My love of wool and all the wonderful tools that help us as spinners to create yarn put me on the path to purchasing several support spindles in the past few years. Etsy is such a good place to find beautiful spindles that it is easy to get lost down that road with no bread crumbs to find the way back.
I haven’t spent the time I clearly thought I would on support spindling. Work, chores, and sleep tend to get in the way. Besides, if I can sit down to my wheel and crank out some lovely singles that make me happy in a short amount of time, why would I want to slow down the process and use a support spindle?
For the past few days I have been thinking about this. Why would I slow down? Why take hours to spin a handful of wool?
I know the answer. I simply love the process of wool and the art of making yarn.
The art of slow spinning is alive and well on Instagram and can be found all over the world in one form or another. The spinning these folks are producing is amazing and gives me inspiration that I too can become a better support spindler.
Mastering the process of wool, spinning it in every way possible, and being able to use any spinning tool put in front of me is a personal goal. I think it’s obtainable, don’t you?
I did find a support spindle video (five years old) on YouTube featuring Beth Smith talking about the technique. It’s a bit grainy in picture, but was one that I thought would be good to share here on the blog.
As for a good, quality video to purchase and be able to reference time and again, I would recommend Spinning Gossamer Threads: The Yarns of Orenburg, available over at the Interweave Store. I purchased this video as a download and have watched it several times.
No matter what I watch, I just need to spend more time using my support spindles to really become a master at it.
Happy spinning!
