It occurred to me that I had forgotten to post about my new spindle arrivals from Gripping Yarn. Looking at the dates on the photos it seems these arrived a whole month ago. Oops.
I chatted to Lisa a little while ago about whether or not she’d be happy to investigate doing some Orenburg-style spindles in her own signature style. Orenburg spindles are from a particular region of Russia and are used to spin traditional gossamer yarns used in their beautiful shawls. The key feature of them is that they are very very light – much lighter than the usual Russian-style spindles we see produced in general.
I was after 2 super light spindles for spinning singles – and then a third, longer, slightly heavier spindle for plying. I also succumbed to the desire to buy a Phang – a Tibetan/Himalayan spindle of a very specific shape.
And this is what arrived (ignore the weirdness on the tip on the second one from the left – I dropped it on the floor and hurt it, but it has since sanded out beautifully!):
To get a feel for how differently the Orenburg-style spindles are shaped, check out this comparison with a normal Russian:
You can see that the two on the left are thinner, with a longer, skinner neck and a smaller dart point. This has the effect of quite massively reducing the overall weight, making them super zippy.
So here’s the close-ups.
These are the spindles for spinning the singles. They’re made from Cherry and weigh 14g and 15g.
Next up is the plying spindle. It’s made from Bloodwood and weighs 28g.
Finally here’s my Phang – made from Bubinga and weighs a chunky 42g.
And finally a family shot:
From L-R we have the Bubinga Phang, the Orenburg Russians, Birds Eye Maple Russian, Cherry Rose and Black Palm Rose.
Really enjoying using some of these during the Tour de Fleece!
Oh, those look so amazing! I think I might have to try emailing Lisa again. I sent her one a long while back and have yet to hear back. I really want to try to get on the support spindle bandwagon, they look so gorgeous all the time!