Handspinning Tools

When you are just starting out the handspinning tools you choose to buy is an important decision. Some tools are essential, some are just nice to have. How do you know which is which?

Read on and I will tell you! I have listed the tools in descending order of importance (in my opinion) from essential to nice to have.

A Spinning Wheel

Definitely an essential, unless you plan to do all of your spinning using a drop spindle.

My wheel is an Ashford Double Belt Traveller and apart from being reasonably portable (fits easily in the boot of my rather small car), it is particularly suitable for spinning fine yarn.

In my case, the fact that my wheel is suitable for the type of spinning I love and am rather good at, was just a happy accident.

I bought the first wheel that I found - not a course of action that I would recommend in hindsight!

Before you race out with your credit card, do a bit of research online to find the right kind of wheel for the type of spinning you want to do. Here are a couple of links to start your research off.

Ashford Spinning Wheels

Majacraft Spinning Wheels

Spare Bobbins

When you buy your wheel, I suggest that you also purchase a few extra bobbins.

In my opinion, you can never have too many! For each project you need at least four, two for singles and two to ply on.

Most wheels come with at least four, but I have found that I need more than that!

Niddy Noddy

Once you have successfully spun your singles and plied your yarn, you need some method of transferring the yarn into a skein.

While you can use a number of different methods (like a coat hanger stretched into a square), a wooden niddy noddy is relatively inexpensive and will save you a lot of time and frustration. One of the more useful and inexpensive handspinning tools you should add to your collection!

Wool Winder

Once you skein of wool has been washed and you are ready to start working on your garment, you will need to find some way of managing the wool as you work.

Although a wool winder is not strictly one of the traditional handspinning tools, it is one I use all the time!

I use my wool winder to wind my skeins into balls. My wool winder was one of the tools that was supplied with a knitting machine that I bought years ago, but you can purchase them separately from any store that sells knitting machines.

While not strictly necessary, a wool winder is a fast and reliable way to wind your wool into balls and is well worth investing in.

A Steel Dog Comb

Yup, that's right - I really do have a dog comb on the shopping list. Again, not strictly one of your more traditional handspinning tools and yif you wish you can buy a special comb from any store that supplied spinning wheels for hand combing your staples.

But an ordinary (steel) dog comb works just as well and you can buy them from your local supermarket for a few dollars.

Flick or Hand Carders

I don't actually own any flick or hand carders but I know a lot of spinners that swear by them.

As I tend to spin very fine fleeces (where a little goes a long way) I find that hand combing my staples is all I need to do.

But if you are planning to spin medium or thick wool fleeces, you will need either hand carders or a drum carder to prepare your wool for spinning.

A Drum Carder

I do own a drum carder, and have found it very useful at times. Of course a drum carder is much more expensive than flick or hand carders but much less labor intensive and kinder on your hands!

A Lazy Kate

I personally don't have a lazy kate as my wheel has its own in-built version of one at the front of the wheel.

However, this is not a feature of all of the wheels available.

If the wheel you select does not have an in-built lazy kate, you should seriously consider buying one as plying your wool will be extremely difficult without one!

A Drop Spindle

From my point of view a drop spindle is a curiosity. I never really had any intention to learn to spin on a drop spindle and jumped straight into using a wheel.

However, learning on a drop spindle does have some advantages. Using a drop spindle is a great way to fully demonstrate how and why spinning works. If you have the time an the inclination to experiment with spinning using a spindle, by all means add one of these handspinning tools to your shopping list.

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