I have ordered a few things from an Ebay seller in Bulgaria. Today I got my original order, which seems to have been delayed in customs. I have another, older distaff and I’ll try and take pictures of that tomorrow. But I find this to be a very interesting spindle. It’s supposed to be from the 1800s. It’s heavy compared to modern spindles, but it’s comfortable to use. Obviously, someone wanted to keep this spindle going as long as possible.
This is my first attempt at using my Bulgarian distaff. I am using some uncarded Shetland fleece. This is not a special fleece and a little bit coarse. I am posting this picture so that no one will ever feel bad about how their distaff looks!
This is what it looks like on the spindle.
So far I’m enjoying this. My shoulder muscles are really out of shape for any prolonged spinning. Gotta get back in shape!
Cascade spindle with Corriedale/Romney cross. I got this at Black Sheep several years ago. I think it was a third place winner.
I think this is a Tabacheck spindle, with silk/alpaca blend.
One of my new spindle whorls, spinning colored cotton.
Hatchtown with that rayon stuff from Scrap.
Another one of the new whorls, with dyed cotton.
I’ve picked up some Bulgarian spindles and a distaff. Haven’t had a chance to try them yet.
Comparison with a Russian spindle:
And here’s the distaff:
The other end:
This is likely that basic roving that Woodland Woolworks used to sell. I dyed it with Landscape Midnight Blue, the same time that I did the Shipwrecked Shawl. Lon wants a watch cap and I plan to use this for the project. I’m thinking about a 3 ply yarn.
Lon has become fascinated with old spindle whorls. I tend to be interested in ones that can be used. He’s picked up a couple for me on EBay.
These are both supposed to be Roman whorls, one of bone and one of lead. The bone one may be a bead as its pretty light. I like the lead one.
Here’s the one I bought for myself:
I really love those spirals! Seems to spin pretty well too. I haven’t done much support spindling lately but maybe I’ll do more as I feel better.
I have been thinking about sending off some of my fleeces to be processed. I think I have 11 or 12 of them, plus the 60 pounds of free wool from Craigslist. I worked up a bit of the free wool and I am now thinking about putting that away for awhile. But I do have some nice wool, mostly bought at Black Sheep, that I would like to work up. I have some time for spinning, but I don’t seem to have a lot of time for fiber prep. Back in the day, I did this and had a lot of nice bumps of roving to work from. I love carding and combing my own fleece, but I’ve got to be realistic about this.
To get started, I brought home a shetland fleece I bought in 2007 that still needs to be washed. I’m going to wash it and let it start drying. Then I’ll start bringing home the other unwashed fleeces. All this wool has been in storage for so long. When Jeffrey and I moved to Stabler, I had it stored then. It’s been in storage since I’ve been in Vancouver. I want to make some nice, long lasting sweaters and shawls. I would much rather work with my own fiber than with commercial yarns.
Today’s spinning done on my custom Hatchtown. Relax, I didn’t spin all of this today! I believe this is llama from a fiber swap. I really do love this spindle.
I cleared one spindle, did a little more of the Scrap rayon and carded a bit of the llama to spin. I even managed to convince Fanny to leave it all alone. She’s a good kitten. I’m not sure that working with fiber is a good thing when you have lung problems, but I really need to do some light exercise to build my strength.
This is some roving from Scrap. I suspect that it’s rayon, since it burns pretty well when I did a burn test. I have a lot of nice roving that I could be working on. Of course I wanted to see what this looks like. So far, it looks like this:
I suspect that every spinner has made unloved yarn. Buy some roving, sight unseen. I believe this was called “Partridge” from Autumn House Farms. Then spin it up just to do that. I did this back when I first moved in with Lon and the house was full of people, when I was shy about spinning at a new place. Ply it just to clear off the bobbin for another project.
What you wind up with is unloved yarn. I have no idea what I will do with this. I will try and use my imagination just to see if it can be useful, even if unloved.
