Workity, health, and wood

Just taking a small break from the work day.

Today, I am researching the shape and form of Russian Spindles. I made a cursory spindle last night.

I had never spun with a supported spindle that didn’t have a hook at the top. It was frustrating and my spindle didn’t seem to get much twist going… then I realized that perhaps it had something to do with the shape itself. Looked into it and discovered I left quite a bit of extra wood on that thing.

Examining the spindles depicted from the Russian spindle website below, I decided to attempt the traditional Russian spindle design. No fancy stuff… straight up.

So that’s what I’ve been doing this morning. No pictures yet… but I am maybe one hour away from completion and a test spin.

I also started to think about the traditional use of this spindle, what kind of peoples used it, and what the native forests these spindles came from looked like. It lead me to

http://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/2007/08/how-do-you-spin-on-russian-spindle.html

and

Russian Forest Research
http://www.whrc.org/russia/index.htm

My next Russian spindle is going to be made of a Mexican Cordia (Bocote) tree again… and that’s certainly not a traditional wood. Birch was commonly available in Russian forests and I just happen to have bought some yesterday… So that’s where I’m headed next.

-- Lisa Chan, custom cafts and yarn accessories, http://www.grippingyarn.com