A spinners toolbox

As I am beginning to work more mindfully and deliberately at improving my spinning quality and consistency, I am learning about the importance of things I had previously not given much (or any) thought to as a beginner.

Wraps per inch has always been a useful concept, but only as it relates to a finished product.  I had never given it any thought as it relates to yarn-in-progress.  I am beginning to learn (finally), that a finished yarn can be consistent throughout the entire skein.  There doesn't need to be a LOT of variation, or even very much at all.  If you stop to check your work periodically, just as you might stop to check your gauge periodically throughout a knitting project, you will end up with a much better quality yarn.

Right now, I am spinning a bump of Shetland roving into a fine lace yarn for a shawl.  I will need about 1000 yards.  In prior projects, I have always started spinning, finished spinning, wound and measured my yarn, and then been inevitably disappointed as I have fallen short of my spinning goal - often by several hundred yards.  

This time, I have started differently.  To begin with, I spun a sample.  It was not a big sample.  A mere few yards to give me an idea of how heavy the finished yarn will be.  But several yards of a sample also gives me a good idea of:

A) my weight to yardage ratio, or yards per pound.  This tells me how much yarn I can expect to get at my desired weight.  I will do a separate post another time about the math involved in figuring out ypp.  Basically, the short version is to spin a sample of a few grams, figure out how many yards are in a gram or an ounce, and then multiply that by the correct number to figure out how many yards to a pound or grams to a meter, etc.  

B) my twist angle.  My current yarn has a twist angle of 15degrees, give or take a bit.  If I want the finished yarn to look consistent throughout, I can stop and check the angle once in a while.  What you see in the picture above is a printed protractor.  Whether you use the top or both depends on whether you are spinning s- or z-twist, which I'm not going to get into right now.  Lay the yarn on top of your printed protractor and line up the twist angle.  I think I'll do a more in depth post on this later when I don't have Mouselette asking me 59 million questions. 

C) my wraps per inch.  This tells me what the yarn weight is, whether that be laceweight or bulky.  This gives me an idea what sort of project would look great with this yarn.

In short, keeping the twist and wraps per inch as consistent as possible throughout the spinning project will help me wind up with a more consistent and balanced yarn at the end.

Thin threads

I finished this yarn the other night.  It is one of my finest so far.  I am trying to learn how to spin gossamer threads.  I don't know why, really, as I don't actually knit with super fine lace.  Maybe I will, though, if I can get my threads thin enough.

A commercial laceweight is usually around 400-440yds to 50g. This skein measures 484yds and is 66g.  If I did my math right (and never count on me to do math right), that works out to something like 3326 yards per pound.  According to charts, that is definitely a laceweight yarn right there.  It's not quite as fine as a commercial laceweight, coming in at roughly 386yds to 50g, but it is definitely a laceweight.

A gossamer yarn is about 6000yds to a pound.  It's about 3-5strands in a single.  I'm not sure either my or my wheel can handle that just yet.  But I'll keep trying.

On a separate note, I haven't posted my cotton tutorial yet on account of either YouTube or my computer being dumb.  The video uploads, but the conversion process keeps failing and I keep having to delete and start over.  I got frustrated enough that I chose to walk away.  Then it was March break, and NOTHING was happening over March break, except the Mouselette asking me a few times if I can please buy her a spinning wheel of her own.

Yes.  Absolutely.  If I can find one that's the right size for under $100.  And since I probably can't, the answer remains a sad little no for now.  I will buy her a bobbin of her own, though.  I think a bright pink akerworks one or something like that.

Rolags and roving, pt 2

Continuing with the video blog and tutorial format, my next video is on taking rolags and predrafting them out into mini rovings.

I would love to take requests.  If there is a video tutorial you really want to see, please let me know.

Up next: cotton

Rolags and roving

Nearly everything I know about spinning, weaving, knitting, and fiber prep has been learned via the wonderful online community.  YouTube is always an amazing and endless source of tutorials, tips, and tricks.

So in the spirit of giving back to the community from which I have learned so much, I have started doing a few demos of my own.

