Spinning on a drop spindle is fun and easy. These spindles are also a good “gateway” tool as they can easily be made at home, giving the beginner the option of learning to spin without spending a lot of money on equipment. For the more advanced spinner, the high degree of portability offered by these tools makes it possible to spin just about any place at any time.

A beginning spinner needs only a small amount of equipment, all easily and inexpensively available to start learning to spin: A spindle, or the parts to make one; a bit of clean fleece or processed roving or top; a way to process the fleece if it's not already processed; and, perhaps a distaff of some sort.

There are two main types of drop spindles, top whorl and bottom whorl. On top whorl spindles, the whorl is mounted at the top of the shaft while the bottom whorl has the whorl located near the bottom of the shaft. My personal preference is the top whorl as I find it easier to use for spinning with the “park & draft” method which is good for spinning in more confined spaces, such as while riding in the car and because it's easier to roll on my leg for speed when space is not a problem.

To make a small drop spindle you will need:
1.A wooden toy wheel about 2” (5 cm) in diameter.
2.A wooden dowel about 3/16” (8 cm) in diameter and 6 to 7inches (15 – 18 cm) long.
3.A small cup hook.
4.Some wood glue
5.A bit of fine sandpaper.
6.A small hand saw.
7.A drill may also be needed.

If need be, use the drill to enlarge the hole in the center of the wheel so the dowel will fit through it. This should be a tight fit. Once the hole is the correct size for a tight fit, put a bit of glue on the end of the dowel, gluing the dowel in place. Position the dowel so it is even with the surface of the wheel. Allow the glue to dry. Saw a small notch into the rim of the wheel. Sand your spindle lightly making sure everything is nice and smooth. Mark the center of the dowel and screw in the cup hook. Note: If you wish to paint your spindle, mark the location for the cup hook with a small hole before painting. Or insert a hook but remove it after painting and replace it with a new one so there will not be paint on the hook.

While your spindle is drying, prepare a supply of fibers for spinning. For the purpose of this article, we will assume that you have some washed but not processed wool fibers. These fibers may be either carded or combed. The most inexpensive way to process them is to simply comb them with a metal pet comb. Grasp one end of a lock of fibers and comb it just as you would comb hair. Then turn the lock around and comb the other end. Once the lock is combed, it can be predrafted by slowly stretching it out a bit. Several combed locks may be combined and stretched into a longer piece for spinning. To card, the most inexpensive way is to use two slicker brushes, made for grooming dogs, in the same manner as regular hand cards. Roll the carded wool into rolags and attenuate (stretch) them out for spinning.

To prepare the spindle for spinning, make a leader. Tie a piece of scrap yarn about a yard (meter) long around the shaft of the spindle, wrapping around twice and tying a nice, tight knot. While this is quite long for a leader, it gives you a chance to get your spindle going nicely before starting to spin your prepared fibers. Once the leader is tied, bring it up through the notch and around the hook. Put some twist into the leader by spinning the spindle being sure to spin it in the direction in which you want to spin your yarn. For Z twist, spin it so it turns in a clockwise direction, for S twist, spin it in a counter clockwise direction (see note below). Once there is sufficient twist, wind it onto the shaft of the spindle. Note: The knot on the shaft will most likely want to slip. Simply hold it in place for the first few wraps around the shaft and it will hold.

Note: On spindles, rolling the spindle up the right leg is Z twist; rolling it down the right leg gives S twist. If you are rolling on your left leg, then down the leg gives Z twist, while rolling up the left leg gives S twist.

Spinning: The park & draft method. These instructions assume holding the spindle in the right hand and drafting with the left hand.

Stretch out the end of the prepared fiber supply and, with your left hand, hold the fibers and the end of the leader together. Grasp the area closest to the spindle when the fibers begin to over lap with your left hand. Now, with your right hand, start the spindle spinning and just let the twist build up a bit. Stop the spindle and park it between your knees. Now move your right hand up to the position of the left hand and let a small amount of the twist into the area of the join. Draft more fibers with your left hand while letting a little bit more twist in. Once you can see that the built up twist has distributed over the newly drafted fibers, wind the yarn onto the spindle shaft, clamp down with the left hand again, and give the spindle another spin, repeating as above.

While park & draft is fairly slow, it will not be long before you have the feel of the spindle and will be ready to start rolling it on your leg.