More spindles!

Besides making supported spindles, I've also purchased a few from Bristlecone .  He is quite the artist, and he and his wife are lovely people. :-D  Here are my two Glindles:

He makes the glass 'marbles' for the tips himself - aren't they awesome? 

My Twindle:

Awesomely SPARKLY!!!  I've yet to find time to actually spin on them, except for a few mintues, because I've been making spindles as well. 

I made one for my sister out of zebrawood:

I was pretty pleased with how this one turned out. :-)  I made some more as some Spin Clubbers were interested:

The two on the right were snapped right up, and the one farthest left has been spoken for as well to use in the French spindle manner since it's very lightweight.  I'm going to try a 'bona fide' French style, but didn't get to it this weekend. 

I also turned this spindle for a friend:

I was very surprised (and pleased!) how well this turned out.  Practice helps, but I really think it wanted to be this shape.  I think it's Maccassar ebony (it was marked 'ebony') as it's not black, and it spins wonderfully and feels awesome in the hand.  She loves it! :-D

Today I turned another phang, as I've been wanting to for awhile.  Surprisingly, it takes as long or longer for me to turn a phang as it does a Russian even though they look like they would be simpler!

This is lignum vitae, which has a scent.  I also used the small leftover bit to make a little 'dish' - I'm not sure how well the button-dish will work since it's only about an inch across and about an inch tall, but will find out after the Danish oil dries. :-D 

I've even been spinning - well, plying.  I started plying the merino/yak on the Polonaise.  I've not plyed on the Pol before, and I think I like plying on the Babe better, but only because it's faster to set up.  Oh and spinning on the Tiny Tibetan. :-)


For my sister:

It's been awhile!

But I've been getting surprisingly little done (I did spin on the Reeves a bit last weekend).  And though I'm on 4 teams for Tour de Fleece this year, I'm so not ready!  I think one of my goals is going to be finishing up my wheel UFOs.

Anyway, Friday night I turned my first Tibetan spindle:

It's just pine, as I'm still practicing.  Getting the 'gouge' on the inside of the whorl wasn't easy...

This is a bit small as my pine wasn't quite as big as I wanted, but it spins forever. :-)  The whorl is a bit 'long' compared to what I've seen online, but it doesn't seem to hurt it's performance.  Now to find out if I can actually make yarn on one....

I tried to use Handsome Boy as a spindle model, but he wasn't quite sure about it:

And New Boy doesn't hold still long enough, so we just did a 'portrait'. :-)

So...

We got a new toy this past week...

but I didn't get a chance to play with it until today:

Not the shape I had in mind when I started, and it's easier to see before I put cherry Danish Oil on it.

It's just pine, so it's not so awesome, but I do like the shape I ended up with. :-)  It's going to need a bit of wax to fill in some of the rough spots since you often can't get pine smooth like the hard woods.

I finished the batt bite on the Star Trek spindle:

(am I geeky or what?!) and plyed it on the Penguin (because it was the only wheel with nothing on it :-/). And I finished the merino/silk on the Mazurka too. Unfortunately the bobbins were waaay uneven:

so the little skein is a bit finer than the large skein - I may make a wrist distaff out of the little skein because this yarn is soooo soft. :-)

And finally, a nature shot.

click to biggify

Mrs. Cardinal is nesting right outside our window (see the orange beak?). :-)  This is on the side of the house where we lost the trees; thankfully the cardinal and her nest weren't damaged by the storm. I peeked yesterday, and could see one egg; there may be more.

We're finding more tree damage as we get around the homestead, and one of the 'crown' panels on the machine shed came off, but all-in-all we're ok. I'm sad for my birch, but we're saving the wood for turning.

Oh - I almost forgot!  This is what I came home to TWICE this week:

(The spaniel is not the guilty party)

DH is going to need a new chair sooner than he thought!  Don't know why the New Puppy thinks that arm is so tasty. :-/