JenniPMcGyver's Amazing Cotton Spindle

If it can be done, I'm going to figure out a way to do it.

If I'm told it can't be done, I'm going to figure out a way to do it.

If I'm told it's impossible and beyond the realm of plausibility, I will take it as a personal mission to figure out a way to do it.

Behold my latest figuring.

It all started with a cotton plant.

These sorry things show up in elementary schools about this time of year, as the classroom teachers incorporate 'real world' into their lessons. Today, as the unsightly, dead shrub is lying in the back of my co-worker's classroom, I decide all I can really do in this instance is waste some time and dig out some seeds for The Things. I set about my little personal mission, much to the somewhat bizarre amazement of the 5th graders in the classroom.

As I go about picking out the seeds my teacher friend, Ms. E, mentions to the class that I have the ability to spin the cotton into yarn. Okay, this is true in theory, but 1) I have only spun cotton (pencil roving) once, and 2) I wasn't sure it was even possible to spin straight from the boll.

The students, being unconvinced that thread or yarn could POSSIBLY come from that little bit of fluff ("I mean, it's, like, what you clean your ears with"), I take it as a personal mission to prove them wrong. Just to make my day. I'm like that.

There's just one small, inconvenient issue. I have no spindle or spinning appliances with me at school at the time. Never fear, I am a Master at creating something out of nothing. So, I set about on my scavenger hunt. An old rhythm stick (it's good to be the music teacher), a bobbin of jewelry filament (it's good to be friends with the art teacher) and a push pin. And Scotch tape. Lots of Scotch tape.

5 minutes later, I had a working, if slightly unbalanced, spindle.

Now, came the tricky part. Spinning the 1/2 inch cotton fibers into singles. Cotton has its own issues for spinning because of the fiber length. They're just so short, they require lots of twist and some quick finger work to make the fibers stick together. My original plan was to create a supported spindle, but I couldn't work out the weight issues and get a good spin, so I settled on a drop spindle and hoped I could get enough spin to allow me to draft the cotton.

I did.


Of course, I did.

Just call me McGyver.