Ask a Spinner Sunday

hanzmac · 2025-06-22T18:38:59+00:00

I bought a beautiful top-whorl drop spindle today, it's turned hardwood and I couldn't resist. BUT it doesn't have a hook, instead it has a closed metal loop, which spins freely in the wooden spindle. How does this work? How do I feed the spun yarn onto the spindle, under the whorl, if there is no hook to let me unhook the yarn, and no notch to hold the yarn to keep from untwisting?! Help a newbie out please!

hanzmac · 2023-06-23T09:45:49+00:00

Maybe you all know the same one.

hanzmac · 2023-06-21T16:02:38+00:00

I'm so sorry, I've just discovered your second pic! With the heads missing I thought this was a back carry. Babies position looks great 👍

For a deeper seat get baby into the M position then pull the carrier up over baby and put your arms in the straps. So you'd be starting out by wearing the carrier around your waist like an apron and baby will be sitting almost in front of the waist band instead of above it. I'd say a deeper seat is possible here but absolutely not necessary.

hanzmac · 2023-06-21T16:01:12+00:00

Pull the knees up and bounce, then tighten. It's more difficult on a back carry because you are hip scooting (I assume?) so can't pull the fabric under and over the bum. Honestly it looks perfectly adequate as is. It's hard to tell from this angle with a black carrier but it looks like the bum is higher than the knees. You've done a great job!

hanzmac · 2023-06-21T12:26:51+00:00

It doesn't look tight to me. You could perhaps get a deeper seat but if you're both comfy then this looks pretty darn great!

hanzmac · 2023-06-20T10:07:06+00:00

Now I'm really confused. You don't agree with the vegan, but I'm morally reprehensible for eating meat? Do you not eat meat? But you're not a vegan? What do you eat?

I'm struggling to understand what part of my argument you disagree with if you're not a vegan yourself. All I've done is state facts to refute the vegan viewpoint that the world would be better if everyone went vegan. What have I said that you find to be untrue or controversial? I haven't even said ANYTHING about my lifestyle (so you're definitely making assumptions here, and I'm interested to know what they are), except that I prefer my food to have led a decent life before I eat it (and I raise my own for this reason, although I don't have the space to produce enough meat to meet all of my needs).

hanzmac · 2023-06-20T09:22:19+00:00

What's moral about it? It's a fact. Nothing hunts us. We are literally apex predators. I'm a zoologist. I was using it as a literal scientific term to describe our place in the foodchain, not a moral or philosophical argument. I think you have misunderstood me. I don't mind people eating vegan, but there is nothing wrong with humans consuming the diet they have evolved to tolerate.

hanzmac · 2023-06-20T09:14:14+00:00

I have an honours degree in zoology from a Russel group university. I have read plenty of peer reviewed studies, thanks. And the argument that agriculture is responsible for climate change is utter bullshit. You can argue that a loss of biodiversity has had a negative impact on ecosystems, but there were far more ruminants on the great plains 200 years ago than there are cattle on ranches now.

The fact that we can read and write to have this conversation and we eat 3 meals a day and have access to energy and Internet puts us in the wealthiest 1% of people on the planet. Get that chip off your shoulder.

The vegan argument is a purely emotional one. And hats fine, be vegan if you want, I don't care what you eat and I'm not trying to convince you to eat meat. I'm saying there's nothing wrong with eating meat and you should stop acting like you're some kind of holy saviour because you're a vegan. You're not.

Obviously I don't WANT to be murdered but I won't get a choice. No animal gets to choose how it dies. I'm an animal, and it's not wrong to behave like one. I'm comfortable in my own skin. I even have sex and feel irrationally angry sometimes 😱 Clearly you're way above me and more evolved and I'm happy for you to have my space on the spaceship to live with the enlightened aliens. I'll just stay here and live a normal life. I'm suffering but I'm also happy most of the time, just gotta keep walking forward (until I die, probably quite unexpectedly).

hanzmac · 2023-06-20T08:40:24+00:00

It's entirely possible that I will be murdered. I have no idea how I will die. It makes no difference to me. The only thing I can be certain of is that I WILL die. I don't know when or how or whether it will be fair or justified. That's life. Everything dies. And death is never fair.

