There is much discussion out there in bloggerland about DIY fiber equipment. I thought I should corral a few of my favorite links here in a post.
Hackles:
Whimsyknit's $2 hackles
Yarn Knotzi's Hackle, made with nails
Krafti's Hair Pick Hackles
Niddy Noddy:
Dr. Dirt's fantastic $3 Niddy-Noddy--I should mention that the only thing i would add to this niddy noddy would be caps on the ends, but thats just me.
Spinning wheels:
Chris Jordan's collection of links to building your own. Some links are dead, most plans you have to pay for and require quite a bit of carpentry.
Interweave Press's Cigar Box Charkha
Interweave Press's Little Great Wheel
Spindles:
Interweave Press's CD spindle
Yarn Meter:
The Reluctant Blogger shows us how to make a yarn meter on the cheap! I've never seen it done before, Kudos RB! Hers cost $17, not $75!
Yarn Blocker
Spinning Forth
Dyeing:
Pippikneesocks explains how to dye your own roving or yarn using a DIY solar oven.
Drum Carder:
Spinning Forth
Diz:
The easiest Diz in the world can be made simply from a large button with rather large holes, a spice lid with large holes (think those cheapo $1.59 spices in the big jars), or even a soda can tab (yes I've seen this done. Its tricky because the wool catches, but in a pinch...). Of course you can always make your own crazy/cool one by casting a large button/spice lid, etc in polymer clay and adding all sorts of neat treatments to it (see The Glass Attic for just about any polymer clay technique known to man). Bottom line: just about anything with large enough holes will work. Experiment with different hole sizes and find out what works best for you.
Well thats all I have for now. Feel free to post in the comments section if you have your own tutorial, or know of one that I have missed. I would love to find a great tutorial on making your own orifice hook (hint hint)!
Enjoy!
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Make your own orifice hook -- take a paper clip and unbend the larger outside hook, rotate it 180 degrees basically so it's flat and "opposite" the smaller hook. Then straighten the smaller hook and recurl it to have a small curl at the end -- wa-la, a DIY orifice hook. Cost: pennies, free if you can find the paperclip.
ReplyDeleteSome more make your own spindles:
Make an Ahka
Make your own Support Spindle
Make your own toy wheel spindle -- including the fun saga of how it came to be! and a link in it on spindle turning on a lathe.