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 

Posted in: Accessories, Flyer, Majacraft, Woolee Winder