Many of us are on the go during the summer and fall months, and your drop spindle is the perfect companion. A spinner can be seen pulling a spindle out of their spinning bag at a baseball or football game, airport, beach, or even at a national park. We have lots of resources for spinners new to drop spindles and those who’ve had practice. Check these out so you’ll be ready to hit the road!
New to drop spindles?
Getting Started on a Drop Spindle, with Maggie Casey
This online workshop with Maggie Casey will get you started on the right foot. Maggie is known from coast to coast for gently ushering new spinners into the world.
Maggie demonstrating steps to drop spindle spinning. Photos by Joe Coca
A Handspindle Treasury: Spindle Spinning, from the editors of Spin Off
Originally published as a book, A Handspindle Treasury: Spindle Spinning is now available in the Spin Off Library. This is a great resource for learning spindling basics from a variety of instructors. A Handspindle Treasury includes an introduction by Pricilla Gibson-Roberts. You might also enjoy the second book in the series, A Handspindle Treasury: Spinning Around the World.
Advancing your drop-spindle skills?
Respect the Spindle, by Abby Franquemont
Abby Franquemont’s classic book is full of tips for improving productivity, fixing spindles, and traveling with spindles. There’s a video, too! Find it here.
Talking with their friends and minding their sales, three women in the village of Chinchero, Peru have spindles on hand all day long. Photo by Anne Merrow
Spinning in the Andes
Andean Spinning, with Nilda Callañaupa Alvarez and Linda Ligon
Make a cup of tea, sit down with your spindle, and listen to Nilda Callañaupa Alvarez and Long Thread founder Linda Ligon discuss spinning in the Andes. Nilda has been an important force behind the preservation of traditional textile craft in Peru. She shares how to use a pushka (Andean handspindle), how different fibers are prepared in her community, and more. I love this video so much, I wrote more about it here.
One of my favorite things about drop spindles? You can never have too many!
Kate Larson, editor of Spin Off, teaches handspinning around the country and spends as many hours as life allows in the barn with her beloved flock of Border Leicesters.
Originally published May 13, 2019; updated September 25, 2023.