Here is my first one.  Creating rolags on a hand card.

Tune in next time to see me turn rolags into roving.

GSD: continued progress.

I am continuing my rampage of cleaning and organizing All The Things!  I moved my spinning stash away from my yarn to separate the bigger task into two more manageable units.

I've been taking pictures of the progress, but in all honesty, it looks less like progress and more like moving piles around as I try sort through what I have.  And man, I have a lot!  I found a 3oz bag of angora, a 4 oz bag of huacaya, a bag of I-don't-know softness (BFL or merino... It is insanely soft).

While digging up long lost buried treasures of softness, I have been practicing my lace spinning.  It's been amazing.  I adore the Little Gem.

That dark thread on the left is regular old sewing thread.  The thread on the right is a handcarded angora/silk blend.  

At first, I planned on plying it with some llama roving that I had, but the result was slightly scratchier than I would like to wear around my neck.  So, when I found the Huacaya alpaca locks, I started spinning those up into a matching lace. 

It's hard to see the thinness of the yarn without a comparison, but it is actually slightly thinner than the angora.  I am going to spin the entire bag of each and ply them, and then ply whatever is left of the alpaca (there's more of that than of the angora) back on itself.

In the meantime, Mouselette has taken to spinning with ease.

This is her first handspun.  She did the single herself.  I wrapped it into an Andean plying loop and plied it for her.  She has asked me to knit it into a blanket,  which I would... If there were more than 11ft. 😉

Keep it simple. More simple. More...

I had a moment the other night when I looked around and started to feel down about how much I had and had not accomplished last week.

I did take down the Christmas tree.  I did not vacuum.  

I did clean the bathrooms (thoroughly).  I did not wash the floors.

I did clean the kitchen.  The dining room is still a horrifying mess.

And as I looked around and took stock, I began to realize something.  There is always more to do. Sometimes, the more progress you ACTUALLY make, the less it looks like you have made any.

I am not, by nature, an organized person.  I am not good at setting priorities and sticking to them.  When I start on one path, it is very hard to divert my attention to other things that need tending.

On that note, though, I did take my Christmas tree down.  And that's pretty awesome.  I did clean the bathrooms, and that feels good.  My kitchen was tidy for almost 24 full hours.  That's almost a personal best.

Elaine (my Traddy wheel) sold and is being picked up tomorrow (Monday).  Her accessories sold and are being mailed tomorrow (Monday).  So that is one less thing that is taking up space.

4 boxes of fiber have been almost compacted into 2.  My 3 large bag of wool scraps is being processed into wool batts and rolags.

This:

Became this:

Which became this:

Self doubt told me that I was wasting my time on the things I love instead of the necessary tasks.  And reality reminded me that this week was a particularly rough Migraine week.  And the above is necessary.  Turning a big bag of scraps into a skein of useable yarn might be the fun side of necessary, but it is still necessary for compacting my life into a more manageable state.

A skein of yarn takes roughly 1/4 or less the amount of space that a bag of wool scraps takes.  And that's not nothing.

Simplifying through small

Here I am with my soon-to-be new-to-me Majacraft Little Gem spinning wheel.

This was an almost accidental purchase.  When I went to the last Project Fleece spin-in, I was captivated by the Little Gem.  I asked if I could borrow her for a bit and ended up spending the whole spin in with her.

She is a delightful wheel.  A Mercedes to my Ashford Traddy's Corolla.

I've heard people name their wheels, and I've tried it.  I named my cute little castle wheel "Bridget" and my Ashford Traddy is officially named "Elaine".  But I've never really called them by name.  They are merely tools.  Nice tools, but just tools.

I've thought about selling my Traddy a few times.  She's just... Big.  And when my goal this year is to compact, compress, organize, destash, and simplify, big isn't best.  

From there, convincing my hubby of the need for a smaller wheel was incredibly simple.  I had all my pros lined up, and "small wheel" and "amazing deal" were all it took.  Then he saw the picture and was as captivated as I was.  Then he saw a picture of a folded Little Gem and realized... She fits in a drawer!!  I suspect he'd willingly pay full price for such a delight.