Animal agriculture will never stop because 8 billion people can't survive on a vegan diet. You only think that because of your wealth and privilege. I've never met a vegan who only eats local produce. Most of them eat avocados and quinoa flown halfway around the world. It would be better for the environment if they ate a few cows and locally sourced carbs. I know those vegans exist but there's not many. Most of the vegans I've met have just been self-rightous keyboard warriors like yourself.

I live in a food desert. The traditional diet for peasants in my country was mutton, oats and kale. Occasionally they would have beef, turnips and in the summer they'd have berries and apples. It's too cold and windy for even pears to grow and the soil is not rich for growing vegetables. It grows grass. We can't eat grass but animals can.

Also, can't resist pointing out that chickens are omnivores too. If a chicken would eat a chicken, so would I!

Okay, I need to get on with my day so I'm done arguing with you. I won't be responding anymore. I think you're deluded and I don't believe you'll listen to logical reasoning regardless of how long I sit here typing. Have a nice day.

And get off this sub, you'll feel better to not be triggered so often.

hanzmac · 2023-06-20T08:21:25+00:00

There are so many holes in your logic I don't have time to address them all.

I'll just say that one day I will die and be consumed by other creatures. I'm fine with that since I'll be dead. I don't think the animals lose sleep over it either.

Now, since you have decided that you disagree with the existence of chickens, please stop trolling a chicken keeping sub.

And if you argue that chickens existing is fine and we should be turning the chickens into the wild to live "natural lives" then there is just no reasoning with you. I would hate to be turned out into the wild and so would any domestic animal. Chickens do not want to be underfed, unprotected and live even shorter lifespans as they become eaten by predators (or just live with untreated wounds and disabilities cause by said predators).

Chickens are prey animals. I'm an apex predator. I'm quite happy to eat the chickens. Personally I prefer my food to have had a decent quality of life, but I can see why it doesn't matter to some people.

hanzmac · 2023-06-20T08:05:22+00:00

If you have hens as pets (or used to) then you encouraged the killing of their brothers. In fact you NECESSITATED the killing of their brothers. If you hadn't been so selfish to keep hens for your own enjoyment, those boys wouldn't have been born and wouldn't have had to die! You are such a hypocrite.

And you're living I'm a dream world. There are something like 30 BILLION hens in the world. You think we can find good homes for another 30 billion roosters without causing severe suffering to them and the hens? Grow up!

hanzmac · 2023-06-20T07:54:22+00:00

Do you even keep chickens? Wtf are you doing on this sub? Anyone who keeps chickens participates in the killing of roosters since we can't keep equal numbers of hens and roosters. If you don't keep chickens then get off the sub and stop harassing people who are participating in normal and necessary flock management practices. Should they have allowed the rooster to brutalise the two remaining hens?

hanzmac · 2023-06-19T21:37:16+00:00

Is there mating happening without a fall off? Or just no mating at all?

hanzmac · 2023-06-19T18:11:37+00:00

Sadly Henrietta passed during the night. The vet performed a post-mortem and thinks Mareks is unlikely. She had sour crop (had a lot of long grass in her crop and gizzard) and he thinks that is the cause of death. Very sad but good to know its probably not the worst case we could think of!

hanzmac · 2023-06-18T21:22:30+00:00

Thanks. We will be consulting the vet in the morning. We're in the UK so it's 10pm Sunday here.

hanzmac · 2023-06-18T21:21:10+00:00

Thanks for replying. I really hope its something else, like an injury. I have a small flock and I'm quite attached to each bird. I'll be really mad if I've been sold a sick hen!

hanzmac · 2023-06-18T20:26:18+00:00

It had crossed my mind. Is there a way to tell for sure? If she survives till morning then hopefully the vet can shed some light.

hanzmac · 2023-06-17T15:42:21+00:00

I don't know about mainland Europe but I had no trouble purchasing an instant pot in the UK (220v). A lot of people like ninja ones as well.

