How Many Arms Does a Turkish Spindle Need?

By Amelia © December 16, 2025

Your most typical truly Turkish spindle shaped spindle has four arms - made up of two pieces where one goes through a hole in the other, and the combination of the hole in one arm and the shaft holds the two pieces in place. The length and shape of shaft, the length and thickness of the arms, and how high up the shaft the arms sit all play a role in how well that spindle spins, in what ways it can be spun, and how much yarn it can hold. But that's a separate post.

You see, I was looking over my spindle collection and realized I have many Turkish-style spindles that don't have 4 arms, or that are not truly Turkish-spindle shaped with their 4 arms. So from least to most, here you go:

1. 
   This etsy acquisition from MuddyDuckWorkshop is a Basque spindle called a Txoatile spindle. It is similar to some spindles shown in Betty Hochberg's handspindles booklet. Good luck winding on - well, some folks have definitely done some work on finding ways to wind on that are interesting (search on YouTube), but generally you are not going to take a cop off of this by removing the pieces. Now there are many other makers on Etsy as well as Muddy Duck Workshop, but the one I received from them was well made and is fun to pull out and spin.

2. 
   This is my newest Turkish-esque spindle, I saw one at SOAR this year and had to pursue, because - 3 arms? Yes, 3 arms! It does basically collapse when you pull the shaft out on it empty, and likely the arms come out easily when there's a cop on them. It is sold through SpinSpul; getting one in the US is a little tricky, but that may no longer be the case by the time you read this. I love getting packets from overseas, so definitely a fun one.


3. We already did the traditional Turkish style, but there are interesting alternatives; I've seen several makers who put the arms one above the other, not intersecting. My favorite is my Spin Dizzy (on the left) (no longer made), though Peace Fleece sold a "Russian" spindle that was this style of Turkish, Majacraft did this with their multi-weight Turkish-style spindle, and the Katrinkles multi-weight Turkish-style spindle with one arm above the other rather than intersecting. The multi-weight Turkish-style spindles give you several sets of arms that all fit on the same shaft so you can pick the arms you want to get the spindle weight you desire. See Which Spindle Spins The Best for why you might want different weights of spindles, because that is not this blog post.

4. Another interesting alternative was made by Malcolm Fielding of Australia (in the middle), his Turkish-style spindle had one arm resting in a cut-out on top of the other arm. So the thinner shaft didn't go through the thicker shaft, but instead rested in a cut-out on top of the thicker shaft. Beautifully made, as all Fielding spindles are, though he has retired. His apprentice does good work and may get to these spindles at some point as he expands his repertoire.

5. The third 4-arm alternative is the Jenkins Woodworking Aegean-style spindle (on the right), where there is a stopper on the thinner arm so it goes through the thicker arm but cannot go all the way through due to a thicker edge placed so the thinner arm stops at the perfect position. Like all Jenkins Woodworking spindles, this is a lovely spindle with excellent dynamics. Wanda did post a YouTube video showing a different wind-on for this spindle, it is a good wind-on for slippery fibers such as silk as well, so worth a look. And often the arms are decorated as well, a bonus!

6. 
   Then there is also the 6-arm spindle by Jenkins Woodworking. It was posed to him as a challenge and he met the brief excellently. He made the Merlin and the Weaver, a smaller one. These are lovely spinners. They have two thin arms and one thick arm with two channels cut through it to keep the thin arms at the right angles. The main trick was deciding how to wind on - over-2/under-1 isn't going to directly work. My solution was to treat the 2 thin arms as a single arm, then I could do over-2/under-1. Others have adopted an over-3/under-1 approach.

7. 
   And last, though perhaps it's a stretch, is the 8-arm Turkish-style spindle that I usually refer to as a pencil Turkish, the one I use in my beginner classes which has 4 pencils, and every pair of arms is rubber-banded together. I do make a shaped shaft for it out of 1/4-inch dowel to give it better dynamics. See How Do You Make A Turkish Spindle for information on this.

That's it in my collection - if you've run across a one-arm or five-arm Turkish spindle, let me know! There's room for it to grow.

