I haven’t even sold my wheel yet, but I’m adding to my spindle collection. Check this out. It’s a Jenkin’s Turkish Delight that I bought from Spunky Eclectic.
You may be wondering why I bought a turkish spindle, especially since I my other Jenkin’s spindle is listed for sale. Well, I am intrigued by turkish spindles. I used to have an Ashford turkish spindle. I think it was 1.8 ounces. And my Jenkins spindle that I’m selling is an ebony one that weighs 2.6 ounces (I think).
Actually, all the spindles that I’m selling are my heavier spindles. I just don’t have much interest in the heavier ones. There are only two heavier spindles that I’m keeping. One is my Woodchuck low whorl. It’s HUGE. It’s the epitome of boat anchor. I think the whorl is something like 4 inches across, and it weighs probably 3 ounces or more. But this spindle is not made anymore, and it’s gorgeous. If I want to make thick yarn, I can use it or my Golding 2 oz. sunflower spindle, which is gorgeous. But otherwise, I don’t have much use for heavy spindles. I spin mostly on my spindles that weigh one ounce, give or take a few grams. And I ply on a 1.5 ounce spindle.
But as I’ve said before, plying from spindles is a pain. I like my Golding kate, and I can use it with straws for my other spindles, but I’m intrigued with the idea of having a center pull ball at the ready for plying.
So, I grabbed some undyed Finn top (Finn! Yummy! and undyed fiber drafts so smoothly), and spun up two tiny center-pull balls and plied them. Oh, it was really nice! Winding on a turkish is a bit slower, but the spinning was pretty quick. This little cutie weighs .9 ounces, and it can really go. I think I’ll be mighty pleased with it. And it’s so small. The shaft is shorter than the distance from the bottom of my hand to the tip of my middle finger.
Here are some of my recent wee skeins:
In the middle is a two-ply lavender shetland that will become fingerless gloves (or full-fingered, haven’t decided yet), and it was spun and plied on my wheel. The skeins on the ends are from the same fiber (can’t remember what type, but I bought it at Black Sheep Gathering) and were spindle spun. I will probably make fingerless gloves from the singles on the right. And the two-ply on the left will probably be a skull cap that I will wear around the house so that I can keep the thermostat turned down. Aren’t they cute! The Shetland drafted like butter. You can see how even it is. That other fiber is a bit of a pain. I’m down to the last few bits of it, so I hope I have enough for the hat. I’ll make it top-down just to be safe.
Oh, and here is a pic of the sock that I’m almost done with..the one I’m putting off finishing because I don’t want to stroke out when I’m knitting something with my handspun.
I’m doing the leg and top of the foot in garter rib. One round is k2,p2 rib, and the next round is all knit. It’s nice a stretchy.
But what is that thing at the top of the sock?
It’s a skull stitch marker. I got a set from See Jayne Knit. They are super cute, and my knitting now has a menacing quality to it. Quite fitting, no?
That Turkish is adorable! And your handspun is fantastic!
I sold almost all my spndles that weigh over 22 grams. I still have one larger one that is too pretty to sell, but I confess I never use it. I hate plying too, which is why I asked for a cheap electric spinner for Christmas. I have a drawer full of singles