Saturday, January 29, 2011

In the Woodshop - Part II - Spinner's Delight!

As a continuation of last weeks Finds, more fun and useful items for fiber artist from the workshops of these wonderful wood-makers. Spinners and dyers will find these are convenient tools to make our work simpler and more pleasurable. And you thought spinning couldn't get any better!
It diz what it diz... which is what? A diz is a tool for drawing fibers through before spinning to get a desired thickness. The picture shows it in use with a comb, but it's just as useful with prepared rovings or carded batts. TheSpinnersEmporium has pieces made from fine woods with great grain and color, if something is useful it might as well be lovely too!

For learning to spin, or portability, or spinning funky yarns, or plying... or looking cool! Nothing beats a drop spindle. SpindlesandFiber has this neat looking piece, the segments of wood remind me of a spider web, and the striping of the wood grain completes the effect. The weight of this spindle makes it suitable for spinning chunkier yarns as well.

For spinning from a cake of roving without needing to constantly join, a spinner is super helpful! (That's right, spinners for spinners, are we clear?) Craftiness has some really beautiful pieces, and this one is made from my favorite wood! Knitters and Crocheters of course can also use this to feed yarn off a cake without tugging at a center-pull or letting the ball roll around on the floor.
A perfect tool for those who don't have an SO to patiently hold a skein out while we wind it into a ball or cake, an adjustable and packable swift from MountainStreetArts. It is in fact much faster to use a swift than a buddy's hands so even if you are tied up you will still find it useful! perfect in conjunction with...

... this lovely hand-turning piece in a light green. (what is it?) This nostepinne (don't use that kind of language with me!) from SunsetTurnings is useful for any crafter who works with yarn! Ok, I'll tell you what it is... a nostepinne is used for winding a center-pull ball of yarn. (ahh... I still don't get it?) The yarn is wound around the wood and then pulled off leaving a gap in the center of the ball.

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