Spinning On A Takli

I've been toting around a small basket lately, holding my Clemes cotton handcarders, a bag of solar, cochineal dyed, "silk/cotton fibre blend", a small metal box with a takli spindle tucked inside and a felt ball. I bought the fiber from the Canadian company, Treenway Silks. The fiber is 55% silk and 45% cotton, with the silk cut (by the company) to the same length as the cotton's short staple (about 1/2" to 3/4"). The top photo shows some of the fiber, after it was dyed and dried, pictured with a brass takli, an Indian-style supported spindle. My takli shown was actually made in Arizona and spins great.

I solar mordanted the silk/cotton top with Earthues products. The process I used involved three steps: 1) using the "scour" product Earthues sells; 2) using soda ash; 3) using alum acetate as mordant. For more on this I refer you to their website and Michele Wipplinger's booklet, "Natural Dye Instruction Booklet". This is the mordant process of choice for plant fibers and works great for bast fibers, rayon and Tencel, too. The silk is a protein fiber, that is also part of the blend I was dyeing, and I had to be careful not to use too much soda ash as it has a tendency to damage the silk's luster. By using this three-step process, I achieved vibrant color, rather than wishy-washy color. Of course I did have to use enough cochineal extract, also from Earthues, to dye the fiber "dark" (again, see Michele's "Natural Dye Instruction Booklet" for recipes).

Once dyed, I found the silk/cotton blend didn't want to spin too nicely from the end. What I did find was that it spun great once I carded it into punis - here we go with punis again....I refer you to the past posts, Making Punis and More on Punis (as if you didn't get enough...)

Remember that a takli is a supported spindle. This means that it's not generally used by spinning freely whilst hanging in mid-air, but rather is supported on your lap (jeans make this more comfortable), in a little bowl (a coconut half works great) or on a table, as it's being spun. The takli is a small spindle and suited for spinning fine yarns and works particularly great when spinning short-fibered, fine yarns.

To begin, I needed to spin a leader from the silk/cotton fiber. I could have put a separate leader on using something fine, like crochet cotton or even thread, but there's not much room to store yarn on a takli in the first place & I didn't want to take any of that room up with a separate leader - and so I began by spinning the silk/cotton immediately. The second from top photo shows how I caught some fibers from the end of a puni under the hook. Then, I twiddled the takli - the oh, so technical term for twirling the spindle by flicking between the thumb, pointer and middle fingers, as I drafted fiber slowly away from the hook's end, inserting twist and strength into the fiber, making it yarn (albeit fine yarn).

See the third photo from the top for the next step. Once I'd spun a length of yarn about 1 foot long, I carefully took the yarn off the hook (don't let go of the yarn!) - holding onto the end of yarn still attached to the puni with one hand and the end of yarn just removed from the hook with the other hand. Take the yarn just off the hook and put it up next to the shaft of the takli (I admit, a little spit helps), now set down on its side, just above the whorl (little, brass, circular disc). This is fiddly, but carefully roll the yarn onto the shaft, as firmly as you can, so it holds. Once the yarn is on the shaft securely, candy-cane the rest of the yarn up the shaft. I do like to candy-cane by turning the spindle clockwise - but it really doesn't matter, just as long as you remain consistent on which direction you turn the spindle to store the (singles) yarn.

The fifth photo from the top shows how I was taught to "collar" the yarn, just after candy-caning up the shaft, at the base of the hook. By collaring, or going around once or twice at this point, you keep the yarn on the shaft secure and free from undoing itself. After collaring, turn the shaft clockwise and catch the yarn under the hook, ready to spin some yarn. Be sure to leave a small length of yarn (about 1 1/2" to 2" or so) above the hook to make twiddling easier.

To spin, here's the steps:
1) Flick the takli between your thumb, pointer & middle fingers. It's a flicking motion where these fingers generally flick just a bit below the hook. See bottom photo for about where to flick.
2) See the photo that's 4th from the top for how the thumb and middle finger circles the takli immediately after flicking, so that the takli can spin freely, but is cradled in the crook of your middle finger as it's doing so.
3) Draft the fiber, making yarn with the twist you just put into the fiber from twiddling. Note that you need to hold the puni and draft at about a 45-ish degree angle off the hook (ie. not straight up from the hook and not at a 90 degree angle either). The bottom photo shows this angle correctly.

The rhythm is of takli spinning is: Flick and circle, draft. Flick and circle, draft.... the steps becoming fluid, melding into each other, as you practice.

Once you spin an arm's length or so, extra twist must be added to the yarn to make it stable (not pull apart). I often put in about 6 extra twiddles over the length of yarn. Then I tug gently at each end of the yarn to see if I feel slipping fibers. If I do, I add another twiddle or more of twist.

One helpful tip I can give is that a "roll back"- rolling the yarn in the opposite direction of the twist (usually done at the point of contact), works well if your fiber supply gets locked and you can't draft. When using a takli, you can roll back just above the hook, if needed, 'til the fibers start to slip again and proceed with your drafting and spinning.

When your arm's length of yarn has enough twist in it, bring the yarn out from under the hook and unwind the candy caned shaft until you are just above the whorl. Store the spun yarn in a cone shape (called a cop) above the whorl. Allow for enough yarn to candy cane back up the shaft, collar and go under the hook and spin some more!

Next post I'll show you what the felted ball I keep in my basket is for.