Spinner's Alphabet: What begins with E?

By Amelia © April 6, 2026

My HansenCrafts miniSpinner Pro, 3900
E
is for e-spinner. E-spinners have long existed, I remember when I was learning to spin in 2001, the Roberta Eortl was popular as a plying tool. In fact, the early e-spinners seemed to mostly be focused on making plying take minimal time. However, they were not all that friendly for spinning in groups as they were pretty loud. I made a hunt in the early 2000's for a quiet e-spinner and came across the Womack Butterfly. It was both gorgeous and quiet - yay! Then HansenCrafts showed up on the scene and since then e-spinners have really taken off. Theirs was whisper-quiet, light, and very portable with the addition of a small battery pack.

Learning to use an e-spinner for spinning is different from a wheel or spindle. So if you already spin but want to start on an e-spinner, don't be surprised that there is still a learning curve. The key difference is that an e-spinner twists at a constant speed, while you can vary the speed of your wheel or spindle almost without thinking of it.

There is now a rich variety of e-spinners; I'm a huge HansenCrafts fan - not only because I teach Zoom workshops through them, but also because the wood is lovely. See 3900? yeah. Amazing. (3900 is its serial number, printed on the underside.) That said, the 3-d printed or plastic molded ones have their place. The Electric Eel Wheels are affordable and you can 3-d print extra bobbins. The Daedalus line has a huge following. Ashford already had an e-spinner but redesigned theirs to fit in this new landscape; Louet now offers the Jenn-E e-spinner. And there are others out there... but please, avoid the cheap knock-offs on Amazon. If it's a no-name e-spinner likely it's not going to have good manners.

The same advice I offer wheel spinners I offer you: look for a second-hand one; the mark-down is not as significant as it can be with wheels, but you may save a little and should also be able to re-sell it if it turns out not to be your dream e-spinner. I have mine with HansenCrafts #3900 that's for sure!

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I'll leave you with two questions...

  1. Do you have an e-spinner? Which one and what do you think of it (be kind!)?
  2. What's your spinner's E?

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© April 6, 2026 by Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.com/

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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousMay 11, 2026, 11:23:00 AM

    Oh my gosh, you still have your blog! I feel like every fiber artist I followed back in the mid 2000’s is no longer blogging, or they’ve moved to a platform I don’t wish to engage with.

    I have an electric eel. I like it a lot. I’ve had my share of wheels, and I would end up selling them because I feel like I’m not a wheel person. Like I shouldn’t have such a beautifully crafted thing in my cluttered house where it will probably get dinged up or whatever. So, I have lots of spindles and the EEW. The only thing I don’t like is that when using it, especially for plying, I can’t really get into a zone, b/c I have to keep stopping to move the yarn guides in order to fill the bobbin evenly. Other than that it’s quiet, it’s cute, and it’s inexpensive!

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