Drop Spindle Kits

Deluxe Drop Spindle Kit

Our Deluxe Drop Spindle Kit includes the book  "Spin It" by Lee Raven, written specifically for beginning drop spindle spinners. This book covers spinning, plying, fiber selection, several projects and How-to make your own spindle out of a discarded CD. The Deluxe Drop Spindle Kit comes complete with a beginners top whorl spindle, two ounces of Corriedale wool roving, one ounce of hand dyed wool top for your spinning pleasure and the book "Spin It" . All for one low low price of $24.95. Makes a great gift too!

Learn to Spin Silk Kit

Silk... the stuff of dreams! Have you dreamed of silken yarns, their moonlight shimmer cool and fresh ? Well here is all you need to get started to spin luscious silk! Includes book Ruth MacGregor's book "Learn to Spin Silk on a Top Whorl Spindle", 2 ounces of shimmery Tussah Silk and light weight top whorl drop spindle! This book will teach you all about silk, how to spin and ply it and making a skein as well as troubleshooting. Learn how to spin exotic silk with this fun kit!

NEW! Lean to Spin Cotton Kit

This Learn to spin Cotton Kit includes everything you need to get started: a Tahkli support spindle, a variety of cotton, such as pima, natural colored cottons, ginned cotton and punis and easy to follow instructions. Makes a great gift too!

Basic Drop Spindle Kit

Beginners spindle and two ounces of roving for your spinning pleasure. FREE spinning instructions from Spin-Off magazine included. All for one low low price of $16.95. Makes a great gift too!

Remember: Drop Spindle Kits make great gifts!!

Drop Spindles

NEW! Ashford Drop Spindle Collection

Check out the Ashford Drop Spindle Collection. Nice Silver Beech wood drop spindle set complete with stand and five sizes of drop spindles ready for any fiber type. Drop Spindles range in weight from 2 3/4oz, 1 3/4oz, 1 1/4oz, 3/4oz and 1/2 oz. Makes a great gift for the spinner in your family.

Ashford Turkish Drop Spindle

Ashford brings you this Turkish drop spindle that allows you to wind a center pull yarn while you spin. Simply wind your yarn around the crossbars. Slip the bars out when you are done spinning and you have your ball already wound for you. The Ashford Turkish drop spindle is a bottom whorl unfinished spindle weighs about 1.5 ounces.

Small Drop Spindle

Extra Value Priced drop spindle! Spindle with great balance for fast and fine spinning. Weighs just under one ounce. Choose from top or bottom whorl. Unfinished Drop Spindle can be used as is or stained and painted in your favorite colors.

Medium Beginner's Drop Spindle

Extra Value Priced Drop Spindle! Basic medium rop spindle for beginning and advanced spinners. Choose from top or bottom whorl. Teach yourself or a friend how to spin with this nifty little tool. Unfinished Drop Spindle can be used as is or stained and painted in your favorite colors.

NEW! Schacht Hi-Lo Drop Spindles

Schacht's popular drop spindles just got better. The new Schacht Hi-Lo Spindles offer the best of both whorls: a brass hook at the top for high-whorl spinning and a grooved shaft for low-whorl spinning. Two sizes offer a broad spectrum of spinning capabilities: 3" (2.2 ounces), and 2" (1.1 ounces). Maple.

Louet Sheep Drop Spindle

Drop Spindle from Louet with fun sheep design is perfect for beginning spinners or for spinning medium yarns! Watch the sheep twirl and have fun. Choose from top whorl spindle or bottom whorl drop spindle.

Schacht Pear Tahkli

Supported spindle with a brass shaft and pear shaped maple wood whorl. For fine spinning.

Drop Spindles

Many spinners start out with a drop spindle, a bit of fiber and the willingness to learn how to spin. Others skip the drop spindle in favor of a spinning wheel, with which you can spin much faster…. but wait a minute? Spin faster?… Who needs speed anyways, hand spinning is all about creating, loving what you do, and having fun. Hand spinning is a creative outlet, allowing us to literally “spin our dreams” into thread. Create unique fiber blends, color combinations and yarn textures. You are the designer and the master of your own yarn. Only your fantasy and the sky is the limit. The yarn you spin is yours by design!

And what about the countless times you could not take your spinning wheel with you? It was too big, to heavy or just not worth it. Ever heard of any one bringing their spinning wheel to spin on the bus, at the doctor’s office or during meetings? Well, a drop spindle will let you recuperate this lost time, thus making up for speed.

  Drop spindles also connect us with the past, thus spinning with this simple tool will in effect continue the thread of time that binds us to our ancestors. Just think of the thousands of years in which hand spindles provide the only way to obtain clothing from fibers. This simple device created every bit of yarn from coarse linen thread for sails, so that ships could explore the oceans, to the finest silks for royal robes. Since spinning wheels did not appear until the middle age, the drop spindle was one of the most important tools on hand. Everyday clothing, table linens, tapestry and embroidery yarns, everything was spindle spun.

Spindles come in a wide array of designs, weights and sizes. Keep in mind the lighter a spindle the finer yarn you can spin, meaning a heavier spindle (3 to 4 ounces) is most suitable for thicker yarns. Here a just a few of the spindle types available:

Bottom whorl spindle, most popular of all spindles, can vary in weight and designs. Many beginners start with a relative heavy (2 ounces or more) bottom whorl spindle, but you can also learn easily on a top whorl.

Top whorl spindle, some spinners prefer these, since with a little bit of practice the top whorl spindle can spin a lot faster than a bottom whorl, thus putting more twist in your yarn.

Turkish spindle, also called cross arm spindle this tool will let you wind your yarn into a ball as you spin. Pull out the cross arms when you are done and presto! You have a center pull ball.

Navaho spindle, traditional used for Navaho spinning. This is a supported spindle suitable for relatively coarse yarns and fibers. Navaho spun yarns are spun twice. In the first stage the fiber is soft spun, meaning just a little twist is allowed to hold the fibers. In the second stage this fiber is re-spun resulting in the final yarn

Support spindle offers a bead or disk shaped whorls. Taklis are used for extreme fine fiber spinning such as silk and cotton. Often used with a spindle bowl.

Find out more about spindles in “A Handspindle Treasury” All you every wanted to know about drop spindles. A must for the serious spinner.

Or check out "Spin It" a beginners guide to drop spindle spinning! Includes basic "how to" overview of fiber preparation and several projects to enjoy!