Oh yes, the spindle...

I lurves my Turkish spindle. And I think it lurves me back.

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So, after I talked to another Jenkin's owner, did some spinning, did some reading on Ravelry, and did some more spinning, I am well pleased. I can spin the weight I wanted - which makes for some yummy singles, or a sturdier plied yarn, and the spindle takes one of the steps out of the process.

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How? The spindle, my friends, is a transformer.

That ball of yarn has not been re-wound; that's how it came off the spindle. (The elephant? He's on holiday.)
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First, the center part comes out. I think of it as a chopstick, and a couple quick minutes of research have yielded no proper nomenclature. So yes, first, you pull out the chopstick.

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Then you pull out one of the legs. (As this spindle has them pointed down, I think leg. I've heard arm used as well.)

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Then you pull out the last arm. And you have a lovely ball of yarn.

(Isn't it pretty? An 80/20 wool/silk blend. This was the color at the center of the ball of rovings - and not why I bought that roving at all - so I decided to play with that portion of it. Pretty nice, as Am says.)

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I am so incredibly pleased with this spindle, & with the yarn that I've spun up so far. I think I'm going to get another lighter one, so I can spin finer as well. I'm not sure if my taste in yarns has changed since I learned to spin, or if I just want to stretch my fiber further, quite literally. At any rate, don't be surprised if another spindle joins the collection. (Let's not even talk about wheels, okay? I can sneak a spindle into my budget, but not a wheel.)

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And this is a niddy-noddy.

This is about what they're used for - winding skeins, and setting the twist into yarn. That's the grey wool that I spun & plied - 153g of "Annie Dobson", a grey Romney ewe that belongs to Val. I suspect it will end up as part of mittens. It is pleasingly yarn looking - as compared to some of my very wobbly earlier attempts. (Wobbly yarn is okay - but only if that's what you're going for. I wasn't.)

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Another thing I'm pleased with - I finished the Cherry-Stem Hat. Now, not only am I pleased it's finished, I'm pleased with the finished product too.

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And so, like any sensible person who just had a project drive them nuts & question their basic abilities, I cast on another one. I'll have more pics of hats, but dudes, I'm in my pj's with no bra & no make-up & I am loathe to admit how sparse my eyebrows are these days. So you'll just have to wait!