Which do you like more – spinning with a spindle or with a spinning wheel? Personally, I’m agnostic.
When I first became interested in spinning my own yarn, I took a class at my local yarn store. The first thing the instructor had us try was spinning with a drop spindle – what a frustrating experience! I had the hardest time trying to get my fiber to cling to my leader, and once I accomplished that, I had an equally hard time trying to draft the fiber while keeping the spindle rotating. And I didn’t like using the ‘park and draft’ method. Uggh!
Thankfully, after letting us struggle with spindles for a bit, the instructor had us move on to using a spinning wheel. While this wasn’t so easy at first either, it seemed quite a bit simpler for me than the spindle. One less thing to drop, anyway.
By the end of several class sessions, I was addicted, and I soon bought my own spinning wheel. I spun happily (and exclusively!) on that for a year or so.
But after a while, I had thoughts about wanting my spinning to be more portable. And although there are certainly many portable spinning wheels on the market, spindles are the ultimate in portability. So, back to class I went – this time, to a class that focused purely on spinning with a drop spindle.
Magically, this time around, I found it much easier, probably because my fingers had finally figured out the basics of how to draft. By the end of class, I was finally able to successfully spin a good length of yarn without dropping my drop spindle, although with less control over the final product than I was able to achieve with my spinning wheel.
Now, I switch back and forth between my spinning wheel and my spindles, depending on the project. If I’m planning on making a large quantity of yarn, I generally choose the wheel, just because I can spin larger quantities on it faster than I’d ever be able to with a drop spindle. I also tend to choose my spinning wheel over my spindles if I’m spinning cotton. But if I’m planning on making just enough yarn for a small knitting project, I’ll often choose one of my spindles, because I just love the pure simplicity and portability they provide.
How about you? Do you have a strong preference for spinning with a spinning wheel or a spindle? Or do you make your choice based on the project like I do?
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