References:
Muddy Duck
SpinSpul
Jenkins Woodworking
Malcolm Fielding

PS yes, there are quite a few Turkish spindle makers these days. In addition to Jenkins who are hands-down the best, here are other current makers I enjoy:
Snyder Spindles
IST Crafts
Turtlemade

PPS I agree, there are other multi-arm spindles such as the Balkan spindle and the Trindle Spindle. The Balkan has a fixed piece with what looks like 4 arms, but you don't wind onto them since it is a single piece. And the Trindle has a variety of arm options - however, you don't wind onto the arms as they are very thin with shaped weights at the ends of the arms. I've chosen to draw the line and not include them, though they are interesting spindles in their own right.

~~~~

© December 16, 2025 by Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.com/

How do you wind on a Turkish Spindle?

You can wind onto a Turkish spindle however you like! But if you want advice, or need a pointer, then read on.

The goal is to make a tidy ball of yarn that keeps the spindle balanced and is ready for plying, storage, or skeining, as appropriate.

The really simple mantra I didn't learn for Turkish wind-on is: over 2, under 1. This isn't, topologically, speaking, a ball -- it's a ring. But, Wool Being Wool, it works -- the wool hangs onto strands below, and it all hangs together. It also has the nice feature of having a flat bottom, so it sits nicely and behaves while you're pulling the center out for 2-plying a center-pull ball.

Okay, but I didn't learn that. Instead, I used my childhood ball-winding skills. My mother still winds all her balls by hand, has never had a ball-winder or nostepinne and wouldn't use one if I gave it to her! She enjoys the rhythm of hand-winding a ball. Her balls are perfect, round orbs, not too tight and not too loose. It took me 40 years to make pastry anywhere close to flakey like hers. When I'm not spinning balls on my Turkish spindle, I use my ball winder!

Pictures being more concise, this is what I do:



I like this wind-on: left and right of the center pole, around and around, then change direction 90-degrees and go around and around that way for a while.

The bottom view (as you can see) looks the same as the top view.

And, I barber-pole my yarn up the shaft so I can thigh-roll my Turkish spindle if I want to, too ;-)

The completed yarn cake? Here you go:

Ahhh -- a full spindle -- oops, time to ply ;-)

My Turkish (a Spin-Dizzy Traveller), just emptied of its ball of yarn. I'd "just" ply this right back on but decided to spin another ball full and ply the two together, for a change.

By some odd quirk of fate, spindle and yarn-cake weigh in the same: both are 0.9 ounces.

Now, if someone can point me to an on-line survey tool, I'll fire up a survey -- until then, put your answer in a comment here or email me -- how do you wind onto your Turkish spindle? the ball shown here, the over-2/under-1, or some other way? Thanks for sharing!

A Spindler's Bibliography

By Amelia © July 2, 2008.

Well, I am thinking about writing a book on spindling. Okay, so I'm actively writing already. Here is a list of those who have walked that path before me, for those interested in reading more about spindling while I'm putting fingers to keyboard and pencil to sketchpad.

I can't guarantee you can find all these books -- many are out of print, they were out of print and second-hand when I got them ~ the rarest was a surprise gift! Ah the sweetness of the human spirit. But they are all on my bookshelf amidst the myriad more-than-spindle or other-than-spindle books, well-thumbed and referred to on my path to becoming the spindler I am today.

• The Akha Spindle Workshop by Wendy Whelan. A great pamphlet on spinning in the traditional way with the Akha spindle. No date, mine was purchased in 2003 from Gemini Fibres.
  
  
• Gossamer Webs: The History and Techniques of Orenburg Lace Shawls by Galina Khmeleva and Carol R. Noble has a section on Russian spindling, including their interesting plying method, from spindle to plying disc.
  
  
• The Handspindle ... Not Just For Demonstrations Anymore by Paula J Vester (2002). A good pamphlet to learn with, nice photographs and concise text.
  
  
• A Handspindle Treasury: 20 Years of Spinning Wisdom from Spin-Off Magazine by Interweave Press (2000). Selected articles on spindling from the first 20 years of Spin-Off. Covers quite a few spindle tips like quills for top whorls, as well as methods for Tahkli, Akha, Russian, and Navajo. A nice diverse collection.
  
  
• Handspindles by Bette Hochberg (1977,1980). The most amazing range of spindles from history, and in use today. It inspired a whole generation of wood-turners urged on by spindlers to re-create the Victorian Silk Spindle for one!
  
  
• Hand Spinning Cotton by Olive and Harry Linder (1977). Covers almost all the tools to spin cotton -- Support spindle, bottom whorl spindle, top whorl spindle, Navajo spindle, Charka, Great Wheel, and spinning wheel. (No mention of Akhas, though). Punis, natural dyes, and use of cotton yarns. Very concisely thorough.
  
  
