(no subject)

[hel_ana]

Hey friends

Specifically much_ado and pundigrion, but anyone else with thoughts is also welcome to chime in.

A friend of mine in the UK is teaching himself to use a drop spindle. He has asked:

Friends that spin with the drop spindle method, I am trying to follow the videos but if I twist it tightly enough to form wool rather than a cloud of fibres then it knots up as soon as I take the weight off it. What am I doing wrong please?

Does anyone have any ideas?

Comments

[much-ado.livejournal.com]

A couple of things come to mind, chiefly that he is overspinning (winding too tightly) the yarn, ergo it plies back on itself as soon as there's no tension on it. Slow the spin or use a heavier spindle (or both), as a place to start. It may also be that the spindle itself is the wrong weight for the weight/thickness of the ply he's spinning. There's a science to choosing spindle weight for lighter-versus-heavier yarns, but I must confess I've never really figured that out and pretty much just wing it as I go :-P