Woolee Winder + Initial thoughts

It is no surprise to anyone who has read my blog that I have had my eye on an item such as the Woolee Winder. However due to the atrocious exchange rate right now a simple flyer and 2x bobbins would cost at least $500. Seeing this is more than the costs of all but my Aura it was WAY outside of a price range I could rationalise. Since I had bought the Aura I had joined the Ravelry group for Majacraft and posted that I was after certain products including the Winder. Within a week, I got contacted and for half the price and with more bobbins the Winder arrived. 

Majacraft WW with delta orifice

It seems like the Aura there is a love-hate relationship, no middle ground with the Winder. The previous owner found it pulled too much for her fine work and it does seem these work better with certain wheels. While I don't think my opinion will change from my initial thoughts you never know.

The Woolee Winder!

So what is this flyer and why should we care? Compared to other flyers this one has a patented method that winds the yarn up and down as you spin instead of having to change hooks and allows a better/even filling of bobbins which allows for more yarn per bobbin. These flyers also needs the specially made bobbins with a gear on them. Some say, well I have no issue with changing the hooks and can keep it well filled etc. Yes if these issues are not a problem then you probably don't need it. I won't say it is a problem for me, I am just a collector ;)

The moving eyelet

The Woolee Winder is available for different wheel types and lovingly the maker pays attention to keeping the flyer and bobbins looking uniform. So my Majacraft flyer and bobbins look perfectly matched! They also have a jumbo size available (mine is standard). Different orifices are available on request.

Set up on the Suzie

So I chucked the flyer on and adjusted the tension on my Suzie and honestly didn't have ANY trouble with the pull after the first adjustment (which you do with any new yarn/flyer/empty bobbin anyway). I was using the batt that was given the flyer came wrapped in (so I have no idea what it was) and found I could spin super thin very easily. In fact, one thing I did find I really liked was while there was very limited pull while I was drafting, as soon as I went to feed it into the bobbin it had a much stronger pull. This I found great! Normally when I have low tension for thin spinning it can easily get overspun as the pull is not there. So this balance was great. The maker better explains this:

"Each bobbin has a little gear on the front that turns a small, lightweight gear train to the travel screw. When you are spinning and holding tension on the yarn, the bobbin and flyer rotate at the same speed. When tension is released from the yarn, the brake does its job slowing down one component while the other keeps moving at the same speed. (A bobbin lead slows the flyer, and a flyer lead slows the bobbin.) This difference in speed is what winds the yarn onto the bobbin and also causes the gear train to turn, turning the travel screw, and thus moving the eyelet down the flyer arm. When you reapply tension to the yarn, both the flyer and the bobbin return to the same speed and the gear train stops turning. The moving eyelet will then stay in the same position until the next time you let tension off the yarn, then the process repeats."

Extra washer to push the bobbin closer to flyer

So far so good! One minor thing I did find at first was the bobbin was a bit short on my Suzie and the cogs of the flyer and bobbin didn't quite meet up so didn't always move the winding part. However, my Suzie had a washer/cog that came with it I had taken off and stored safely (which I was actually able to find for once!). Once I put this on it allowed the cogs to interact and work its wonder. 

Aura bobbin with the holes to drive it and the WW bobbin.

The bobbins are a decent size, but smaller than my Aura bobbins and around the same size of the standard boilable bobbins you get from Majacraft. While you need these special bobbins to use the flyer properly and they cost $39-$45 for standard or jumbo. However, I believe one could easily find the same sized cog and attach them to their own bobbins. However depending on the exchange rate if you needed new bobbins in general (at least for Majacraft) the pricing may be negligible. Plus the bobbins are a bit thicker on the wooden ends so there might be a balance issue. As I have a few extra bobbins I want to try and see if I can add a cog to the boilable ones.

At the moment, I can only use the Winder on my Suzie. HOWEVER, this might just down to the bobbins. When you purchase you get asked whether you want the Aura style (which fits all) or the standard which fits everything but the Aura. Looking at all the different flyers for multiple wheels it does not appear any change in the mechanism. So my thoughts are simply drilling the two whole required for Aura bobbins and I can have the WW interchangeable between both my Majacraft wheels! So one bobbin will be sacrificed for that and a boilable bobbin will be sarcificed to glue a cog on. Lets see how it goes with plying next as I hear that is where it shines!

