The spindle with removable whorl got shown to a Portuguese historian. She will be starting extensive travels in the near future. We played with the spindle for a while (we were at the LYS) and decided it (with a distaff) was as fast as any of the traveling wheels in the store. So, I gave it to her. I believe in giving nice gifts to the people that write history.
Thus, I needed a new spindle. Mark II:
It is 15 grams lighter than the Mark I.
It did not work! The weight or dynamics were wrong and it wobbled too much. Put that puppy on a diet.
Thinned, with a deeper groove and a heavier nut, it works. It wants a distaff. And, it wants to spin much finer than I was trying to spin the blue Romney above. Details matter.
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1 comment:
Querido Aaron! I've been playing with the spindle a bit and finally broke out my Portuguese spindles with some roving. I discovered that when sitting, your spindle works very, very well as a support spindle, though I'm still a bit klutzy using it as a drop spindle since I am so out of practice and used to top whorl drop spindles. The Portuguese spindle spins slooowly since you turn it entirely by hand rather than giving it a twist and letting it spin in the air or on a rest, but I was able to get a nice, even fingering weight single from the get-go with so much control. I also noted the depth and angle of the groove mattered. On the Portuguese spindle, the yarn flicks against the edge of the tip as you spin (See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=536xdbY-RJQ and note that click-click-click; also that she has the type from the north with a metal tip). I will have to see what kind of range of weights I can spin given that weight is not a factor with that spindle.
Thanks again for the Mark I! I'll keep at it and see if I can be less klutzy with the poor, abused spindle.
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