Friday 10 April 2009

Spinning with the Portugese Spindle

The method of spinning with these spindles is by twisting continuously the top and not ever let the spindle fall. When one is drafting the wool - some women prefer to have them in the apron pocket - we open it while the top metal end of the spindle sits in one´s palm hold by the fingers that are not sorting the wool. The other method is by using the distaff.

3 comments:

  1. I taught myself to spin Breton style with a distaff which is tucked into a belt and with a drop (bottom) spindle but I have never spun with a Portugese spindle - it looks very medieval to me.

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  2. Yes, it is very old. You would like to learn
    Portuguese spinning,as the woman in old days spun with a distaff in the tuched in the belt as well, and produced good and very fast resolts.

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  3. Wonderful photos! Thank you for sharing. It would be wonderful to have one of these spindles to try spinning with.

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