Spinning experiment

I can see myself wanting to buy a spinning wheel at some point but the simple spindle (which has apparently been around for more than 10,000 years) is a lot of fun. Maybe when I have someone to help we can make a film of the spindle in action. This first picture shows the rovings, which are merino wool (though I didn't use any of the purple stuff) and the spindle. You need a small length of wool to act as a leader, just to get it started. You can simply tease the fibres out as the spindle spins, but after doing some with M on Tuesday we found it was better to separate out fine lengths of roving and allow them to twist gently together to join them.

This photo shows the yarn on the spindle, it is partly being wound into a hank around a little folding table. After you wind the hank you tie it up in a few places and then soak it in hot water for a while to 'set the twist'. Then you rinse it out in cold water and squeeze well inside a towel. Then you 'shock' the hank by thwacking it off something hard (I used a kitchen chair). Then hang up to dry with a small weight, like a coat hanger, to stretch it out.

This photo shows the finished item. It is only about 20 metres long or so.

This photo shows my second attempt. This effect was created by laying out very fine lengths of white and red roving together and then spinning them together.

This photo shows the knitting partly completed. I just wanted to make a little something with the first batch so chose a pattern for a small drawstring pouch.

And here is the finished pouch.