I’ve been meaning to post about this for a while, but what with the new job I have less time in the evenings to take photos. Plus, the light isn’t very good except during the very middle of the day. This is about the New Hampshire Sheep and Wool festival I went to Mother’s Day weekend, and I thought I’d show you some of what I got. My main goal was to focus on spindles, and I think I did a pretty good job meeting that goal…

This first one is actually the last one I picked up before leaving the festival. It’s made by Tom Forrester out of gonicalo alves(?) and wild cherry wood and is as I would expect quite a good spinner. He makes a lot of really cool spindles with some really unique double whorls. This one is fairly simple but I like it.

It’s quite a light spindle at 0.84oz, but that seems to be how I like them nowadays.

The next one is made by Jonathan Bosworth out of tulipwood at .84oz as well. He makes all his spindles in the same whorl style, but uses all kinds of different woods and has a couple of sizes that change the weight of the spindles. They’re all beautiful in their simplicity and the finish adds a nice shine.

I have one very small problem with this spindle, and that’s the shape of the hook. Only the most picky spindler would notice, and with the way this spindle likes to spin it generally wouldn’t be a problem. The hook is shaped in such a way that the part where the yarn leaves the hook is flat, so there isn’t as much guidance for the yarn to stay in line with the shaft. It comes out just slightly crooked which tends to eat up some of the spin. Give it a good thigh spin though, and I generally don’t notice the difference.

The last spindle I got (which was actually the second I bought) has already become one of my favorites. It’s made by the Spindlewood Co. which have some really great looking spindles. I had offhandedly decided some day to try one out at the recommendation of someone in the Ravelry Spindlers group who raved about their square whorl spindle. It seemed like kind of a cool idea, but I picked this one up because as soon as I tried it I knew there was just something about it.

It’s a purpleheart shaft and the whorl base is purpleheart, with yellowheart accents. I have no clue how much it weighs because the tag where I bought it was missing, but it’s fairly light. This thing just spins, and spins, and spins like it was made for it. I love the turned detailing on the bottom of the shaft, and the hook is just per-fect. I’ve got some nice romeldale(?) wool spinning up on it that I think I will eventually 3-ply.

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