Jemma comes home with me next week.

"Elaine" and "Bridget" are for sale.  I've had some surprising amount of interest, but neither is actually sold yet.  So if you or anyone you know wants a beautiful, well kept wheel, I have two at very different budget points.

I am also selling my Indian Charkha, in likewise excellent and loved condition.

2016 - Controlling the Chaos

Life last year got a little crazy.  Overwhelming. Tiring.  Exhausting.  A lot happened.  Much of this threw my ADHD out of control and what I'd always presumed were careful controls were shown to be utterly ineffective.

The last several months have been spent taking stock of my current systems for task management and accomplishment, working with 2 different counsellors to learn how to control my own chaos, and trying to make sense of the mess that is my house.

All of this put together has reignited my interest in blogging.  I figure if I am struggling, so are others, and maybe...just maybe... I have something of value to say.  Maybe my experience can help.  Maybe controlling the chaos really does start with rolling out if bed and throwing away one tissue today.  Tomorrow, you can do two.  

My biggest struggle as an adult with ADHD come from two directions at once: impulse control and task prioritization.  I can't look at a ball of yarn without desperately needing to turn it into something.  I need it on the needles, even if all my needles are in use.  Even if I have 13 projects in the go.  Even if the dishes have been sitting piled up in the kitchen for 2 days.  Add that impulse to my natural "pile" personality (my house is a series of piles), and you get something like this:

This is my storage room.  The left half of the room belongs to my husband and is a series of tidy shelves with stockable unperishables like soup, toilet paper, and laundry detergent.  The rest of the room... And the floor is mine.  Boxes stacked on boxes, and yarn stuffed and tangled into every crevice.

Priority one this year?  Turn that storage room into something more reasonable.  Find the floor.  Put the yarn in bags.

It is a slow process, learning to control the chaos.  It is a series of baby steps that starts with a donation bag in the corner of a room.  Don't need it? Can't bear to toss it? Donate it.

It is a process of repeat appointments in my daily calendar reminding me that Monday is for the kitchen, Tuesday for the floors (vacuuming and washing), Wednesday is for finding homes for things left out on random surfaces, Friday is for the bathrooms.  Saturday and Sunday are for laundry.  And Thursday?  Thursday's are mine.  Thursday's are for knitting, weaving, blogging, playing catchup, visiting friends, etc.

And if I get my daily must-do out of the way?  The rest of the day is mine, too.

I've been on the system for 2 months.  That's possibly the longest amount of time I have ever spent on any system.  The way I figure it, if small messes add up, maybe small changes will, too.

Welcome to November!

Halloween is done.

I woke up this morning to a light dusting of frost everywhere. Halfway through breakfast, it started to snow.  Mouselette was absolutely delighted and ran to the window shrieking about the snow and snowmen and Christmas (already?)

I am not done her new mittens yet.  I need to really get on that.  I have a thumb to finish on one mitt and then the second mitt to do.  I will be attempting to finish them tonight.

Last night was fun.  Halloween is always a little fun.  Despite the Facebook drinking game challenge regarding how many Elsas to expect, I had only one Elsa at my door last not. One Anna, too.  Lots and lots of Ninja Turtles, a Tenth Dr (complete with awesome tweed coat and red bow tie), loads of superheroes (girls and boys), lady bugs, policemen, firefighters, etc.  Very few princesses, though.  I think it was too cold for princesses.  It was pretty cold last night.  And rainy.  It is always cold and rainy.  This is the third Halloween in a row that it has been cold and rainy.

Mousehusband braved the cold and rain with Mouselette for over an hour while I stayed home and handed out candy.  I got some awesome knitting time in.  Plus, since I got the whole house vacuumed and floors washed yesterday afternoon, I have extra knitting time today.

My favourite pumpkin of the year was carved by one of my knitting friends:

Yarn barf!  Truly terrifying!  (I hate yarn barf... It is the bane of my existence.)

