Hi. Last year I learned that sisal twine is made from a kind of yucca plant and when I looked up how to make twine I discovered the world of handspun yarn. Forgetting all about the sisal, I bought a drop spindle and some combed wool top and found a new passion.
Once I learned the basic skill I started to notice how expensive all the other yarn-related equipment can be. So I learned how to make my own drop spindles. All that is needed is a disc, a rod, and a hook. Wooden dowels about a foot long and a half-inch or less thick are good but obviously anything you can find that is the same shape will do. Old curtain rods, for example. I am still using the wooden dowels I bought but I did make a disk from melted #2 plastic. A one gallon
milk jug provided
enough to make a 3 1/2 inch disk and I drilled the hole to push the dowel through. It did not work well because it was lumpy and unbalanced, but that can be corrected in one of two ways: the circumference can be sanded to a more prefect circle or the plastic can be remelted and pressed into a mold. I plan to do the second method when I find a nice metal jar cap that is the right size to make a mold.
The next bit of equipment that can be very expensive is the "Lazy Kate" which is a
wood frame that holds several spools of spun fibers so that you can make a two or three ply yarn. The spools have to be held in such a way that they hold the fibers in tension so that they don't tangle on their way to the plying spindle.
I solved that with 3 large plastic soda bottles and heavy metal nuts.
1. Cut a large hole n the side of each bottle so that you can fit a ball of spun fiber (wool roving) in.
2. Fasten the three bottles together with the holes facing outwards. You can use tacks or brass brads to do this. For added stability, I poured clear glue into the joined sides and tied the three bottles together with a cord around the outside.
If you just put the balls of fiber into the bottles and run the strands up through the necks of the bottles, they will probably be too lightweight to avoid tangling. I solved this problem by running each strand through two heavy nuts (as in "nuts and bolts") before pulling the strands up through the bottle necks.
At this point it is a perfectly functioning "Lazy Kate". I will upload a picture. It can be made into a more beautiful piece of equipment by embellishing the bottles and attaching them to some kind of base, perhaps one made from melted #2 plastics. I bought the nuts at a hardware store but any kind of clean smooth weight with a hole in it will do. This also might possibly be made from household plastics that are safe to melt and mold.
If you are skilled at cutting holes in glass bottles, they also could be used for this
project.
*Editted for spellbot typos
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