The stories behind my spindles

Within the past week I have received so many gifts from fellow fiber lovers that my cup runneth over! For today I will share with you my spindle love.

Some of you fellow knitters and crocheters may be familiar with Ravelry. In one of the forums on that site we were all sharing sharing photos of our spindles cause, well, we're addicted. I shared my photo and mentioned that I am in the market for some new spindles, possibly to spin some heavier yarn. A fellow spinner sent me a note saying that she would like to send me two of her spindles that haven't gotten much use since she began using her wheel. From her generosity I received the lovely top whorl spindles with the gorgeous stripes of green, maroon, and yellow. She also generously included some Targhee wool, so squishy, I love it!

The plain spindle you see on the far left is my first spindle, a student spindle. This one I received from the generosity of a fellow Etisan who read that I was interested in spinning. Basically I bought some wool and she threw in the spindle at cost - a dollar something, oh yeah!

Lastly, the two small spindles on the right involve my current project, which I will tell you more about later this week. These two small support spindles are cotton spindles. In our local knitting group and fiber group there is this lovely woman who knows everything there is to know about weaving, knitting, dying, and spinning - needless to say she never gets much done with all of us asking her questions.

Well, last week as we were knitting hats for the hospital I asked her how to spin cotton, and from that conversation she said that she may be able to help me out getting started cause she had a spindle that I could have. I thought - sweet! So Sunday I went over to her house to learn how to spin this short staple and I was blessed beyond my imagination!

Not only had she prepared a basket for cotton spinning which included beautiful brown cotton, carders, card cleaner, a flicker, two support spindles, and boiling tubes to set the cotton, but there was a whole other basket! This other basket over flowed with wool, cotton, an antique carder, and by the end of the visit it also included a swift, a yarn drying rack, two books on natural dyes, AND lichens and onion skins for dying!!!! I forgot to mention she also gave me a whole fleece and gave my friend a loom!

I share this to say I am so overwhelmingly grateful to these women for encouraging me and proving me with the tools to learn more and improve my craft. I am always amazed at how the "crafting community" rises up to support one another and others in need.

I hope this inspires you to reach out, share, and teach others the craft that you so love.