I woke up to an email from usps letting me know that my new (to me) tri loom is sitting on the other side of the border in New York.  It is my experience that once a package is processed there, it is about 3 more business days until it reaches me.  It's got to clear customs, get up to the main sorting facility, then make it on to the truck to get to me.  I am counting on seeing it by Wednesday afternoon or Thirsday.  For sure I will have it by Friday.  I am pretty excited.  I have a first project all planned out.  Haven't decided 100% on the yarn yet, but I am pretty sure I know which yarn I want to use.

Winter mittens!

We are supposed to be getting snow on Sunday.  Right now, the forecast is calling for "wet snow".  It has been glove and mitten temperature lately.  I have a pair of knit mitts for me, but Mouselette is lacking in the mitt department.

I think I need to get a pair cast on pronto.

I got an amazing deal on kids clothes yesterday.  There is a thrift store right next to my daughter's preschool, so I pop in frequently (too frequently, to be honest). I walked past yesterday and spotted a 50% off kids clothing sale. In I went to refill the ever-growing child's winter wardrobe (she may be petite over all, but she has monkey limbs like me, so she needs a full size above her age just to fit those long lanky legs and monkey arms of hers).  Among other things, I found a snowsuit for her for a mere $3.50!!  It has a tiny rip in the crotch, but nothing a needle and thread won't fix.  And for $3.50, I think I can deal with a tiny rip.

I also bought her a pair of winter mitts - the thermal kind.  Got them home and realized... Toooooo small!  So now, I think I need to get a pair of thrummed mitts knit up for Mouselette.  I have never actually knit thrummed mitts before.  I have plenty of awesome roving for thrums, but it is a new endeavour for me.

Cold mornings, warm blankets

I love the fall.  I love the late fall, when the trees are stripped bare and the frost covers the ground.  These are my favourite knitting days.

It is still relatively early.  There are as many leaves left on the trees as there are on the ground.  But the mornings are colder now.  The air is crisper.  The sun rises later.

I am bundled up with a very warm blanket.  My daughter is watching tv while she nibbles her breakfast.  I feel extra motivated to finish a particular pattern I have been working on.  

Today is going to be a knitting day.  

More pumpkin carving

Such a dilemma for a dedicated knitter.

We have two pumpkins.  One was carved with a picture drawn by my 3 year old.  The second isn't carved yet.

Do I carve a Hello Kitty for Mouselette's enjoyment, or a pair of knitting needles in a ball of yarn for mine?

Do you carve pumpkins for Halloween?  Show me your pumpkins in the comments!

Happier notes

I promised a happier post yesterday, so here it is.

Let's start with last weekend.  RHINEBECK!!!

Last weekend, I went to Rhinebeck for the first time ever.  I went with one of my very good friends from the knitting group.  We drove there and back and stayed at a pretty decent hotel while there.  One of the best parts of the hotel?  The fact that it was FULL of knitters.  Gotta love that!  I loved coming down for breakfast and seeing all the knitters hanging out in the dining room with their assorted projects.  

Rhinebeck itself was prett much amazing.  There were some very amazing deals, not to mention a beautiful assortment of hand knits everywhere you looked, from sweaters to shawls to socks... All the knitters had something to show off.

So what next?

It is almost Halloween.  I have never really gotten into the festivities of Halloween before.  I mean, we take Mouselette out trick or treating, and last year she painted a wooden pumpkin, but that is usually it.  This year, we went to a Pumpkinfest at the park.  They had pony rides (Mouselette totally squealed with excitement), a bouncy castle, free pumpkins, food, and so much fun.

Mouselette and I carved a pumpkin this afternoon.  Or, more accurately, Mouselette drew the picture, then Mousehusband kept her entertained while I did the sharp knife part.

This is the result.  The pumpkin seeds are roasting now.

Oh, and Christmas knitting has begun.  A super secret project for the knit night Christmas exchange, a super secret project for Mousehusband, socks for Mouselette (at her request... She is a fan of handknit socks), and a pair of socks for my brother in law, whose name I drew for the family Christmas exchange.

