When I was preparing to make my scarf (which is now 32" long), I made bobbins with bamboo skewers and beads, but I found after I had wound a few, that the wood was not very smooth and snagged the thread. It had felt okay in my hand but not in use. I am using a slubbed silk and it kept catching. I doubt they would work for fine thread unless you really gave them a sanding. I was in a hurry to get going so did not spare the time to do that. My beads were probably 1/2" wide so would not save on room. I was looking for longer shafts to hold the large amount of thread, but found I could wind what I needed on my international squares.
Janice <I was thinking of the skewers, too, but opted for a more general description. But they would be a lot easier to wind than your coathangers. Both are hard because they're very narrow, but that's what you want. On the other hand, it's really hard to get thread to "stick" to metal for winding smoothly and reasonably tightly, while the skewers are usually bamboo (at least in the US) and hold the thread well. Robin> Janice Blair Crystal Lake, 50 miles northwest of Chicago, Illinois, USA www.jblace.com http://www.lacemakersofillinois.org - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://community.webshots.com/user/arachne2003/albums/most-recent
