[Fleecewife]

I hope you have a lovely time    Too far for me to go but I would love to if I could, esp to compare with Woolfest in Cumbria, which is the same each year so I might not bother with it this year.
I hope you will have time to tell us all about Wonderwool afterwards.

[Lesley Silvester]

Yes, we want to know.

[MrsJ]

Well, woke up this morning to reports of trees down and warnings of flooding, so have decided on the cowardice route today and staying home with the drawbridge pulled up.  Am really disappointed but I don't want to get stuck miles from home, even if it is a lovely part of the world.

[Blinkers]

We went yesterday and had a brilliant day as always.   I'm sure its getting bigger each year      Sooooo much to see and spend your  pennies on    always very inspiring and plenty of stands to find something to eat and drink throughout the day.    I actually managed to be fairly restrained this year  and only bought some dyeing stuff, some buttons, and a small pack of patterns.  Bumped into a few friends too 

[Bionic]

We went yesterday too but it was soooo cold there.  That spoilt it a bit as my fingers were too cold to be touchy feely with the wool.

I bought some undyed merino hanks, so that I can try my hand at dyeing for the first time, some alpaca fleece and some sock wool.  I could have spent a small fortune (actually not so small) wanted a carder, a weaving loom, a drop spindle etc etc.

I was very taken with the aplacas (see post on camelid forum)

Sally

[MrsJ]

Sally - sorry I missed you there.  I got my drop spindle from here http://www.winghamwoolwork.co.uk/eqp_spn_dropspindles.php  it arrived very quickly and I soon picked it up. 

[Bionic]

Those on the link are cetainly much cheaper than the ones I was looking at which were £28-30. Still they were lovely wood.  For now I think I will get one of the cheap ones.
thanks
Sally

[FiB]

Sally, good job I didnt go to wonderwool - I'm not sure I could have resisted beautiful crafted ones! The sort of thing I could collect!!   I've just got a cheap ashford drop spindle and it is fab - and Ive used sticks with placticine in the woods with children - worked well.    I like this site and started using the you tube vids..

http://www.joyofhandspinning.com/make-dropspin.shtml

[FiB]

...no, it was this site after all!!

http://handspinner.co.uk/links.html

[Fleecewife]

Thanks for the sites FiB.  I tend to spin in isolation and make no progress in my skill level, so it's helpful to read how others do things.

I have made a collection of spindles over the years - drop, top-whorl, turkish and even a little quill-supported spindle - no Andean types though.  I have got to the point now where I am quite selective as to which I buy - they are so expensive     There are usually two or three stalls selling lovely spindles from America and Canada at Woolfest; spindlers2 are my favourite.
I have hankered after a Goldring spindle which look so well made and intricate but so far I haven't succumbed - they would have to be sent direct from the US at no-doubt vast expense. Also the design would be so personal and making a choice is hard - would I hate it after a couple of years?  Has anyone got one?

The spindles I use the most are a lovely top-whorl one from Canada which was a gift and is made of beautiful wood, and a tiny turkish spindle which I bought from a lady in the north of England, who had turned it herself.   I like to use a top-whorl spindle when I do demos, as it is so easy to show from that the basics of how a wheel works, bringing it down to first principles - a spindle on its side, with lots of complicated bits to make it turn 

I am interested by how many people on here are using spindles, as well as or instead of a wheel.

[Lesley Silvester]

I was inspired by an old lady I knew who used a drop spindle while walking her dog round their fields.  She reckoned she could spin an ounce of fleece whilel checking the fences.

[Bionic]

Wow, perhaps she had very long fences 

[Fleecewife]

The miners used to spin as they walked to work, often several miles.  Once they had enough yarn they would then knit their socks, which got worn out as they walked...   Napoleonic soldiers spun as they marched too as they had to make any repairs to their uniforms themselves, plus socks.
We found a medieval spindle whorl buried deep in our soil, lost presumably by a child as she, or he, minded the sheep.
I used to take my spindle into outpatients and the ward with me when my OH was ill, and managed to spin masses during those long long waits.  I also use it when I am at shows, or going to shops where there's likely to be a long wait.  Similarly I take a tiny circular knitting needle and knit on the move.  I can knit in the car, but not spin - as a passenger of course.  I don't fly much but when I have I have wished I was allowed to take my needle and spindle with me for something to do.
Spinning wheels do have that major drawback that they are static.