Hey, look, it's a blog entry... (With profanity, so... Be warned)

I am terrible at blogging.  I used to be decent at it and would update a few times a week on old blogs. Part of me realized last night that half the reason this blog fell down on the job was because I just focus so narrowly on knitting and don't give myself space to talk about other shit.

Oh, and I don't give myself permission to type words like shit in my blog.  But I say shit all the time. So, hey.... Shiiiiiiiit!

And guess what... Shit has been going down lately.  Too much.

Sometimes shit is too much to handle.  Sometimes there is too much of it.  Sometimes shit happens and it leaves you cold inside.  Numb. Confused. Sad. Scared.  And just when you start moving on, more shit happens.

It becomes about more than questioning the world, but about questioning your place in it.

Then, just to stick a shit cherry on a shit sundae, more shit happens. And it leaves you cold and numb and sad and scared all over.

I am tired of adulting.

Some of the above is obvious stuff, like the tragic deaths in Ottawa this week.  And then there is other stuff.  Personal stuff.  Stuff I cannot blog about.  Stuff that leaves me hugging my kid tighter, crying a little, and wondering how you get through it all.

Sometimes the bigger stuff makes my little stuff seem so insignificant.  Then sometimes the personal stuff becomes overwhelmingly big and makes the world seem insignificant.

Sometimes my coping mechanisms fail me completely and I retreat into my cloud of insecurities, ADD, and introversion.  I pick up my knitting and close out the feeling.  I knit because I can't think anymore. Because there is too much to think about. Because the world has become too loud, the tragedies too many, and the personal too hard.

So if you need me, you'll find me in the corner over there, crying softly for the ones I love, and knitting.  Because there is nothing else I can do.

Ps... I will be back tomorrow with a happier entry, because there is good stuff happening, too.  And I need to blog more often.  So, I will!  :)

Pretty fingers and knitting fun

Why does every post have to start with "gee, I'm sorry I forgot about my blog for the last year"?  ;)  It goes without saying, I think, that life has been busy.  That happens with a toddler.  I keep trying to promise myself that I'll post more, and then I completely forget that this blog even exists. 

What have I been up to? 

Well, for starters, the Unofficial Harry Potter Knits magazine came out.  That was pretty awesome.  I have an amazing pattern in it.  Bluebell Flames.  It's a entrelac and lace wrap.  It was fun to design and fun to knit. 

I'm pretty proud of it.

What else have I been up to?

Mouselette turned 2, which was awesome. Though, it did leave me slightly wondering... what the heck happened?  I have those moments more often now as she gets bigger and more independent.  Right now, she has a sheet of alphabet stickers, which she has declared is her "keyboard".  She's sitting at her little desk beside me "typing" on her sticker keyboard.

I have been designing other patterns, but so far nothing else is in the works for publication.

As for the "pretty fingers" part of the title.  After much determination, I finally quit biting my nails (again) and my nails are long enough to play with fun manicures.
It's not very fancy, because I'm still learning, but I like the look of this one.  Mouselette has been bugging me to paint her nails all the time, too.  So I think I'll have to get some kid-safe polish for her. 

I've got a whole board on pinterest devoted to fun nail art ideas. 
Check it out.  And let me know in the comments if you have any other fun and easy nail ideas.  :)

Happy Father's Day

Sometimes being crafty comes in handy... like when you've run out of ideas for what to get the man who has everything and doesn't need anything, and prefers you not buy anything anyway because sales are better.

This is Mouselette's father's day gift for her "baba" (daddy).  It was super easy.

So if you're looking for father's day ideas that you can do with your little ones, here you go.  If they can hold a crayon or put stickers on paper, they can handle this one!

Tweaking nature

I've posted before about how I have recently taken up whittling.  I just have to show off this beautiful before and after shot of how a bit of carving can transform a piece of wood.

This is the before shot.  It is oak.

It's a branch.  It fell from a tree and laid on the ground until I found it.  It doesn't look like anything special, but I picked it up because in spite of how much it doesn't look like much, it does have some potential.  I liked the pieces that stuck out, because those always look interesing when you trim and sand them.

