to replace the weaving once it's a bit further gone; now I know...

But otherwise, I think I'd prefer to stick to wool. Plenty of that around, and plenty of other uses for the few newspapers that still make it into the house.