"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote in message
"Mary Fisher" wrote in message

It's the whorl which is weighed. Because we make them (that is, Spouse
makes them) for a wide variety of experience we do try to give the
spinner what s/he wants. One of our friends has Spouse make them without
any whorl, the spindle itself has a bulge (see pic link below) as well
as in a variety of usually polyphant whorls.

It looks like a spurtle, the Scot's porridge stirring stick. Which is
n't a criticism - it could be a multi purpose tool.

No, all the spurtles I've had and used have had a straight, thicker 'stem'
and a decoration of some king (*usually a thistle shape) at one end.

I have one just like your description, but I also had another that looked
quite similar to the spindle your husband made - it had a nondescript top
though - no thistle. In the end I used it as a dibber in the garden and
promptly lost the darned thing. Pity really as it worked well as a dibber.

Do you know where she gets the flax from? I can't get any in this
country and would like to try spinning some but need a source.

Have you Googled?

Yep. No luck for any local supplies and even the guild I belong to doesn't
seem to be able to buy any (or so they tell me anyway - prolly I am the only
one interested and they don't want to get stuck with a load of flax they
can't sell easily). Google seemed to "go off" about 2 years ago and for
some reason it seemed to fail to provide less useful hits.

It's not difficult to get here, I buy sliver by mail order
but for my wick I had a car full of tow samples given to me in Ireland.

Green with envy.

I was spinning at a party not long ago (I knew it'd be last for hours so
took my wheel). A very nice young man came up to me to chat and told me
about his friend who is 'the' world expert on Asian spinning whorls.
Sounded very interesting, but I did wonder how many years it had taken
her to become such an expert in such an arcane field.

I'd like to know who she is.

He did tell me but it was about 6 weeks ago and I'm notoriously bad with
names. I do remember that it was a female name, but beyond that I can't
recall. He was also not someone I know. It was a 'sort of' block party and
I've not even heard of the existence of the young chap before or the people
he came with.

At our silver wedding party - many years ago, a shepherd friend brought
his wheel and Spouse had his too, the sitting room was quiet with lots of
people watching and learning and practising. The dining room became louder
and louder according to the amount of champagne flowing.

Guess which room I was in!

I have a strong suspicion that you might have been in the dining room with
the wheel and the champagne glass.