• How Nikki Shared Her Coat: The Story of a Happy Dog Who Kept Her Family Warm by Detta Juusola (1994) a children's story with notes on collecting and spinning dog fur (factual part overlaps Yes, It's Made from My Dog's Fur, same author).
  
  
• Introducing Spindle Spinning by Mike Halsey (1982) from scouring fleece, picking open locks to spin, to all the bottom whorling you can handle, singles and plies. Great sketches, thorough treatment of the material. Love the fact that it's clearly photocopies of typewritten pages, too -- can't beat that typeface!
  
  
• Learn to Spin Cotton from Cotton Clouds. Support spindle instructions included in their learn to spin cotton kit. Nicely written. No date provided, I purchased mine in 2002.
  
  
• Learn to Spin Cotton into Thread A nicely diagrammed pamphlet of support spindle instructions, included in a kit purchased about 2002-2003.
  
  
• Learn to Spin Silk on a Top-Whorl Spindle by Ruth MacGregor (2002). A nice book on choosing a top-whorl spindle suitable for silk, silk types, and managing silk while spinning and plying.
  
  
• Learn to Spin With a Turkish Drop Spindle by Wanda Jenkins (2004, 2008 with a DVD). Clearly written text and thorough photos walk you through learning to spin with a Turkish spindle. Includes the author's own wind-on for a great flat-bottomed ball of yarn. As of 2008, sold with a DVD too!
  
  
• Navajo Weaving Way: The Path from Fleece to Rug by Noel Bennett & Tiana Bighorse (1997) has a nice section on Navajo spindle spinning (26 pages on the topic, from fleece to yarn).
  
  
• Russian Drop Spindle from Peace Fleece. A short note about this spindle (a Turkish variant, not a Russian Lace spindle) was included with the spindle. A nice little spindle, I enjoy mine! No date, purchased in 2002.
  
  
• Shuttle, Spindle and Dyepot by Handweaver's Guild of America has spindling articles from time to time. I think they may have reprinted a collection too, but I didn't find that book on my shelf for compiling this list (darn it!)
  
  
• Simple Spinning on Sticks and Spindles by Lionel Jacobson (1977). Gets you spindling from zero to the bottom whorl spindle in no time. Plenty of sketches and rich in 1970's style. Touches on using the bottom whorl as a support spindle, too!
  
  
• Spin It: Making Yarn from Scratch by Lee Raven (2003) a nice adaptation with new, color photographs, of the spindling portions of Lee Raven's earlier learn-to-spin book, Hands on Spinning (1987). Covers hand carding, has some nice small handspun knitting projects in it, too.
  
  
• Spin Yarn on A Spindle by Detta Juusola (1994) a more thorough writeup of spindling, still touching on collecting dog fur (which, granted, you are more likely to have on hand than a sheep in your back yard, if you're a city dweller!) Features her signature potato spindle and hangar niddy-noddy.
  
  
• Spin-Off Magazine by Interweave Press, in particular the Spring 1995 issue with its focus on Hand Spindles. Many other issues before, after, and since the 2000 Handspindle Treasury collection, of past articles also touch on spindling topics (or at least have great ads! get your hands on a current copy to find out who peddles spindles online or in your area).
  
  
• Spin-Spin by Heidi of My Paper Crane (no date, mine was purchased in 2006). Covers top whorl spindling, a little ungrammatical at times ... very current voice, I found it an interesting reflection on what the internet has done to open spindling to a wider audience.
  
  
• Spindle Spinning (Needle Crafts 13 from Search Press) by Patricia Baines (1984). This was the surprise gift! I'd heard of it but couldn't find it on eBay, alibris, or elsewhere. A nice, easy read geared to teaching the reader to spin primarily on a bottom whorl spindle, with mention of Hip Spindles (see Handspindle Treasury for an article on the topic of Lapland/Icelandic spindles) and support spindles as well.
  
  
• Spindle Spinning Cotton by Patricia Baines (1994). A great pamphlet on the topic from picked cotton, making punis, to support spindles. Practical and clear. Also a useful discussion of charka spinning.
  
  
• Spindle Spinning: From Novice to Expert by Connie Delaney (1998). Covers top whorl, bottom whorl, a note on Turkish, tahklis, and Navajo spindles. Connie Delaney also has pamphlets on Akhas, Russian, and Balkan spindles -- get them to round out her book. (available on www.spindling.com) Her earlier pamphlet, Drop Spindling (1995), is completely covered in the book.
  
  
• Spindling: The Basics by Amelia Garripoli (2003). For beginning spindlers, how to spin on a top whorl spindle, with troubleshooting tips and further projects in fleece preparation and dyeing. (See, I said I'd been writing! This one is self-published and would be used in the first section of the new book.)
  
  
• Spinning in the Old Way: How (and Why) To Make Your Own Yarn With A High-Whorl Handspindle by Priscilla A. Gibson-Roberts (2006). I see this book as mostly supplanting her former (1998) book on the topic, High Whorling. Covers high whorl spindles, with a mention of Salish (looks like a Navajo in the drawings) and Akha spindles. Covers fiber processing as well.
  
  
• Spinning With A Drop Spindle by Carol Cassidy-Fayer (1997). Covers top and bottom whorl spindles. Not many drawings, but her website has some additional useful photos.
  
  
