Weavers Delight: Drop Spindle Yarn for Sale

A typical sight you might see on your visit to Meghalaya rural villages is a Kong (a respectful term for a Khasi lady) who has a satchel shoulder purse filled with kuwai and cocoons and a drop spindle in hand. She is ready to make handspun yarn at any time. No matter the place, with her drop spindle in hand, she is ready to spin her cocoons. 

A common sight: Women spinning yarn with the drop spindle in Meghalaya villages.

Our drop spindle yarn for sale is perfect for the weft

Experience weaving your next shawl or blanket with our handspun drop spindle yarn. This yarn makes a perfect baby blanket as an heirloom gift. 

Why not spin your own yarn? 

Today, more and more young men and women are joining the slow-made community of makers. Handspinning yarn can have an addictive side. It is calming to pass the fiber through the fingers into a handspun yarn. For a speedy fiber, solution try Muezart's super clean and soft Eri silk sliver

Naturalists Love Spinning with Hand Processed Cocoons

Processing Eri cocoons is tedious. Because the cocoon is open-mouthed, the filaments are short. This makes it different from processing other silk cocoons. The cocoons, whether for handspun or mill spun, will have to go through the same process of boiling for removal of the sericin coating. A few cocoons are then bunched together to make a ‘cake’. The cakes are then dried in sunlight before they are taken to the ‘takli’.

Steps to process Eri cocoons to make handspun yarn: 

1. washing - the cocoons in soapy water to degum
2. boiling - for one hour in soapy water
3. rinsing - the cocoons
4. flatten - pound individual cocoons flat
5. drying - the flat 'cocoon hankie'
6. spinning - directly from the cocoon to spindle to make handspun yarn

How to process Eri cocoons for machine spun yarn: 

1. boiling - cocoons in soapy water to degum.
2. rinsing - the cocoons
3. drying - the cocoons
4. ginning - shaking the rough fibers to remove extras
5. carding - the making of sheets of the fibers
6. combing – straightening of the fibers
7. roping - arranging the fibers into rope-like shapes
8. spinning - the final process of making yarn

The sustainable supply chain

We take great pride in knowing our products come from a small local sustainable "foot-print". The Eri moth lives a full life cycle. No life is killed or hurt in the creation process. The cocoons are harvested, washed, and processed right in the same village where the Eri cocoon was created. The yarn is hand-made with the drop spindle by the same women. If the yarn needs to be colored, the same women go out and hunt and harvest from the local forest. The plants for creating a vast selection of colors are literally in their back yard!