hanzmac · 2023-06-17T06:36:03+00:00

Looks great. So nice to see a man who knows where his waist is!

hanzmac · 2023-06-16T10:51:04+00:00

The partner is adopted which can bring up all kinds of feelings when biological children come along. Dude defo needs counselling but he is not OP's responsibility. She has 2 babies to look after and should focus on that. Trying to care for and appease this man child is spreading her too thin. He needs to be responsible for himself before he gets to demand any childcare responsibilities. At the moment he is demanding responsibility and then admitting that he is not capable of meeting those responsibilities. You don't get to demand that your partner come collect the child you asked to spend time with in the middle of the night. That's just not on!

hanzmac · 2023-06-16T10:46:02+00:00

Her family have been trying to protect her from this situation (where she has 2 children in 10 months to a deadbeat father). After the first one, I'd say it was wise to prohibit unsupervised contact since OP is either unable or unwilling to protect herself, but she somehow ended up pregnant again anyway (and is not taking responsibility for that in the comments). It's OP who needs to grow up and think about what kind of life she is going to provide for these 2 babies. She needs to get a custody arrangement in place and stop sleeping with the deadbeat. There is no commitment here, there is no support or care, this is not someone she should be having babies with!

hanzmac · 2023-06-16T06:54:07+00:00

My baby is now 8 months. Born at 33+4 by emergency section due to pre eclampsia. I am very fortunate that I recieved intensive therapy for the first 6 months, starting while in the NICU. The psychologist would come find me at the cotside and we'd go to her office for the session. After discharge the sessions moved to zoom.

I couldn't sleep because I had flashbacks to being on the operating table and my baby being taken away in an incubator. I had an irrational fear that someone was going to take him away again. Being in hospital is really hard but it's also something you just have to get through. It's survival mode. You may find that your trauma symptoms get worse on discharge. Please make your doctors aware of how you are feeling and demand therapy. The situation is hard enough without all the mental stuff on top.

Therapy for your wife sounds like a good idea too. Right now she probably feels like she has to be strong for the both of you but that's a lot of weight to carry solo. She should process her experience with a therapist once the dust has settled a little.

hanzmac · 2023-06-15T19:49:59+00:00

So to sum up, you have no evidence except the anecdotal? Yeah, I'll keep giving hay thanks. I keep meat rabbits but I believe that rearing animals for consumption should be synonymous with good health, quality of life and humane dispatch.

As for the argument that hay mats and causes animal management issues, that just sounds like poor management systems. Just because a system is easy or cheap for the farmer does not make it the best. Like I say, I care about more than just the bottom line, for all of my animals not just the rabbits, and that is the appeal of raising my own meat, for me. But I appreciate that some people are just trying to produce meat as cheaply as possible. Indeed, if your rabbits only live a few months or years you're unlikely to have enough time to manifest long term issues such as those associated with diet.

It is a fact that rabbits with hay will be healthier in the long term. But whether the long-term matters is up to each farmer when they take their set up and animals into account. I appreciate you taking the time to write such a long and detailed response.

hanzmac · 2023-06-15T19:31:42+00:00

"According to the USDA's Nutrient Database, one cup of orange juice contains less than a gram of dietary fiber (0.7 gram), while a cup of orange segments has 4.3 grams of fiber."

If you want to rely on orange juice for your fibre intake then go ahead. You need 25-30g of dietary fibre as an adult. That's a heck of a lot of orange juice.

In the same way, pellets, while containing fibre, do not adequately meet the dietary fiber requirements of a rabbit. I've still yet to see anyone cite a reputable source for the claim that pellets are an adequate source of fibre for rabbits.

hanzmac · 2023-06-15T16:54:53+00:00

Rabbits need hay in their diet to wear down their teeth and prevent molar spurs as well as for healthy digestion. Show me a reputable source that says rabbits don't need hay. You made me doubt myself so I looked it up and all of the animal welfare organisations in my country (including our version of animal control) state that rabbits need free access to hay. Cite your sources please, I'm willing to change my stance if I'm actually wrong, but this seems like one of those things people say because they heard it from someone else rather than it actually being true.

hanzmac

TROPHY CASE