• Spinning with a drop spindle by Christine Thresh (1971). A bottom whorl spindling instruction book from raw fleece through plying.
  
  
• Spinning With a Turkish Drop Spindle by Martha Moore (1996). Came with the Valkyrie Turkish spindle. A brief instruction pamphlet covering how to spindle in minimal words (very concise!) including winding on, that great mystery of Turkish spindles.
  
  
• Using a Navaho-Type Spindle (sic) by Jan Symonds (1997) Covers the basic technique for spinning singles on a Navajo spindle. Great illustrations!
  
  
• Yes, It's Made From My Dog's Fur! by Detta Juusola (1995). Covers fiber collection, preparation, and spinning from dog fur. Yay for our woofy friends!
  

Often, learn to spin kits are sold with the Interweave pamphlets on spindling singles (Low Tech, High Satisfaction) or with handwritten pamphlets on spindling singles on the type of spindle in the kit (top whorl or bottom whorl). Of the ones I've purchased, generally I find them readable and reasonably understandable -- enough to get you started with singles, and itching to move on to plying.

Most books of wheel spinning may touch on spindling; The Spinner's Companion, for example, mentions spindle types. And The Alden Amos Big Book of Handspinning has several sections on spindle types, use, and even construction (tahkli, top whorl, bottom whorl, Akha (Thai), Navajo (Southwestern)). And any book on fiber processing, textile history, and fiber types is as helpful to a spindler as it is to a wheel spinner.

Your learning need not stop at the printed work -- there are also a ton of on-line resources and forums for spindlers.

Did I miss a Spindle-focused book? please let me know -- there's room for more on my bookshelf, always!

You know, it's amazing I am even writing a spindling book, given the richness of the list above. Well, the hunt for a publisher is underway ... if you know of one wanting to publish a book that is a modern take on spindling, do let me know!

~~
Guess what? The book (Productive Spindling) is now available! Buy it from me (I'll sign it!) or look for it in your local yarn store.
~~
posted 2 July 2008 at http://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/. Added book links, 8 January 2009 and 27 April 2010.

How do you get 4 oz. of fiber onto one spindle?

By Amelia © May 17, 2015

Hi! I've a new job that is generally keeping me quite busy, but I still get to think about and touch fiber every day in my studio, so no complaints, and the steady paycheck makes up for not having an 'all fiber, all the time' life any longer!

An interesting question came across "Ask The Bellwether"'s comment feed the other day: "What I need to know and I hope you can help me, is: if you are spinning 4 oz of fiber and plying on the fly with your spindle, how do you get all 4 oz of the fiber on the spindle?"

Here, dear readers, is the answer I have to this:

To get four ounces of fiber on a spindle, there are several considerations:

• First you want to be spinning a thickness of fiber that can support the 4-6 ounce weight of spindle-plus-fiber; so you aren't going to be spinning laceweight and doing this, as it just won't support the mass. I would aim for a single that is about sockweight for this, if you truly want your 4 ounce goal.
• Second, you need to have a spindle that can store that amount of fiber on it. How do you know? Well, if it's top whorl, you will want a fairly wide whorl, say 3" across if you can get it, at least 2" across; and a longish shaft. That's because you are going to be storing all that yarn on the shaft under the whorl, and the cop (the wound yarn on the spindle) has to be no wider across than the whorl, or you run into other issues. If it's a bottom whorl, the long shaft is still necessary, but the whorl size isn't as important. For a Turkish spindle, you need long spindle arms so they poke out from the ball (unlike this little Turkish whose arms end inside the yarn ball).
• Third, as you wind the cop onto the spindle, you need to keep it balanced. The spindle will get all wobbly and not fun to spin if the cop is not balanced, making you want to end the project right away.

If I were to work on this as a goal, I would start with a spindle that was about an ounce in weight, with a wide whorl or long arms, and a shaft length of at least 9-10 inches. In fact, I do have a ply-on-the-fly project going right now on just such a spindle, but I am going to split it into two 2-ounce balls, as the singles are fairly fine so that the 3-ply can be sock-to-DK weight yarn (about 14-16 wraps per inch).

I don't think that we have to get a whole braid of fiber onto a spindle to be successful; there are plenty of uses of fiber that tolerate breaks in the yarn. With knitting or crochet, Russian Joins or even other clever knitting joins are out there for making this feasible, and weaving and needlepoint are even more tolerant of breaks, expecting them in due course.

See related topics:

How much yarn can I spin on my spindle?
How can I combine two full spindles?
How can I get more yarn on my spindle?
When is the spindle full?
How much yarn can you wind onto a Turkish spindle?

