I had a question from Jessica about how to teach yourself to spin. I learned from a woman who, when I commented aloud about a drop spindle kit, "but this doesn’t seem like the sort of thing you can learn from a book", piped up that she would show me.  I don’t think it took more than a couple minutes for me to get the hang of spin/park/draft/travel.  (Thanks, Michelle!)  Now I can do it without parking, which is what you need to handle wheel spinning. However, Jessica doesn’t seem to have the luxury of a spinning teacher in person.  … Continue reading Teach yourself to spin

that had nothing to do with bicycles or gyms.  (Geez.) I taught a drop spindle class at Unwind last Saturday to 6-7? enthusiastic students.  They all did very well, and Sara and I even got a bit of fanmail feedback afterwards.  I’d like to teach some more, but the next one is scheduled on the same day as Festival on the Green, so Sara will take the next one on her own.  I’m going to create a handout for her about the historical aspects, and it occurred to me that such an item would be Very Useful for me to … Continue reading Spinning class

Ann commented in a previous post that the cigar box chakra wheel accessible from the Wikipedia entry was invented by Gandhi, and kindly sent me pictures of older versions of a spindle wheel.  I repeat my offer – if anyone wants to make me something like these, I will exchange fruit of my talents with you. Ann also suggested the following books, some of which I can afford now, and the others I’ll put on my BookMooch wishlist. Spinning Wheels, Spinners, and Spinning by Patricia Baines Linen: Hand Spinning and Weaving , ibid (really want to see this one) Flax … Continue reading Spindle Spinning Wheels, part 2