The two cogs together from the flyer and bobbin

WW set up on my Suzie 

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Whoops

In the Ashford Distaff adventures I am learning so much, and today's education was what to do with a vegetable oil stain on unsealed wood! My bag chocolate-coconut balls were leaned up against the wood and left this stain....

As was mentioned at the spinning group this is something that wouldn't be hidden with the clear stain I was considering to match my wheel. So being someone who has little idea about such things, but someone who does know how to google I spent last evening checking around.

A couple of Youtube with different products and even suggestions just to make the stain cover the entire product I was beginning to become dismayed. This Distaff was going to be the death of me!

Then as it is with most things the simplest suggestion came up, SANDPAPER. Knowing I have some sandpaper from my Ashford kits somewhere, I went looking at 1 am. I even googled how to sandpaper in case there was something about going with the grain etc. 

I started with one of the smaller stains and was so excited about how quickly it went. Then after a bit more intense rubbing on the bigger stain I am proud to present.

I know it is not perfect, but if you spin the entire product around the wood grain itself has many different and darker variations which match (like up the top is all natural colour variations. So it's more the shape of the colour variation is is slightly un-natural. However for anyone picking it up and once sealed you won't ever know! 

So something new and something I will have to learn more about when I redo the project wheel. So a trip to Bunnings is even more imminent to get something to seal everything to avoid this again. Right no the distaff is in place on the wheel, so no chance of getting anything on it. 

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Silk and Distaffs

Now to figure out how to use it!

Todays spinning day had two extremes, gossamer silk and drills! We managed to get the distaff installed and get holes drilled in my other traveller so it can go on either. Now to get it varnished etc.
I took the mother-of-all of my old Traveller as well so I could have some space in my car and not cart 3 wheels and a loom. It needed disassembling anyway as it is my project wheel to restore. We used it first to practice before doing it to my better wheel (you can see it on the table behind).

The rest of the day was silk!!! We had been given some silk before hand for our homework. We are working on spinning two singles in silk and plying, then a single in silk and wool then ply and finally to blend it with wool and do a two ply. I managed to get my two ply silk done and a single ready for the wool ply. This was my first time with silk and I am loving it. I have been using my Suzie to spin the silk super thin.

Small 2 ply silk

We also tried different types of silk, today was silk hankies. With the wind (which was welcome after a very hot week) we hand silk dancing everywhere!

My silk flying into my neughbours coffee

Being skillful streatching the silk!

Toilet rolls a great item for rolling the silk hankies onto

My Suzie showing off her fine spinnng, we got to 40 or less WPI (the card couldn't go lower to check)

Those paying attention might have noticed I mentioned a loom. I noticed a free 4 shaft loom literally 3 streets away from me and after finding out it was about to get put out for council pickup of trash (god-forbid!). So I went down that day and picked it up. It's in need for TLC, but the price was right! So like my old Traveller this is a project item. I also got informed it was an Asford Loom from back in the day. I'll post some photos soon as it has been disassembled in my car for the past week. My car is its own storage unit and for the past month housed at least one sheeps fleece which is finally in the garage, but need better storage.

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Some Assembly Required

This is one issue I do have with some wheels/equipment, the level of assembly required and the assumed tools. I realise it is cheaper to send items flat pack and Ikea it up. However, nothing diminishes the excitement of a long (very long) awaited package that you need to go out and buy stuff to use. And I'm not talking about having the wrong sized screwdriver you can pick up from your local or cheap store. My new part requires a drill and requires ME (who has never touched one) to drill into my expensive wheel to use my (not cheap) accessory.

So, on Distaff Day I decided I really wanted one and there was a distinct absence of handheld ones. So I splurged for an Ashford one during a sale and also got an extra jumbo double drive bobbin and tried to see if they still had any Wee Peggy tension knobs (they used to sell the wheel, you never know what they have sitting around). So over one month wait and my products arrive. The tension knob is just a standard Ashford one. Luckily I looked around and spied my old fixer upper had lost it's knob at some stage (might be in the car somewhere). So I guess that was a random win/lose. 

