Too much knitting going on here, and not enough spinning, so tell me

You may find this thread interesting:

know I've seen pictures of a system someone set up with theirelectric drill mounted into a frame and a spindle attached to thedrill, but my quick google search didn't reveal what I was lookingfor.

I often see homemade electric spinning wheels on NZ's Trademe auction site (our version of eBay). People just connect a sewing machine motor or similar to a flyer unit. Some have the luxury of a forward/reverse switch, but many just require you to put a twist in the drive belt for reverse drive.

VP

Drop spindle. Make one for a couple of bucks using bits and pieces scavenged from your garage junk drawer :D

I think you want to spin long luster WOOL into tight worsted yarn

*running away* Romney, BFL, several other breeds lend themselves well to tight worsted-spun yarn.

True. It's also not designed for the production of worsted-spun yarn.

No. It does take some practice to do, however. I was becoming quite adept at non-stop spinning on the walking wheel but decided it was too much work and sent it to live with someone else.

How dextrous are you?

That, my good man, is an oft-debated topic. Mabel Ross exhorts us to put as many TPI in our yarn as there are crimps per inch in the staples we're spinning. So does Peter Teal, IIRC.

A "reasonable" speed depends in large part on what you're spinning. An accellerated wheel like a charkha will have a spindle speed has high as 300rpm. A wool wheel (ie, a walking wheel) with a Minor's head will spin at about 90rpm, maybe a bit faster.

BUT, spinning off a spindle is NOT the way to produce worsted-spun yarn. True worsted is spun from well-prepared combed top which is predrafted (dizzed) to a thickness that will allow the spinner to

*just spin* with no pre-drafting required. This means much more work goes into prep than into spinning. Most of us who "spin worsted" use combed tops - commercial or stuff we comb ourselves - do some dizzing, then draft using the inchworm method: this keeps the fibers smoothly aligned and tucks ends into the single as it twists up. Anything else is semi-worsted at best.

That's like asking how many miles a person can hike in a day: if you're a couch potato the answer is "not much", if you're a hardbody with mountain goat genes the answer is something else entirely. A spinner spins as fast as s/he spins. It's largely dependant on what you're spinning, how finely you're spinning it, how well you prepared your fibers, and how fast your wheel runs. Froghair spun on an 8:1 wheel takes for-freaking ever, but the same fiber and same grist spun on a 20:1 wheel goes ever-so-much faster - and for obvious reasons.

One plies from the leader of a cop - that is, the starter yarn one ties on to give the new stuff something to hold on to as it's being spun out of thin air. You'll need to devise some method of keeping your cops corralled.

But. You won't be spinning worsted if you spin off the tip. Just remember I warned you :D

Hook that up to an Ashford jumbo flyer, which you can outfit with any number of whorls to jack the spinning speed. Use it for plying.

Get yourself a good fast flyer wheel for spinning. I can recommend several.

In the meantime pick up a copy of _Spinning in the Old Way_ by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts, and a copy of _Hand Woolcombing and Spinning_ by Peater Teal. The former is a fast read, the latter not so much. You might also want to get from your library _Alden Amos's Big Book of Handspinning_. I don't cotton much to Amos's writing style but it *is* a good resource.

Thanks

Just as I went a bit off the deep end with knitting, until I tended to knit a bit tighter than most, I fear I will also go off the deep end with spinning, and maybe spin a bit too tight. One book I was reading was talking about single with 24 tpi. I thought a 30 inch draw means 720 turns, so at 90 rpm that is more than 7 minutes per yard of single! But, if I do not have to do a full 24 tpi, then this may not be as bad as I thought.

I was thinking of using a spindle because it allows spinning tighter. However, as you point out, a wool wheel allows only one hand on the fiber, and worsted requires at least 2 hands on the fiber. Keeping 2 hands on the fiber would be my other reason for going electric. So that was the real question, "Could I just let the spindle spin, and keep 2 hands on the wool?" And, as I read below the answer is a good firm, "MAYBE!"

So anyway, for this first interaction, my biggest investment is some combed top to play with. : D

There is guild meeting early next month, and their library has the books you recommend.

Aar>

An electric spinner with a WooLee Winder will do you better - the bobbins are nice and big, and you don't have to stop to wind on - the WW does that as you spin.