Spincushion for Supported Spindles

Do you struggle to keep a lap bowl steady when you’re working with a supported spindle?

After seeing a photo of a beautifully embroidered biscornu pincushion, Sharon Barnes realized she could make a weighted pillow using that intriguing geometric shape to hold a small bowl comfortably on her lap. Biscornu is a French word, variously translated as two-horned, irregular, or quirky. Typical examples are elaborately embroidered or cross-stitched and stuffed, with a tiny decorative button at the center. The more-or-less octagonal shape is composed of two squares of equal size, stitched together around the edges, with each corner lined up with the center side of the opposite square.

This project only takes only a few yards of leftover handspun yarn to make a unique “spincushion,” whether the squares are knitted or woven. A beanbag-like lining placed inside the handspun provides weight to keep it steady while you spin.

Sharon Barnes lives with her husband, Italian greyhound, and rabbits on the Kansas plains, and can be found on Ravelry as PrairieSpinner. She enjoys all facets of spinning, dyeing, and knitting and is building a library of breed-specific handspun samples hand-processed from raw fleece.