The bobbin is a bobbin, but as is my gripe with all Ashford products the only choice is unfinished. So now I have 2 bobbins, a jumbo flyer and a distaff I need to varnish. So either need to colour match it with my good wheel. Or find a colour I eventually want to paint my wheel and have mismatched items for awhile. 

The main issue I have is none of the sellers or websites seem to mention the need for such equipment and assembly. In fact, one website says it is quick and easy to assemble........ I'm sorry, but a bit of an assumption that everyone owns and has the ability to use a drill on their values wheels is a bit of an assumption. In the instructions all the wheels bar the traditional require this drilling to use your item.

Looks like I'm going to be asking either my spinning shop (I didn't buy  this from them as they were closed and this was on sale) if they may be able to drill two parts for me. Or failing that one of the spinners does a bit of woodwork and might be able to oblige. 

So instead of a post full of new item fun,trying out my distaff and putting the final piece of my Wee Peggy together I leave you with an unfinished bobbin....

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Working on things

As you may have (or haven't noticed) I am have been playing with the layout a bit. So apologies if links go nowhere etc I am still learning a bit of HTML from a general free layout. Right now my inconsiderate flatmate is playing DRUMS (or horrible music) right outside my room and the kids are watching the TV right on the other side of my room (instead of their own TV). Seeing my room is separated from the TV room with a curtain this is pretty loud. Apparently considering others is too much. I am just waiting for my laptop to charge up and if the noise continues I will just go to my car and sleep there....So doing this as I can't do any study and my brain is too fried to do a craft as I would worry about having to FROG a section. It is 9:30pm so I hope to god it can't go on much longer.

Crafts and a better layout soon!

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I swear it WAS and accident

 As the title suggests it was an accident, I swear! So story time!

So Friday week I saw two wheels up for a decent price. I forget what the other was, but I saw this Little Peggy. Now I have a Wee Peggy, and I must admit I was eyeing off the tension knob that I am trying to get for my Wee Peggy. So I put small bids on both wheels. Then Monday hit and the Aura came home with me. Being such a large purchase and having six wheels sitting at home I put that moratorium on purchasing. The next day I got out bided on the other wheel. So here I was with a wheel sitting at the initial bid of $99 with 20 other watchers. So I believed I would be out-bided even at the last minute which is common.

On Friday (a week after the wheel was put up) I forgot my phone at home. So I come home and check my messages after uni and found...I WON....no one else bid. Ah well, it is double digits and on talking to others on the spinners Facebook group other were interested but were a little wary about the drive to get it. As I have a hybrid the petrol prices aren't a concern for me and I enjoy seeing more of this new state. So maybe it won't stay long in the house.

So on Sunday, I took the 50min drive West this time! Now one thing I have regretted is that I have visited these lovely places and forgot to take pictures. Being the driver and sometimes on roads that are 80km/hr and nowhere safe to pull off it is just not possible.

This time, I did! It was a gorgeous day and even with quick shots from my old iPhone you can see the few I did capture showed the lovely colours that the Australian countryside can offer.

My GPS did fairly well, I was worried as the suburb I had been given did not come up, but the road came up when I put in the neighbouring suburb. I did run into some troubles with finding the right house (as I left I finally noticed the tiny post box with subscript tiny numbers. The people were lovely; the seller originally bought this wheel off a crafter who used it all the time. She had initially bought it to help with leg problems from a pre-existing health concern but didn't find it helpful.

Their house was situated on top of a lovely hill where you could see Sydney city in the far distance. I snapped this picture quickly of this cool old house on their property.

Such a vibrant day

The wheel itself is in mixed condition. The wheel itself is brilliant; the legs are a bit more scratched up so a bit of TLC needed. However, I am not sure I will keep this wheel now. It is very very close to my Wee Peggy (which I knew) but doesn't have the story my Wee Peggy has that endears it to me. There is also a clunk when it spins which might just be a nut that needs tightening.

On my drive home, I stopped by this crazy Bazaar.

It was an interesting spot with some buildings with the same decoration. The rest was a gravel oval filled with cars and tables of just about anything. I went in the last half hour, so most people were packing up and there was trash EVERYWHERE! There was a mixture of people with their small table of trash and treasure to people with a proper business. There were lots of tables of tools, nails, paintbrushes etc...it was an odd place. I might go back to check this out earlier in the day as it is only 20minutes away. I felt that if I were to find a random cheap wheel, this is the sort of place to look. I almost came home with another Conure as the bird place had some gorgeous colours, but a minimum price of $250 stopped me quickly!

