# Indian Head spinner and shawl



## InHisName (Jan 26, 2006)

Here is a pic of the Indian head spinner- it has a huge bobbin! From what I have learned, it is what the country spinners were modeled after. I did not get a good pic of the treadle base, which is metal, like an old sewing machine treadle. It will be great for large amounts of bulky singles, or plying art yarns. You stand up to spin, so a nice variation. 










The length of the bobbin is 12 inches. It will take a lot of wool to fill that bobbin! Made of walnut.... there were extra bobbins and lazy kates made for these, if you see any, please let me know. 
here are a couple more pics, in case you see hear of one and need to see how they function. They sold these as either a total wheel, with wood base and treadle- or just the head, and you attach, which was the case with mine.

























Here also is a shawl just blocking- the handspun shawlette from Rav- I love it- though next time will go with extended version. Nice use for interesting yarn. I did do the pearl through back loop wrong throughout- after the fact looked at you tube- so it made those stitches a little stiff because twisted wrong. Someday am going to figure out this camera for better close ups....









That shawl has a lot of mohair and pygora- our extension officed asked me to teach on goats at a small livestock workshop- so am going to take it to put in a plug for fiber arts... that and goat's milk soap!


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## Falls-Acre (May 13, 2009)

There's an Indian Head spinner available locally here. I wasn't sure how it would work out for a beginner spinner, so haven't really pursued it. Standing up to spin though, I don't know about that. Do you have to stand the whole time?

Beautiful shawl!


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## InHisName (Jan 26, 2006)

Thanks! 
I would check to see how it is mounted. This one is on a high base, which suits me fine, but you are right, it might not be a suitable 1st wheel. Maybe you could look at it and have the owner demonstrate? An Ashford trad or something like that is a great 1st all purpose yarn wheel, though- 
You can do fine yarns on this wheel, haven't really worked on that yet.


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## Pearl B (Sep 27, 2008)

Neat little spinner. I bet thats a piece of history there!

Nice pattern & colors on the shawl too


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Love your shawl IHN it is beautiful. I'd love to see a close up of the pattern if you have a chance. Do you have any full pictures of the Indian Head spinner?


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## InHisName (Jan 26, 2006)

Here is a link to the rav. pattern-
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/handspun-delight-shawlette
Will try another pic. When I compress the picture, I lose the detail, am trying to figure out the best way to post pics, without losing detail. I love working with handspun, as it is forgiving with my knitting errors....  
I think I have a couple of these shawls saved in my favorites rav patterns (which I shamelessly borrow from other people's favs!) - if you would like to check out other colorways.....


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Oh I like that  But I still would love to see a more close up of your shawl.


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## hercsmama (Jan 15, 2004)

The shawl is sweet, thanks for the link!
The spinner is really awesome as well, very cool.


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## InHisName (Jan 26, 2006)

here is a full view, marchwind, of the spinner, and an uncompressed photo of shawl- we'll see what we







get.... next time will try 75 percent compress...









yikes! The spinner is super fun, someone posted it for sale super inexpensive in our local library. Came with original order form....


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

That big spinner will make a wonderful device for plying!
Imagine how much yarn you could get on there.

I just learned recently that bobbin-lead single drive wheels are sometimes called 
"indian head tension" and seeing yours, now I know why!
My wheel Annie works on the same principle, only it is so much smaller. 
Very cool!


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## JDog1222 (Aug 19, 2010)

I'd REALLY like trying to make one of these spinning devices for plying! I bet I could do it.


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

I don't see why you'd have to stand. It looks like a treadle sewing machine base. You sit and have both feet on the pedal. Sitting or standing, you are looking at the side of the bobbin, not the oriface.


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## hercsmama (Jan 15, 2004)

Well now, I just learned something new. This whole post got me wondering who in the world came up with such a huge contraption for spinning. Interesting reading to be sure!
Thanks for making me take the time to get a bit more education than I thought I needed. I showed the artcle I found about Salish Spinning to my dh, who just happens to be half Native American, and he is so onboard with my learning to spin now it's nuts!:happy2:
You should see the size of the drop whorls (I think that's what they called them) they use! Holy Moly!:shocked:
http://salishweaving.com/gallery/img/spindle_whorls/spindle_whorl.jpg


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## InHisName (Jan 26, 2006)

Thanks for the link! Here is one I found that talks about them. We are here in the PNW, where apparently, these wheels originated from. I suppose you could sit, but I tried it, and the base is pretty high- so you'd have to have the right chair. I have only played with this to get the hang of it, have not yet done yarn on purpose. 
http://www.spinningdaily.com/forums/t/375.aspx


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## hercsmama (Jan 15, 2004)

Try this one! Very interesting.
http://www.joejack.com/cowichanindiansweaters.html

At the bottom is a picture of a woman using the spinner.


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## InHisName (Jan 26, 2006)

Thanks for that link! Favoriting it now.... love the local history. (well, just over the Cascades)
The girl is sitting at the wheel, BTW, look how high the wheel is to her- just an adjustment.


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## hercsmama (Jan 15, 2004)

We lived in Yelm, a thousand years ago.
I just love the whole history of fiber stuff, sorry if I get carried away.


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## InHisName (Jan 26, 2006)

I do to! Was reading a library book on weaving and the fantastic things they know about people because of the textiles they found in tombs, etc- wonder what they will say about us- something like we imported cheap stuff from China, I suppose. It really challenged me to change that- be a part of something bigger, as much as I can. 
Yelm- they have a great worm farm! Ordered red wrigglers and tried to do the worm farm thing in the basement one year- got disgusted with picking out the "football" eggs and through the whole thing into the compost, where they flourished with no help or feeding! Worms from Yelm- they were great!


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## hercsmama (Jan 15, 2004)

ound: Ok, that is too funny! We kinds thought it was a bit "wormy" when we were there!:hysterical:
No, it was nice, right next to the Nisqually(sp) Indian reservation. We actually wanted to move back a few years ago, but land has gone way out of control expensive up there.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

IHN thank you for the larger photo? I love that shawl, saved it in my Ravelry library. I also love the yarn you spun. Did you dye it yourself? Yiu said it was part mohair? Lovely!

As for Salish Indian sweaters, Paisilla Gibson-Roberts wrote a book about them, the history and how they were made, the yarn spun and everything. I own the book and designed a sweater and have it mostly knit but not finished. You can see pictures of it on my Ravelry page or go to my Flickr account and look. one day I will finish it. I made this out of two strands of Lopi, this was long before I started to spin. The sweater weighs a ton and could easily be. Warn in a sub-zero Minnesota winter.


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## InHisName (Jan 26, 2006)

Beautiful, Marchwind!
Went and favorited your sweater! Thanks for letting me know- hoping someday to master that...... 
I did dye my own yarn- so far have never spun with roving, only my hand processed wool. I do have my first box of our own wool from a local mill, from our super soft Jacob- thought we would give it a whirl! Even that mill processed wool is different from commercial roving- it is in batt form, with weed seeds and all , but beautiful. 
Love your collies! Did you see mine next to the 1st pic of the Indian Head spinner to the left? He is supposed to be out with the sheep, but would rather be a house dog....


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## Pitchy (Aug 25, 2011)

That`s nice, i was going to put one of those big heads on a sewing machine base myself but made spinning wheels instead.
I think using a sewing machine base is a great idea, very nice work also.


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