This is the after shot.  This is after I whittled away the bark and trimmed the pieces that stuck out.  This is after I carved the 1" section for a WPI tool.  This is after hours of very gently pulling the best out of what had been nothing more than a branch.

It was sanded and sanded and sanded again, with an increasingly fine paper from 100 to 600 grit.  It was rubbed and polished with a homemade beeswax polish.  Yes, it really is that shiny!!

I drilled a small hole in the top to put a little eyelet in so that a wrist strap could be added if desired.  What it is is a nostepinne - a tool for wrapping yarn into neat little center-pull balls.  With a wrist strap, it can also be used as a wrist distaff.  The stone is a wire-wrapped rose quartz.

I'm at a loss for how to price this.  It takes a lot of care to bring out the best in a piece of wood like this.

50 Fans and a Necklace!

Mousewife Designs hit 50 fans on facebook the other day.  As promised, I am hosting a giveaway to celebrate!  Click here to enter!!

Up for grabs is this beautiful Green Aventurine pendant on a leather cord.  The cord is an adjustable 18-20". 

Whittling away

Because I need another hobby like I need another hole in my head, I've started whittling a little bit.  It's not really a new thing.  Like, I already knew how to do it and have done it before.  But now I am seeing the potential for this new thing to complement my other hobbies and create things that complement what is already in my etsy shop.

Below you will see my most recent creation, a 3-in-1 spinning tool.  It is a nostepinne, wrist distaff, and WPI tool in one, carved from an oak branch I found lying on the sidewalk in the rain.

This tool has a fun story.  I was on my way out the other day when I looked out the window and spotted this little branch on the sidewalk.  All the way to my destination, I thought about that branch and decided that if it was still there on the way home, I'd snag it and carve it up into a wrist distaff.

It was there as I drove home, so I pulled over, hopped out of the car (in the rain) and rescued that branch.  I put it in the oven to dry it out, curing it for about an hour and a bit at 175F.  This dried out the wood and also killed any little bugs that may have been making their home inside.  Then I set myself down at the kitchen sink (I don't have a dedicated workspace and the sink with some papertowels in it caught all the woodchips and dust) with my little knife and began to whittle.

I removed most of the bark, but not all.  I deliberately left the bark on around the top.  I removed the knots down the length of the twig, but again left them on the top.  I smoothed out the tip where it had been broken.  As I worked it over, I decided that it should also have a WPI notch at the top, so I measured and carved it out.  Then I began to sand it.  I worked it over with progressively finer paper from 120 to 600 grit.  The areas where I hadn't removed all the bark worked out darker than the other areas.  The WPI area was worked over with a nailfile as well as sandpaper (I needed a nice, well-defined edge).  I drilled a hole and sanded it through with a round metal file.

I wiped it down and finished it by rubbing it with a thin coat of mineral oil.  I worked the oil in with a cotton ball first, then a paper towel, then my hands until it was absorbed all the way through.  The final coat was beeswax to protect the wood.

I wrapped a piece of smokey quartz in goldtone wire and used the same sort of wire to create a bail for a leather wriststrap.

I love the final product.  It's so smooth and soft to touch.  The mineral oil brought out the colour of the wood so very beautifully.

So now I'm on the hunt for more twigs like this one.  Unwanted, discarded, destined for the mulch pile or the fireplace.  This piece is spoken for, but I can't wait to create more for the shop.

My new wheel

Warning: This is a totally pic heavy post!  :)

I purchased a new spinning wheel on the 4th.  There was a tale of drama and frustration surrounding that, but now that it's done, it seems unimportant.
The drama culminated such that the whole drive (in awful traffic) out to pick up the wheel was fraught with me thinking (and occasionally saying out loud) that this wheel had better be worth it!

Well, when I got there and saw it, I decided it was.  It is a pretty cute, if slightly odd, wheel.

Here she sits next to 'Elaine', my 70s model Ashford Traditional wheel.  It's not that Elaine is huge, it's just that the little wheel is rather little.