So yea, this makes..... 2 Travellers, 2 Majacrafts (Suzie and Aura), 2 Rappard's (Wee and Little Peggy's), 1 Inwood (its second friend is the inwood drum carder for balance). So 7 wheels, from a grand total of 11 wheels (2 Traditional's, Celtic, and Elizabeth) in my lifetime. Though as mentioned I think we will drop back to 6 fairly quickly.

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Fibre and first day back!

Yay, we had our first day back at spinning class. I missed that weekly get together with people. We had a few new faces and it looks like myself, and one other will be doing the Certificate of Competence in Hand Spinning (CCHS) which is through the NSW Handspinners Guild. So I have till the end of February to get some samples together for the general meeting and get initial feedback. I'll talk more about courses I am doing in another post.

Awhile back a spinning friend had some fibre for offer from a bulk buy she did. As my friend and I both ordered from my spinning friends, our orders went to my friends house initially. So this is the gorgeous stuff that I had to wait until spinning class to get. (This was before my no buy, I was just waiting for them).

So six different batts/tops!

As you can see someone decided, I wasn't paying them enough attention so he decided to model for me!

This first one is a Superwash Merino in lovely Mauve, Brown and a kind of taupe colour.

Another pink/brown/purple in Merino.

These cute pink-purple rolags have a mix of merino, angora, Tencel and "a splash for sparkle". I have never spun from a decent rolag (just my early experiments).

Smells good, you may use it now!

This next one is an inspiration colour way for an entry into the Sydney Easter show. This roving is another interesting one as it is centre pull and self-striping....guess we will see what that is like. This batt has Merino, bamboo and Angelina. The brown and pop of turquoise are the colour draw for me and you will see the inspiration once I get my dyes.

While a dull white this Merino/cotton mix is so dangerously soft and cool. Due to the mix of long, and short fibres, this will be an exciting challenge for me and a good start for getting into cotton which I need to do for the CCHS.

This final one is to die for! A lovely mix of browns with a mixture of wool, recycled silk, sari silk, sparkles and bamboo. It is so soft and also seems to match the cat! I always thought he would make an interesting colour-way.

Were you collecting my coat each time just for this!?

Currently, what is on my bobbin is another unusual fibre that contains Stainless Steel! So that makes it conductive and if made into gloves with a fibre with the right ratio of stainless steel could use a touch screen without removing gloves and freezing your fingers! As with any of Ixchel's work it has some Angorino, Silk, Cashmere and Silk. I have some more Ixchel on its way! I am spinning this with a medium thickness. I am finding it ok to work with; I was having some issues with the fibre breaking off as I was not getting enough twist.

So I have been working with the wonderous Aura to get the right mix of twist and draw. By the end of the day, I was getting a nice consistent spin with it, I feel the combination of a new wheel and a new type of fibre was my initial problem.

Have fun spinning!

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A moratorium has been imposed

My new baby

Well it happened as you can see after my last post the Aura came home with me. Yes, yes I was all talking about customisation but hear me out. As I mentioned in my last post I got the opportunity to go try the wheel. I got to sit down with the lovely Jenny from Virginia Farm Woolworks and try this wheel I have been ogling for the past number of months. When I sat down she span so well and one thing I found that even between two different types of wool I tried I had a lot more control over the thickness of the wool that I haven't had before. This was just on the setup they had, no tweaking. So I sat there spinning and talking. After much conversations about how I can always laser engrave in later, the back log of even standard orders and the worry about trying to convey a design internationally I knew I was going to have a friend on the drive back. I already talked about my experience at Virginia Farm in my last blog so this will be the Aura, what I have experienced initially (so I can chart thoughts and progress) and what I am excited for in the future with this wheel.

The Majacraft Aura
Built in collaboration with an accomplished spinner Pluckyfluff this was Maracrafts jump into not only double drives, but reinventing the wheel (sorry had to). Like traditional double drive wheels one the flyer and bobbin get spin by the drive band. This wheel has a unique set up with two independent drive bands (not just one looped around twice as per standard double drives). One drive band spins the flyer and the other spins the bobbin. This allows for the ability to individually change both the tension and the twist.

