[Buttermilk]

I have just ordered four more bobbins for my wheel.  Why did I ever think that four bobbins would be enough?  Will 8 be enough or should I order even more?

[Louise Gaunt]

I suppose it depends on how many different projects you have going at any time, and whether you like plying large quantities at a time. I now have eight bobbins between two Ashford wheels, and can ply on my jumbo Lendrum head, but so far haven't used all of the Ashford bobbins on any one project, but then I only acquired the Traveller recently! I would see how you get on with 8 before getting more!

[Bionic]

I have 8 and it seems about the right amount to me

[Fleecewife]

I have more than that for my Ashford, but it just encourages laziness and flitting ie leaving lots of bits on bobbins and using an empty one for your next project.  I have only 4 for my Lendrum Saxony and that's fine as I only do one project on that at a time. 

[SallyintNorth]

I have several Ashford wheels and at the last count 14 single drive bobbins, about 7 double drive I think.

However, I do lots of spinning-related activities, plus attend several spinning groups, including my own, and do events where we 'give people a go', so I may need spare bobbins for things besides my own main projects.

Thus, for people like me, the mantra is 'buy a new bobbin at every event where they sell them', and 'you can never have too many bobbins'!

Other factors affect the answer too.  Some people like to spin all the singles for the project, then ply 1st and last, 2nd and penultimate, etc, to even out any changes in spinning as the project progressed.  Others (like me) spin two (or three) bobbins, ply them, spin two more, and so on.  Then again, you can wind off onto storage bobbins if you're keeping singles for some time.

I do agree with FW that too many bobbins encourages 'flitting'