I've gone back and forth between Brighid, Brigantia, and Holda.  All three are mythological figures associated with spinning - although in the first two cases the association is rather looser than in the third.

'Elaine' was named for Elaine of Astolat (the Lady of Shalot), the maiden who loved Lancelot du Lac in Arthurian legend. Although I'd posted on facebook and ravelry that I'd decided on Brighid as the name of the little wheel, I've changed my mind and she will henceforth be known as Holda.  Holda is the germanic patroness of spinning.  The Brothers Grimm have a story about her called 'Frau Holle'.  So, this is my new wheel, named 'Holda'.  It's a more appropriate name than Brighid, as the wheel is undeniably german.  After posting pictures of the wheel all over Ravelry, I came across another Raveler who owns, by chance, the same wheel.  Hers came slightly less complete than mine, but it did come with the original instructions, which was useful.  As best as she was able to figure out, the wheel was manufactured as a kit in the 1980s by a German furniture company.  There are enough oddities about the wheel that it's pretty clear the wheel was not made by a spinner.

The wheel itself is wonderful lightweight.  She will be amazing for taking out to spin-ins.  She weighs a very light 10lbs has a very small profile.  Her flywheel is only 12.5" diameter.

The strangest thing about the wheel is the distaff.  In it's current placement, it's unusable.  It sits about 6" behind the flyer.  That's not a practical position for spinning of any type.  However, it is not a permanent fixture.  It can be easily removed and held while spinning.  I've tied a mohair and wool blend batt onto the distaff and have been spinning from it.  I have to say, it makes spinning infinitely easier!  Although I generally get a nice even thread while spinning, using the distaff seems to make that evenness pretty effortless.

It's a double drive wheel, meaning that the driveband goes around the flyer and the bobbin.  I've never spun on a double drive wheel before, so figuring out the tensioning was a bit unusual.  In the picture above, you can see the wooden knob on the rear maiden.  The upper part of the assembly unscrews, and then the lower part screws up to tighten everything up.  This pulls the flyer assembly up, which tightens the tension.

The flyer goes right through the front maiden, instead of having a separate bearing attached to the maiden.  That means in order to remove the flyer, the whole maiden has to be loosened and pulled back.  It's not a big deal, though.  There is only one bobbin, so until I get more bobbins made (or find more), I won't need to worry much about switching them out.

The flyer itself is also slightly odd, having only 4 hooks.  The top hook does not align with the end of the bobbin, either.  This is an easy fix.  I plan to remove the hooks, fill the flyer with wood filler, and put in 6 hooks, evenly spaced.


The treadle was a little clunky at first, but that was a veyr easy fix.  There were a few problems there.  First was that the conrod, the twine that attaches the footman to the treadle, was way too loose.  I cut it off (it was knotted too tightly for me to untie it) and replaced it with new twine.  I am going to get a thin leather strip to replace the twine, but for now, it's much better. 

The second problem was that the footman was apparently missing something to hold it securely to the crank on the wheel.  According to the diagram provided by my fellow raveler, there should be a small wooden bead there.  Not having a bead of the right size handy at the moment, I stuck a hair elastic on in it's place.  Totally solved the clunky treadle issue.

I have great plans for this wheel.  She will definitely be my primary summer wheel.  I plan to take Elaine apart to refinish her in a lovely red mahogany stain.  Re-finishing Elaine will take me the better part of the summer.  But after Elaine is done, it will be Holda's turn.  I am going to strip her right down and remove the current finish.  I'll be refinishing her in a very dark chestnut colour.  It's likely I will paint some small designs around the wheel and treadle.  My husband is going to cut and drill an arm for the distaff to pull it out in front of the flyer.  There is a fancy little decorative tip missing on top of the front maiden.  It serve no purpose, but I am going to pour a resin bead to put in there - I will probably put a small decal of a woman spinning in the bead.  The front of the wheel needs a small attachment to make it mroe secure.  Again, I will form this from poured resin.  When she is done, she is going to be a thing of beauty to behold!

I'll keep you updated.