Day 11 - A sunshiny blend on a grey day, merino, sari silk, and Punta Arenas (which is a wool from Chile). I always like spinning with sari silk as it makes a tweedy yarn.
Today's spindle is one of my antique French spindles. Unlike their modern counterparts, the older ones often have only a hint of a spiral or groove at the tip, often worn down due to use and wear.
A glimpse, too, into Tiny Toast's lifestyle at the top of the stairs.
Day 12 - A wow of a wool: mix of Icelandic + Corriedale+ bamboo.
A funky wool (and I mean that -- this sample is very sheepy) deserves a funky spindle, so Tiny Toast is sharing her pillow with my Basque (Txoatile) spindle.
Day 13 - Paraskavedkatriaphiliacs in the house for Day 13 which fell on Friday the 13th this year. Tutti-fruiti wool blend of Corriedale, Tussah silk, and soybean.
Spun on an arrowhead French spindle which is actually a two-fer -- it's also got a spiral groove cut in the other end (which is how I prefer to use it, as I find spinning with the arrowhead on top awkward, although that's how I spin the sampler this evening). I have two other arrowheads, but they don't have that spiral groove in them.
Day 14 - An appropriate blend of calico colours for #caturday.
This blend is made from Eider (a German breed) +cashgora + Tussah silk in shades of natural brown, and darker brown and flashes of gold and plum-purple.
Tiny Toast, who needs to tidy her area at the top of the stairs, is posing here with a Spindolyn, as type of support spindle made by Cady May (Catherine Goodwin).
Day 15 - It's ten days before Christmas, but I'm already buying airfare for a trip in the spring.
Today's blend is superfine Merino that's both white and green + Perduncle silk, which is the shiny grey.
I have several Jenkins Turkish spindles. This one is the Weaverbird, made from spalted Madrone. It weighs a little over 2oz, so between the feathweight of the spindle and the superfine Merino, the result is a very fine yarn.
Day 16 - A mystery spindle, because it is one that I was given about 25 years ago now -- beautiful solid wood whorl with an ebony shaft. It's very long, almost 12inches/30 cm an works best as a supported spindle.
Christmassy colour mix in today's blend - a bit difficult to see in the low light, but it's wonderfully yuletide and subdued at the same time. It's a mix of Shetland, South American mulberry silk, viscose, Merino, and Tussah silk.
Apologies for the lack of Tiny Toast this evening, but she's at home looking after Mr Biggie who is poorly, and I'm in London for the week.
Day 17 - A brilliantly white and cream blend of Blue Face Leicester, milk fiber, and Eri silk (which is usually red or golden, and gives this blend a shimmer).
The spindle isn't that glamorous on the surface of it -- simple wooden spindle and a small clay whorl. But it's the spindle that I got on my first trip to @campus_galli_messkirch (and have used subsequently) -- a humble little tool, but one that is very important to me.
Rainy grey day today in Brighton -- and a session of spinning on the beach with Brighton Pier behind me. Not seen: how many times the wool and spindle was blown out of my hands. This is my absolutely favourite weather in Brighton, and I come here every December for a wander through the North Laine.
Day 18 - a cosy blend of Faroe Island, South American, and bio-nylon.
The spindle is a funny little piece I've had since the late 1990s. Unknown wood or maker, but it's one of a collection of spindles I acquired at a particular Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival -- Spin Off magazine had done a big issue on hand spindles and spinning on spindles, and as a consequence many of the vendors at Maryland that year had their own versions and takes on spindles.
This one is very small, maybe five inches long, and the whorl is fixed as part of the turned piece. I twiddle it the same way I would a Turkish spindle.
Day 19 - Rich colours on Day 19 - a blend of Merino, Shetland, and Blue-faced Leicester.
Another one of my old French spindles today, as I'm under the weather, and in the mood for something easy and comforting to work with.
Tiny Toast refuses to come out of her tote-bag, sulking because I've been away a few days.
Day 20 - not my best spinning today, as I've got something blah in my system.
Mr Biggie displays today's wool and spindle in his manger. The wool is a blend of Cormo, Lonk, and lotus fibre.
One of my friends out in the USA, gone from us now, had an early satellite flock of Cormo on the East Coast. Lonk is a British sheep from up in Lancashire/Yorkshire Pennines.
The spindle was made for me by @andrzejnaczynskiwoodturner.
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