#supported spinning

Anyway here it was. Makes a great spinning bowl when you can't sit cross legged to spin. I just nestle the stem between my legs and spin in the cup part--no other bowl I have stays secure in the position I can spin in. Definitely recommend if you prefer to rest the bowl on your legs but have trouble keeping it steady. Of course, its hard to find this style of sake cup, but still. I got this guy at a thrift store.

Doesn't really work in my wheelchair though... but then, I have yet to find any spinning bowl that works in my wheelchair.

The beautiful red southdown batts came with a couple samples from other batts they sell so I spun them up as a little bit of a palate cleanser and it was very very enjoyable. (Shop is My Little Sheep on Etsy, definitely recommend if you like southdown !!) Theres a white/green/yellow section below this, im gonna make a ply bracelet with this and see how it looks.

Also, I was able to spin this all in one sitting, which is very nice. Ive had problems supported spinning because theres not a lot of positions i can stay in for more than like 20 minutes. Granted, I was in a lot of pain by the end, mostly my arms and neck, but its still a big improvement because I had to stop supported spinning entirely for about a year because it was so painful. Very glad I can do it again...should not spin this much in one go in the future tho lol.

The other thing ive been spinning. Im remembering why I stopped supported spinning...Definitely not sustainable for my wrists. I started out spinning this on the espinner but it just broke nonstop. I think I was just having trouble with the wheel though, because i switched to the corriedale on the espinner and it was bad too, but then fine this morning. So I should probably try this on the espinner again.

Its very uneven, but the project i have in mind for this (neckwarmer knit on oversize needles, to be the inner layer of the jacob cowl i am also planning to knit) its not even going to be seen, so it really doesn't matter. Its super soft--so soft that i cant really feel it at all. Im not positive what the majority of the fiber is, but i highly suspect its cashmere that had just a few guard hairs and normal hairs mixed in. That one was in the form of some fleece pieces that I have no recollection of acquiring. The rest of it is definitely cashmere (fully dehaired cloud i bought and have been very slowly using over the past 5 years).

After a post by @disgruntled-lifeform and tags by @swords-n-spindles I wanna show off my household item bowls for supported spinning:

As you can see I have 2 egg cups: the chicken (from my parents' house) tipped over so often so i now mainly use the turtle I found in a store last year. The soup ladle (thrifted) is for spinning while hiking/walks/on trains/whenever I spin outvof the house and everyone loves it. And one of my spindles loves the champagne glass (also thrifted).

The small coloured wood thing in the back also is a spinning bowl with a magnet and my only bowl which was made with the intention of spinning in it. It currently sits on my spindle lazy-kate but it can also be used on another piece of wood to be held between the legs. I haven't worked much with that tho.

Tiny test knit on size US 8/5mm needles. The cast on was the first part I spun from unprepared cotton, and then you can see it gets increasingly finer as my prep improved. Mostly I did this test to be able to see that progression, but I was also curious how well I'd be able to knit with what is essentially unplied thread.

Answer...bit of a pain. It snapped twice as I was binding off (I know the bind off edge looks so bad--this is why. Also it was hard.) which was not a good sign but also my needle kept just falling out of my work. Definitely need wooden needles if I try this again for a better grip.

I think it's not the right choice though. If I wove with it it would be much more durable then and would create a better fabric.

Issue is, I certainly would not put the weight of warping on this thread. So I will try plying the remains (to see if it's even doable or if it will snap and/or tangle) and then maybe try weaving that. As a 2 ply it should be good enough--it's already pretty strong, it's just snapping at the slubs, which currently seem unavoidable until I am much better at making punis.

Whittled a small birch spindle today. Was definitely a challenge, and my sandpaper sponges were missing (except for the roughest one) as well as my woodburning equipment. I'm fairly sure one of my roommates moved it... Anyway, it is unfinished bc all I had was my knife and the roughest sandpaper. I did oil it so I could use it though.

I know cotton is supposed to be spun on heavy fast spindles that can hold a lot of momentum, and this certainly isn't that. But I also know that I have an easier time spinning thread on really small spindles. So I'm testing this one out.

So far it's working well... the prep isn't good though. I tried re-preparing the previous rolag and its much worse, more lumpy, etc. Maybe my cards are damaging the fibers ? Idk. I will still spin it though, it's good practice and should be usable.

Lovely little spindle. I'm thinking of making it shorter actually...I could cut off most of the lower straight part and it should still be good.

As it stands, the spindle is about 5 inches (13 cm) tall.

This thread cop builds up very slowly as you can imagine, but the yardage progresses as fast as any other yarn...so if i spun this on a big spindle that holds 10 times more yarn, when it came time to wind it off it would be pretty miserable. I'm finding if I have to wind by hand id rather it be in small doses. Helps with a sense of progress as well.

I am curious if I can fit the rest of this rolag on here. We'll see.

Such as office scissors.

Another thing I've learnt is that most people are not very thrilled to see someone whittling a stick with scissors in a hospital.

Finally had the right savings at the right time (and the right lightning-fast reflex on a drop date) to snag my second Glasspin! It's even more beautiful in person than I was expecting, and surprisingly lightweight. I'm breaking it in with some of my hoarded and precious baby camel/tussah silk blend ✨