~~~~
© May 17, 2015 by Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.com/

How much yarn can you wind onto a Turkish spindle?

By Amelia © February 4, 2010

One of the questions that came up in a recent Productive Spindling class was: How full can you fill a Turkish spindle?

The answer is: You can keep winding yarn onto your Turkish spindle (for how, see here) as long as you can reach the shaft and arms to remove them. If you wind on past the bottom of the shaft, you may not be able to push it out of the yarn ball. If you wind on past the ends of the whorl arms, you won't be able to pull them out, either.

Like this little over-full spindle:



Now, all is not lost -- I can barely see the bottom tip of the shaft, so it's likely I can push that out of the yarn-ball. And, once I start unwinding, I'll expose the arms and eventually be able to remove them, as well. Since this is a plied ball of yarn, I'll just be skeining it up to wash it.

The fiber is a yummy cashmere/silk blend, a tasting gifted by a friend at last year's Madrona Fiber Arts Festival. Interestingly enough, I made the spinning an exercise in stubbornness: the singles were spun on a very heavy mid-whorl Maggie, and then the plying was done on the super-light (10 grams, maybe) Turkish shown here (from Knotty by Nature Fiber Arts in Victoria, BC, Canada).

The 2010 Madrona Fiber Arts Festival is currently in the headlights, I've been preparing for the Exotic Fiber Spindling class. Emptying this little spindle will provide a useful example of skeining up finely spun yarn.

~~
Related posts:
How much yarn can I spin on my spindle?
How do you wind on a Turkish spindle?
What Turkish spindles do you like?
Click for a list of all spindle posts on Ask The Bellwether.

And you can see more of my Turkish spindles in my flickr queue.
~~
© 4 February 2010 by Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/

How much yarn can I spin on my spindle?

How much yarn you can spin onto a spindle depends on a variety of factors -- and yes, you can influence these factors.

For starters, do you have a "good weight" of spindle for the yarn you are spinning? If you're spinning fine, a heavy drop spindle will pull more than a light one (under 1 ounce), or than a supported spindle. If you're spinning thick, a light drop spindle or a support spindle will stop more quickly than a heavier drop spindle (over 1.5 ounces).


So, consider this ... as you spin, you add weight to the spindle. Sheila Bosworth of Bosworth Spindles said her goal with fine (laceweight or finer) spindling is to get 1/3 of the spindle's weight in fiber spun onto it. Why does she stop there? Consider that the heavier the spindle gets, the more "drop" you get in your drop spindle. The added weight may help with momentum on the drop or supported spindles, but with drop spindles it may also add to the droppiness ... reducing the enjoyment of the process for sure!

Now, you can limit the droppiness by using inchworm, or short-draw, spindling -- that way your spindle will not have the opportunity to pull fiber out of your hands, if the only pull is on yarn or less than a staple length (individual fiber length) of fiber. This also means things like silk are a bit easier -- the longer staple length lets you keep your hands a more "natural" distance apart. Short draw with silk is more like four-inch-worm than inchworm.

