A long slender rod or stick of wood or metal, tapered at each end with a notch at the top; the part of the spinning machine that twists and collects the newly spun yarn. The earliest spun yarns were made using a hand held spindle, and even the mechanisation process is very simple to build and to operate. It involves mounting the spindle horizontally to the so that it can be rotated by a cord that encircles a wheel. The primitive spinning machine.
Raw fibres and filaments are continuously added to the new end of the spun yarn, which then winds itself around the long body of the spindle.
Once the spindle is full, the yarn is wound into skeins or hanks or onto cones, ready for weaving, knitting or stitching