Woohoo! Free Bobbins!

That's right folks, free plastic bobbins for yarn, ribbon, whatever the heck you wanna wind onto them, they're yours for the asking. Want free bobbins? Need free bobbins? If you're building your own spinning wheel the answer is yes to both questions. If you bought one, then the answer is yes to the first ;). So here's how you go about gettin' 'em.

Haul your butt to the fabric store and hardware store.

Find any spool with little or no bulk material on it.

Nicely ask the employee how many yards are left on the spool and if you can have the spool if you buy what's left on it.

Today at the fabric store, the guy just gave me an empty spool he had tossed under the counter, and when I if I could have the spool with the last 2&3/4 yds of elastic by the yard, he said "sure". Turns out they just chuck the spools. The spools are the same size as many bobbins I've found for weaving and spinning.

So what gives? Well, if you have an expensive wheel, obviously you don't need these babies for spinning, but if you're making or made a wheel, these babies are super-handy for spinning. You're asking, "Why the heck would I want cheap bobbins?" "I have a gorgeous Kromski Prelude"(just using my current dream wheel as an example). Well, think about it, store the yarn on madamoiselle Bobbin Plastique, and voila! You're freeing up the good bobbins for more spinning, and have well-stored yarn on plastic bobbins for plying, or just plain tidy storage.

Why pay $1 each for 9 or 10 plastic bobbins with another $10 shipping and handling on ebay when you can get similair bobbins for nada, and help keep the landfills free of non-trash?