With thicker spindling, you are adding weight to the spindle fairly quickly. So, I'll choose to start with a spindle a little lighter than is comfortable (1.5 ounces, say, instead of the 1.8 ounces I find easier for spinning worsted weight) and know I'll be restarting it more often initially, until I have that first .3 ounces added onto it in fiber. After that, it keeps going well. I've found my thicker spinning will keep going and going until the spindle is approaching 3 ounces in weight -- which can help explain the 3 ounce "boat anchors" that were used in the past to teach new spindles. Yes, you can spin on a three ounce spindle. It just feels heavy! And, at 3 ounces, it really pulls, even against thick yarn -- so once again, you're using shortdraw and paying attention to staple length, to stop the spindle from dropping.

As for me, I usually plan to pack about 1 ounce of fiber onto a spindle. For me, that's "full enough". Here is my 0.9 ounce Turkish, with a 0.9 ounce singles yarn cake that just came off it -- the spindle was definitely approaching the "drop" zone, and inchworm was definitely in use as the spindle filled.

Then comes the plying -- for that, I take two spindles full and ply them together, so my plying spindles get 2 ounces packed onto them. Pretty darn full! I know you've seen this picture before, but it's really the best one -- here are the two skeins of sock yarn side by side. First sock-full, 1.8 ounces. Second sock-full, 2.4 ounces! It's a much fuller spindle, no?


Now, that's me, and my full spindle stories. I've seen some lovely full spindles on Criminy Jickets blog here and on Flickr here, here, here, here, and (my favorite)here. (And I'm sure there's more! See SpindleShots for a great collection of spindle photos!) I'd say that the fuller spindles use as much of the shaft as they can and still have room to flick the spindle, and have very lovely, even-looking cops. That evenness is important -- the main deterrant besides droppage is a bad case of the wobbles. The more wobbling you can tolerate, the longer you can keep piling on the yarn. However, wobbling eats up some of the twirl energy, so it's also less efficient. With practice and an eye for balance, wind your cop to keep it looking smooth and balanced. Have a shape in mind -- conical, football, beehive, and aim for that final shape of cop. Over time, you will find your cops being more balanced and your spindles holding more yarn.

Happy spindling!

~~~

For related topics, see:
How can I get more yarn on my spindle?
What is your favorite spindle weight?
When is the spindle full?
How much fiber do I spin to get 200 yards?

Collection of all of Ask The Bellwether's spindle posts.

~~~~

Do you have a full spindle story? I'd love to hear it! Please post it in the comments on the blog or with a picture in the SpindleShots group on Flickr.

How can I get more on my spindle?

By Amelia © March 2, 2026; originally written October 9, 2012

Preface (in 2026): I have been blogging again, did you notice? and in reviewing the blog's back stage I found many unpublished drafts. This is one. It is a topic I have written about on the blog over the years, but this gives yet another view on the topic. And now on to the Amelia of 2012...

Getting more yarn on your spindle requires great skill. Luckily, it is a skill we all possess: recognize natural beauty. A balanced spindle-full of yarn looks nice. It's naturally appealing in its tidiness, order, and symmetry.

Okay, I hear some of you groaning. You didn't like to tidy your room, and you still don't like housecleaning. But this isn't that. It's winding yarn on the spindle, which is a celebration. Each time you wind on, you have created a new length of yarn.

For the past year, I have lived with wood stove heat. I like being warm, so I chop wood. I have a choice I can make -- I can throw the wood in an untidy pile that falls and expands when new wood hits it,or I can stack the wood in an organized wall that leans on itself and stays put. The organized pile looks better. Beauty of the woodpile translates to compactness, keeping more wood dry, and giving easy access to wood. With summer arriving July 5th here, we've worked through several cords of alder this spring, all chopped by me. I feel quite accomplished, taking my messy piles and putting them neatly inthe woodpile for use in keeping my family warm.

Similarly, as I work through a spinning project like the merino/yak/silk blend I spun up at Black Sheep Gathering, I feel quite accomplished as I get 1 ounce, 1.5 ounces, and then the full 2 ounces on my top-whorl spindle with no appreciable wobble.

How far can you take this? The most I've put on a spindle is 4 ounces of singles (picture in this post) and 4 ounces of plied yarn. I've seen flickr entries with 7 ounces of singles on a spindle, and Andean womens' spindles seem quite a bit fuller than my 4-ouncers.

Practical advice to achieve beauty in your spindle-full:

Wind on tightly, maintaining tension between the newly formed yarn andthe yarn already on the spindle shaft. If you wind on in a closely arranged series of rounds on the shaft, every once in a while switch over to an X-wind on to hold down the rounds and keep the rows from collapsing into each other. You can look for artistry in your cop like the Turkish spindle windings that appear on flickr, or you can strive for a balanced shape and surface of the yarn on the spindle without laying bands of color on the spindle shaft.

