Drop Spindles
Turkish Drop Spindles
Ashford Turkish Drop Spindle
Ashford brings you this large Turkish drop spindle that allows you to wind a center pull yarn while you spin. Simply wind your yarn around the crossbars. Slip the bars out when you are done spinning, and your ball is already wound for you.
The Ashford Turkish drop spindle is a bottom whorl unfinished spindle and weighs about 1.5 ounces. Silver beech wood and surprisingly light weight for it's size of almost 15 inches with a lot of momentum for easy spinning!
Kromski Drop Spindles
Kromski Drop Spindles
Check
out these fun Kromski drop spindles. Get one to match your Kromski
Spinning wheel or collect them
all. :-)
Each spindle weights about three ounces with a shaft length of 12' and a whorl diameter of 4". The shaft slips out of the whorl for easy transport and or storage.
These spindles can be used as top or bottom whorl spindle and are great for spinning heavier yarns and plying.
Basic Drop Spindles
Small Drop Spindle
Extra
Value Priced drop spindle! Small, lightweight spindle with great balance for fast
and fine spinning like cotton or silk yarns. Weighs just under one ounce.
Choose from top or bottom whorl. Unfinished Drop Spindle can be used as is or
stained and painted in your favorite colors. Not recommended for beginning
spinners.
Medium Beginner's Drop Spindle
Extra
Value Priced Drop Spindle! Basic medium drop spindle for
beginning and advanced spinners. This spindle is perfect for spinning a variety
of yarn wieghts. Choose from top or bottom whorl. (top whorl spindles have
more momentum) Unfinished Drop Spindle can
be used as is, or stained and painted in your favorite colors. 1.3oz.
Schacht Drop Spindles
Schacht Hi-Lo Drop Spindles
Schacht's popular drop spindles just got better. The new Schacht Hi-Lo Spindles offer the best of both whorls: a brass hook at the top for high-whorl spinning and a grooved shaft for low-whorl spinning.
Three sizes offer a broad spectrum of spinning capabilities: 4" (3oz) perfect for bulky spinning or plying, 3" (2.2 ounces) for medium weight yarns, and 2" (1.1 ounces) for finer yarns for fibers. Solid Maple with Tung Oil finish.
More about Drop Spindles
Many spinners start out with a drop spindle, a bit of fiber and the willingness to learn how to spin. Others skip the drop spindle spinning in favor of a spinning wheel, with which you can spin much faster…. but wait a minute? Spin faster?… Who needs speed anyways, hand spinning is all about creating, loving what you do, and having fun. Hand spinning is a creative outlet, allowing us to literally “spin our dreams” into thread. Create unique fiber blends, color combinations and yarn textures. You are the designer and the master of your own yarn. Only your fantasy and the sky is the limit. The yarn you spin is yours by design!
Drop spindles also connect us with the past, thus spinning with this simple tool will in effect continue the thread of time that binds us to our ancestors. Just think of the thousands of years in which hand spindles provide the only way to obtain clothing from fibers. This simple device created every bit of yarn from coarse linen thread for sails, so that ships could explore the oceans, to the finest silks for royal robes. Since spinning wheels did not appear until the middle ages, the drop spindle was one of the most important tools on hand. Everyday clothing, table linens, tapestry and embroidery yarns, everything was spindle spun.
Spindles come in a wide array of designs, weights and sizes. Keep in mind the lighter a spindle the finer yarn you can spin, meaning a heavier spindle (3 to 4 ounces) is most suitable for thicker yarns. Here a just a few of the spindle types available::
Bottom whorl drop spindle, can vary in weight and designs. Many beginners start with a relative heavy (2 ounces or more) bottom whorl spindle, but you can also learn easily on a top whorl.
Top whorl drop spindles, our most popular spindles. With a little bit of practice the top whorl spindle can spin a lot faster than a bottom whorl, thus putting more twist in your yarn.
Turkish spindles, are also called cross arm spindles. This tool will let you wind your yarn into a ball as you spin. Pull out the cross arms when you are done and presto! You have a center pull ball.
But the most important thing is to simply have fun :-)
