Turkish Spindles (How to Wind On)

Turkish Spindles (How To Wind On) Spindling is a real treat and with a Turkish spindle spindling becomes even more so. The treat lies in the fact that when finished you have a center-pull ball from your singles ready to ply as soon as you are done filling your spindle, making plying and ball windng a much simpler task. The whorl is a cross made of two curved pieces rather than a solid disk. One whorl piece is inserted into the slot in the other, then the shaft goes through the circular hole in each. On mine, which I bought from Ray Thompson, rather than a hook there is a slot and groove, through which I thread my leader, making this a great airport-safe spindle. I usually wind on in an X that goes between the bars -- holding the spindleup side down and with the whorl legs at the compass points North, South, East, West. (I have even marked my tips with the letters for each point of the compass.) I first wind on Southwest to Northeast, then Northwest to Southeast, then Northeast to Southwest, then Southeast to Northwest, repeating this each time I wind on. There will be a four pointed star made by your yarn once you have made a complete revolution. By always staying on the right side of the shaft on top and the left side of the shaft on the bottom for each winding, I get a balanced ball. I use a bright coloured leader yarn, tied to the whorl, so that when I pull the whorl arms out, the leader comes out with them. I am left with a perfectly useful ball of singles that will not easily tangle when it is time to ply. Recently I have made a Lizzy Kate (same as Lazy Kate only for spindles rather than spools) that has three upright dowels of the same diameter as the shaft of my turkish spindle. When I take the centre pull ball off my Turkish spindle I just drop it right down over the shaft of one of the dowels and presto... the ball is ready to use when I am ready to ply and won’t collapse or tangle while I continue to work on other balls. I can store up to three balls on each dowel thus allowing me to ply up to nine plys if I want. I have to be honest though, I have only plied four ply as my highest ply but who knows what the future has in store....