I like to put 2 ounces on spindles as singles, and then ply two of them together into a 4-ounce spindle-full. If I'm spinning thinner, I mayput less on the spindle. Consider the final spindle weight. I spin fine yarn on a 1/2-ounce spindle, and I don't want it to get much over an ounce in total weight, so I only put 1/2 ounce on it. I spin thicker yarns (DK singles and thicker) on a 1.5-ounce spindle; after there's an ounce on it, it's 2.5 ounces, which starts to feel heavy. At 3.5 ounces it's heavy enough that I'm done, even if the spindle isn't wobbling.

You may be able to tolerate a heavier spindle - or you may want to stop at a lighter final weight. It's a matter of preference, part ofyour spinning personality.

Plying goes so quickly that I don't mind doubling two 2-ounce spindle-fulls of singles and piling on 4 ounces of plied yarn. It's satisfying to see how closely I can match the length of each half of the fiber, a bit like trying to see how few blows it takes to chop around into burnable logs for my woodstove. And it's really satisfyingto see that huge cop of yarn on the spindle!

(returning to 2026...) I have to say, all of this rings true, except I'm no longer chopping wood for a woodstove. It was a really good workout!

For more on this topic, and pictures describing much of what was described above related to spindle wind-ons, see these posts:

• How much yarn can I spin on my spindle?
• When is the spindle full?
• How do you get 4 oz. of fiber onto one spindle?
• How much yarn can you wind onto a Turkish spindle?

~~~~
© March 2, 2026 by Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.com/blog

How do you make a Turkish Spindle?

By Amelia © September 1, 2013

For several years I have been toying with the idea of manufacturing inexpensive Turkish spindles. Something like my Bellwether spindle, an excellent spinner at a very reasonable price. My recent post showed the current prototype, and a commenter asked how it was made. 

The most recent type I've been playing with is not unique to me. In fact, it is so easy, you may be able to make one with parts on hand. Especially teachers -- and Turkish spindles are a fun tool to teach with.

The first maker posted on ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/wannabee-spinners/1705584/501-525#503

The second was a German blogger: http://www.fiberspace.de/2012/07/tutorial-how-to-make-a-turkish-spindle/

You know me, with several hundreds of spindles having gone through my hands, I want to make one that spins well. My standing collection now is probably a smidge under a hundred ... only the best or oddest remain.

Partly, it's about spindle weight. Made from No. 2 pencils, this spindle is too heavy, over 2 ounces. Made from 1/4 dowel, it is a little light at 19 grams. Great for fine spinning, but I like spindles that are an ounce or close-to.

Partly, it's about dynamics. Rim weighting -- at the ends of the arms -- is almost mandatory when shaft and arm materials are the same. I spent some fruitless time searching for 1/4 purpleheart dowel. Doesn't exist. Please, correct me if I'm wrong, but two good woodworkers and tons of google-fu failed to turn any up. I ordered every wood of 1/4 dowel there was. All of it tested out within a few grams.

Also, it's about balance. I tried chopsticks, but those I could find were warped and frustrating. Wood was too light, plastic was too heavy.

So, directions:

Tools: hacksaw (a chopsaw will do fine too if you are tool-endowed); a pencil sharpener; sandpaper; woodcarving tools (a dremel if you like) (optional).

Parts: 3-foot length of 1/4" dowel, small rubber bands or hair bands, 2 1/4" inner diameter nuts, superglue

Cut the dowel into 5 pieces: cut off a 10.5" length for the shaft, then cut the remaining length into 4 equal lengths (they will be about 6.5" long) for the arms.

Did I play with lengths? Yes. I started with a shorter shaft, but didn't really like it. I actually like the arms a little longer, but was willing to take off a 1/2" so that you could have one spindle from the standard three foot dowel length at the hardware store.

On one end of two of the shorter lengths, glue a nut. I've looked for more aesthetic items to glue on or attach but so far nothing has popped up that can be purchased for a reasonable amount. That pops the weight just over an ounce. If you glued nuts on all the shafts, you'd have a heavier spindle. I tried nut-caps, which are cuter, but they are quite a bit heavier.

Sharpen the bottom end of the shaft to a point with the pencil sharpener, and sand the top end round. You might want to carve out and sand a narrow neck just below the top as well, for better finger-flick time.

To assemble the spindle, use the rubber bands at the ends of the arm pieces. Band together the two with nuts, putting a nut at each end. Band together the two without nuts. Push the shaft between the pair of banded dowels, then push on the other pair. Set the two arm-pieces to be perpendicular to each other, to make an X. I place the arms about 2/3 down the length of the shaft.

