The Making of a Simple Spindle

Notice the title of this post says, "the making of a simple spindle"...NOT, the SIMPLE making of a spindle. Because, you can run into problems making a simple spindle...that's all I'm going to say.

So, the lady who shared her knowledge of shearing with me also shared her knowledge of spinning. She spins her sheep's wool and makes super cute things with it. If I'm going to shear my sheep, then HECK, YEAH~ I wanna spin it, too!

It's actually incredibly easy in theory...you just need a dowel with a sharp point, a round disk, and a hook. See?  EASY!

But then you introduce my....er...capabilities to the equation and it becomes a bit more complicated.

I don't know how to use all those Dremel, jigsaw, etc, etc cutting tools (some day I DO plan to learn, though) so, I decided to go to Lowes and get one of those handy dandy things that you put on the end of your drill and it cuts a circle. How freaking cool is that???  It CUTS a circle out of wood using your drill. I love it!

I pick up my dowel, hook, and circle cutter thing and head home all in a flurry of excitement and relentless anticipation.

Look how beautifully the circle cutter fits on the drill. So exciting!  So, I found this big ole board (I only needed a very small circle...don't ask me why I needed such a large board.)  I even have safety glasses. Because, you know...safety first, loves.

Front view because I find it amazing that you can cut circles with a drill.


I begin cutting the circle and I'm all excited and then the dang drill battery dies. So, right in the middle of my euphoria, I have to stop and recharge the drill. The horror!!!  FINALLY, I get the cicle cut completely out, start to insert my dowel and dang if the hole isn't too small. BUT, all is not lost as I am most conveniently holding a drill!

 I insert the drill bit into the hole, and start drilling to enlarge the hole and OH.MY.GAH. my drill bit got stuck in the circle. REALLY??

I pulled. I tugged. I reverse drilled to back it out. I leaned it on the edge of the table and yanked. I slang worded it. I got one of my children to hold it while I pulled. It WOULD not come off. Ridiculous. Ab-so-lute-ly ridiculous. 

I tried everything. Finally, someone told me to stand on the wood and reverse drill and it worked and I wasn't stuck with a drilled bitted circle. :)

I inserted the dowel into the circle, put in the hook, and VOILA!  A bona fide, handmade spindle!  LOVE~~


Now, to sharpen the end, wash some wool, and get to spinning!