Top-whorl, bottom-whorl, rim-weighted, centre-weighted, heavy or light… when you’re beginning to learn to spin it can be hard to decide which drop spindle is best for you and for the yarn you want to spin. Spindle preference is very personal, and if you aren’t fortunate enough to live near a spinning supply store or have a spinning friend with several spindles you can try, you may find you are spending money on a drop-spindle that is less than optimal for your style. Or you may want to try your hand at spinning to see if it’s for you, but don’t want to end up with costly tools you might not use.
So how can you try out many kinds of spindles to find the best style for you, without travelling miles to a store or spending a fortune? The tool is probably in your kitchen right now… a potato. If you don’t have a potato, maybe you have an apple, which will work just as well.
Here’s what you need:
- Large potato or apple – the rounder the better
- A disposable chopstick, pencil, or length of dowel
- Vegetable knife and/or craft knife
- Small amount of cheap fibre
- Length of single-ply yarn (if you are used to using a leader yarn)
Cut the potato into slices – some thin, some thick, so you can try different weights (heavy spindles for heavy yarns, and light spindles for fine yarns). If your slices are not very circular, use a knife or a cookie cutter to make them into circles. Rinse your slices and pat them dry.
Prototype bottom-whorl spindle
Cut a nick in one end of your chopstick or dowel, to act as a hook. You can now push your dowel into the centre of a potato slice, making a prototype spindle! You may have to trim a little here and there to get it to spin as evenly as possible, but the key is to get your dowel as dead-centre as possible.
To try a top-whorl spindle, have the slice as close to the hook as possible. Top-whorl spindles spin faster, and are more suited for spinning finer yarns and more delicate fibres.
prototype top-whorl spindle
Conversely, place your at the opposite end from the hook for a bottom whorl. Bottom-whorl spindles have a slower spin, making them better for thicker yarns.
Experiment with different weight distributions – for a rim-weighted whorl, cut a channel as shown, or for a centre weight, trim some potato away from the edges of the whorl so the edge tapers.
prototype centre-weighted whorl
Weight distribution affects both the speed and the length of spin. When the weight is concentrated close to the shaft, the spindle will spin faster. If you enjoy spinning very fine yarns or fibres with a short staple length (the average length of individual fibres) you need a fast-spinning spindle. Rim-weighted spindles have more inertia at the edge of the whorl, so they spin more slowly, but for much longer. You can experiment with different cuts and channels, and different whorl diameters, until you find a good balance between speed and length of spin.
prototype rim-weighted whorl
Use your fibre (or ideally, several kinds of fibre) to trial different styles and configurations, and make a note of the one that works best for you – now you know what style you are looking for, you have narrowed down your search for the perfect drop-spindle! Or if you’re handy with wood, you can copy your most successful potato prototype to make a spindle that is just right for you.
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