Now you're ready to spin :-) my book Productive Spindling has directions on using Turkish Spindles, as do Abby Franquemont's Respect the Spindle, Wanda Jenkin's Learn to Spin on Turkish Spindles, Connie Delaney's Spindle Spinning, and others. I've posted a youTube of winding on a Turkish spindle here: http://youtu.be/1qroj1Ml9Y8 and there are many YouTube videos of Turkish Spindling.

Teachers ... No need to break out the hacksaws. Although No. 2 pencils are too heavy, colored pencils are "just right" and colorful to boot. I saw a 72 pack of colored pencils at had my head swimming with the possibilities! Here is a simple colored pencil version of this spindle your students could assemble and spin:

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©September 1, 2013 by Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.com/blog

How can I get more yarn on my spindle?

To maximize the yarn you can get onto your spindle, I recommend trying an X wind-on (ispindle.com has a writeup on this) -- they let me get more onto my top whorl spindles. Also, if the spindle's misbehaving, letting the yarn slip through the hook, I'll wind down to the bottom of the cop on the spindle, twist tightly around the shaft once or twice, and then come up to the top again (on a top whorl spindle, that is), to keep putting more fiber on the spindle.

Another thing to try is to put a half hitch on the spindle hook -- with a really full spindle, this lets me crowd a bunch more wool on. I know it's really full when I have to start putting two half hitches on the hook ;-)

All that said, a Turkish spindle probably takes the most yarn -- I can just keep winding larger and larger balls on my turkish spindle without it complaining. I barber pole up the shaft, half-hitch at the top, and spin again.

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Click for a list of all spindle posts on Ask The Bellwether. A few favorites:
How do you spin on a notchless spindle?
How do you wind on a Turkish spindle?
What is your favorite spindle weight?

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Questions? Comments? Post them on the blog or contact me. Thanks!

How can I combine two full spindles?

By Amelia © October 2, 2013 

One thing spindle spinners focus on is how much yarn they can get on their spindles. I've talked about this before more than once.

Another way to get more yarn is to combine two full spindles of singles. You can do this for singles-that-will-remain-singles and also for singles that you plan to ply.

First, plan your approach. Do you have two spindles? If you have only one, can you easily remove the cop of yarn you've spun onto it, or do you need to unwind the yarn from the spindle to remove it?

Step 1: Fill a spindle. When you have put all the singles on it that you plan to, leave a fluffed out end that is as long as the fiber' staple length as if you were going to join. Fold the last 8 inches of yarn back on itself to self-ply so you don't lose twist, and set it down. See photo above.

If you are going to have to empty the spindle by unwinding, wind it off into a center-pull ball with the tuft of loose fiber at the center. 

Step 2: Repeat step 1. If you removed the yarn the first time, do not remove the yarn from the spindle this time.

Step 3: Open up the tuft at the end of the second spindle-full into a V. Draft out the fluffy end from the first spindle-full a little and put it inside the V. You may feel like this needs an extra hand or two, as you will have to stop the active twist from both cops of yarn from getting into the join while you form it. Now, draft the fluffs together until they are the right size to let twist in. Give the (second) spindle a twirl to add more twist so that the joined fibers have the same amount of twist as the rest of the yarn. 

Now, you have joined the two spindle-fulls together.

At this point, you most likely will need to wind the first spindle-full on top of the second spindle's cop, so there is one big ball, to find the inside end of the first spindle-full to wind the skein from. That is, unless you used a Turkish spindle ... Then you might be able to find the inside end of the first cop and can start winding the skein from there, working through the first cop, past the joining of the two cops, and then continuing on to the second cop.

If you want to join several spindle-fulls together, leave fluffed out or extra fiber at both the start and end of each spindle-full, so you can keep adding on. I find this easiest with Turkish spindle yarn turtles, and could see spinning them together into a chain of turtles to make a spindle-spun skein heavier than I could ever have spun on the spindle.

This was done to prepare the "spindle spun singles" entry for the county fair, it's now a pleasingly plump skein of singles that was much more fun to spin as two yarn turtles than one extra-heavy spindle-full. That's the fourth entry done now :-)

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© October 2, 2013 by Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.com/blog