The flyer is also a little bit different in that dual function orifice for fine or thick spinning. The drive band for the bobbin does not actually go over the bobbin itself. It has a special whorl on the front (which has two different ratios) and the bobbins slots into two pins that spin it.

While this wheel is a folding wheel so in some ways would be considered a "portable" wheel it is a heavy sucker. It has some lovely Rimu wood that is native to New Zealand and ethically harvested.

Majacraft in general hand makes all their wheels. Majacraft has been owned by the Poad family since 1996 (Originally owned by John Arlott from the late 1980's who was the original creator of the first Suzies). There are already two brilliant posts about the history and family here and here. One feature I love is that each wheel is hand signed and numbered by which ever Poad makes it. This number is also used to register your wheel on the Majacraft site for your 2 year warranty.

Hand signed!

There are a lot of amazing videos available that explain the unique properties of this wheel better than I can explain. These are better seen than explained.

I also decided against an overdrive head as I don't need an even bigger bobbin and would prefer the different range of flyers I can use with this and cheaper bobbins.

As this wheel was primarily designed for art yarns so the ratios are a little low 4.1-7.3
However you can change the whorls and the different whorls can change the ratios down to 3.6 and up to 19.4  (I will have to see if my Suzie whorl fits, as she predated the Poad families Suzies). I have seen lots of info about spinning lace weight easily on the standard Aura.

I am going to name this lovely creature Serenity. Why you ask - because of this cute anecdote I read Apparently Andrew Poad (whose name is on my wheel)is a Firefly fan and originally the Aura wheels code name was Serenity. I am a Brown Coat myself and a major fan so I love the link there!

Andy, Glynis, Owen and Rod Poad from NZspinningwheels.info

My first thoughts.... I like it better than my Suzie, she is beautiful and I am very happily surprised how much more control I have over my fibres size as I have struggled getting consistent thicker yarns and within moments could do it. So I can only imagine what some practice will achieve!

So what is next for the Aura? Well now I am on a moratorium as the title mentions. So no buy on spinning except if I need more bamboo fibre or dye for my entry in the Easter Show. Next post will be on the upcoming shows in Sydney!  However I eventually want to get a tensions lazy kate to fit these bobbins and the lace flyer system.

Suzie eyeing down its cousin. 

I think this is wheel 10.....double digits...I swear this is the last for a very long long while unless I come across some $10 beauty!

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Virginia Farm Woolworks

I swear it followed me home like a lost puppy! I think it was a given that it was going to happen, it was just a when.










A few weeks ago I had contacted a local distributor about trying one, but they didn't have any in stock. Well today I decided to take the day off uni and while I was sitting around I got an email saying they had one available I could try. So a quick phone call and I was on the highway to Virginia Farm Woolworks.

Photo from Virginia Farm Woolworks of their lovely property

I will try and be good and instead of going on about the wheel this (that will come later I promise...or I am sorry) will be a semi-review of this spinning and weaving shop.

Virginia Farm Woolworks is about an hour away from me (probably about the same distance give or take from Sydney city). So while too far for weekly classes close enough for special classes and to get my Majacraft stuff. They are situated in a very lovely area of NSW called Annangrove. I got to meet the lovely Jenny and Phillip Dunn who are the owners. Virginia Farm sells not only Majacraft but also Ashford and Kromski. 

They also sell looms and fibre fun! I spent most of my time with Jenny and had a good chat about the local Guild (we will keep an eye out for each other). She does classes and workshops that also include Felting. I am keeping my eye on some upcoming felting classes. While there I felt they had the time for me and enjoyed my company. No hard sell, at all and we discussed the pros and cons of me waiting for a customisation (discussed in later blogs).

I felt I got all the info I needed and a great service and felt comfortable buying and expensive wheel from them. They were also very helpful with my payments as I was using a credit card I rarely used and forgot the password for (and needed to go to an ATM to reset). They took my paypal payment there and done and dusted. Packed her up with my bobbins and all the boxes and parts that comes with it and the leftover wool I had been playing with.

So very happy with this company and looking forward to checking out their upcoming workshops.

Part 2. The Wheel!

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