DIY Drop spindle

Wanna learn how to spin? Get yourself some carded roving wool and then... the first tool in learning how to spin is to work on a drop spindle. This will get one familiar with the process of drafting the carded wool and working an even twist into the wool to form the yarn.

 Again with my stubbornness, when I first started spinning, I made my own. This is a design for a top whorl spindle. Here is what you need:
-a small ceiling hook (is that what they are called? Well- one of those hooks with a screw end)
-2 CD's you don't listen to anymore (I used Shania Twain and Now 1...) 
-a dowel closest to the size of the hole in the cd cut at roughly 13.576 inches (or somewhere around there)
-duct tape

Steps:
1. Torque the screw top of the hook so it curves out instead of being a flat hook
2. screw the ceiling hook into the top of the dowel














3. Place the CD's back to back and slide onto dowel, leaving about 4 inches on the shorter side
4. Secure CD's on dowel with duct tape (this could take some messing around)
















5. Now nick into the CD's (you could do this before secured or now, at the end) with a knife or CD. It probs won't be pretty but this is for functionality, not beauty. Underneath the CD will be where the finished yarn goes, trailing up through the nick, around the hook, and into your drafting hands as you twirl the spindle on your thigh.

Now you are ready to use the drop spindle! It is difficult to explain in words but here is a good youtube video for it! 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gXTWgMeMgI

Drop spindling is a significantly slower spinning process than using a wheel but great for the beginning spinner to get comfortable with the wool process.