Learn To Spin with a Turkish Spindle

Learn to Spin with a Turkish Spindle (with DVD)

Author: Wanda Jenkins

This book with companion DVD covers how to use a Turkish spindle, spinning wool and silk (hankie, top) plus tips and finishing techniques. Color photos, 20 pages.

The techniques are the same as spinning on a regular drop-spindle the only difference is in the winding-on. Due to the clever design of the Turkish spindle, when yarn is wound on correctly it will make a tidy center-pull ball that is easily removed from the spindle by disassembling it. Wanda Jenkins clearly explains the basics of spindling with prepared wool, beginning with assembling the Turkish spindle, attaching a leader and beginning the winding-on process with the waste yarn.  She then has you practice flicking the spindle to get the twirling motion down, before moving on to showing you how to pre-draft your fiber, attach it to the leader, and get started with spinning. She helps take the "drop" out of drop-spindle by having you start with "park and draft" technique, where you rest the spindle on the floor while drafting the next section of fiber.

The 30-minute video that comes with the booklet is a handy visual demo of the techniques. Although it has a home-made quality to it, Wanda takes you carefully through the basics. The first 15 minutes show tie-on of the leader yarn, attaching the spinning fiber, pre-drafting, park and draft, correcting thickness errors, (too thick, too thin), and joining roving when a too-thin area gives way.

If you are a novice, Learn to Spin with a Turkish Spindle will soon get you making yarn. And if you use a Jenkins Turkish Spindle to do it, you will be using a fine tool with an ancient history, sustainably produced by a cottage industry in Oregon.

Woolery Turkish Spindle Selection