Saying Goodbye to a Wheel

Rustic approach

One thing I know about myself is when I start something I tend to go into it the whole hog. Hence why I have so many wheels and equipment etc. Now I have had a year of spinning (August is my Anniversary) I have refined my tastes a little. So some items are being sold or either upgraded.

One thing I have been finding compared to all the pieces of equipment that pass through my hands is it can be hard to say goodbye to a wheel. I am having to counter attachment to an object. This Peggy was made the same year I was born and came from a lovely lady with a story that touched a lot on why I was doing my PhD project.

So with a sad note, I decided that my poor Wee Peggy deserved better than standing in the corner looking pretty and needed an ower. So today my Peggy is heading home to its new owner in another state. So before she left I decided to do so glamour shots! (Probably should have done that to help sell). I have no more Peggy's now.

Freshly waxed and ready to go

Other items that have gone recently include:

Original Ashford 4 Shaft Loom

Hopefully my 80cm Rigid Heddle is being picked up tomorrow

Still for sale is my Wooden 4 shaft loom

Large Inkle Loom

I still don't know whether I will sell my 8 shaft Kirsten loom or not. 

I have been destashing bags of fleece as well with my sales so getting lots more room as I go. 

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Oh, What a Tangled Web We Weave When We First Practice.

Things have taken a turn to the weaving. My weaving stockpile has been evolving. What once started as a rigid heddle from Ashford, 8 shaft Kirsten loom and two old 4shaft looms. I now have swapped out my Ashford rigid heddle from a Kromski Harp Rigid Heddle of the same size (80cm), a 30cm Ashford Knitters Loom and my new pride and joy an Ashford 8 shaft loom (60cm). So right now I have 6 looms (one got sold already). So my Ashford Rigid heddle, 4 shaft and 8shaft Kirsten are all getting themselves put on eBay and awaiting new homes.

Curious Kitty wondering what new product is this mum?...

I'll do a review on the rigid heddles now I have had a chance to try three and also explain why I would still want a Majacraft Dynamic Heddle. I will also show my new baby in another post. However this time, I thought instead of equipment I would actually show the damn things being used!

So my Ashford Knitters Loom came with a double heddle block and extra heddles. So what does an inexperienced person who has only done two plain weave scarves do? Set up and work a double heddle and learn two new weaving skills!

A trial of patience!

On Ashford's site they have a pattern for a shuttle holder. So I'm still weaving it but wanted to share my progress.

The camera hides the flaws!

So many sheds!

This pattern not only required two heddle, but also two pickup sticks inserted behind the heddle to create two more sheds.

Brooks Bouquet being the fancy part!

This holder not only uses plain weave, but also two-layered weaving and Brooks Bouquet.

Hard to capture the bottom black layer being separated out

When it gets completed it will hopefully look similar to this ----------->
I am not doing the repeats of Brooks Bouquet, with just one between each section.





The pattern is fairly good, but I have found missing information about the desired length of the entire project or the length of each section. So I am just eyeballing it. I am making each holder the height of two shuttles and hoping for the best.

I am also working very very very! hard on my edges. As I am trying different techniques it is not 100% consistent though I am seeing progress. It is hard when weaving the bottom layer as not only is it slightly hidden by the top, but I used the suggested black which is almost impossible to see to check my edges. If I were doing another I would put the lighter colour at the bottom as the pattern is reversible so it doesn't matter.

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Majacraft High-Speed Head

For my Birthday awhile back I decided to get something bigger for my wheel. I frequently spin quite thin so I have been looking at the high speed head. I do have a high speed whorl which I like. The whorl is kinda considered the replacements for the head, but there are benefits for having and using both. None of the Aussie suppliers had this advertised so I tried a NZ distributor Alpaca Box. One thing I noticed about Majacraft in general while looking for distributors is their site lists many, but few have much if anything listed on their site or no longer exist. The lovely owner emailed me quickly and on finding out the delay in making a new one offered me the demo one she had just taken out of the packet. So instead of waiting 4-6 weeks I said yes and got it in a week. 

The wood is just beautiful and it makes the rest of my very old Suzy very tarnished by comparison! All I had to do to change the head over was undo the large screw the top, removed and the entire head head pulls up or pushes in. Put screw back in and tighten and done. 1 minute change!

Too much fleece behind the wheel

I put my flyer on the right hand side (previously left) as it felt better and sat better, but either side is feasible. As you can see there are extra components. the whorl comes with it and gives me an extra whorl in general to play with. While the usual drive band to whorl configuration still exists they kinda borrow from the Aura with a second rubber band that drive the flyer on the other side

Lovely wood grain there

The front view (or spinners view) the tensioning system comes with a smaller, lighter spring. Thankfully they also gave lots of tension band as I have broke it once during a spinning marathon. Thankfully only a few cm's from the end so was a very easy fix. 

So was it worth it. So far I am still breaking it in. I defiantly is faster and even without the smaller whorl it changes the Suzy range of speeds from 4.2-14.5 to 11.4-27.

It would be ver interesting to try all the different whorls to see what ranges I can get. Even the fast speed whorl by itself only goes from 9.5-18.8 so this defiantly gives a boost. I think I will really appreciate it when I get to cotton spinning! As I have my Aura and love it I am changing this Suzie up to a specialised high-speed spinning wheel. I am glad I got it, would I recommend it - maybe. Only if you need/want extreme high speeds, but I would try the whorl first and see if that works as it is much cheaper.

I will give an update later after I have used it for a few more spinning adventures. 

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Regrets and Success

I got this lovely skein of 100% cashmere from the Hawkesbury Show a few months back. I finally pulled it out to get it started and stupidly decided I didn't need t use my umbrella swift to get it would up. 

This resulted in the below ungodly mess!

Cries loudly

Two evenings later I finally got it into a centre pull ball and started making the scarf pattern that came with it. 

Note to self - always use your swift as you always make a mess when you try and take the "quick" route. Thankfully I didn't break it or leave any knots. Worst case scenario Ravelry has a group dedicated to people who enjoy undoing yarn messes called Knot a Problem. There is even a thread about the worst mess every successfully fixed.

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Tour De Fleece - Day

Well we have just started the Tour de Fleece. What is that you ask? During the Tour de France us spinner can join the fun by spinning each day. Many spinning sellers and groups team up and some spinner go solo. I have teamed up with Ixchel's team as I have a heap of her Fiber I need to start using. I might also join some other teams, maybe Majacraft team and if there is a NZ team.

I will be posting my achievements as I go and learn a bit about this fun game

This year, the Tour de Fleece starts on Saturday July 2 and runs until Sunday July 24th, 2016.

Guidelines (NOT RULES):

• Spin every day the Tour rides, if possible. Saturday July 2 through Sunday July 24th. Days of rest: Monday, July 11th and Tuesday, July 19th. (Just like the actual tour.)
• Spin something challenging on the challenge days (usually the toughest high mountain stage: this year, it’s Stage 8, on Saturday, July 9th, when they will climb 4 mountains, including the 2115m high Col du Tourmalet, and Stage 15, on Sunday, July 17th, when they take on the Grand Columbier!
• Wear yellow on Sunday July 24th to announce victory. Why not wear yellow on any day you feel particularly successful? (Yellow is the color of the race leader in the Tour - but here we are all ‘race leaders’) Other colors if desired: Green (sprinter - think FAST), Polka-dot (climber - as in uphill), and white (rookie).

Teams: Join one, or many, or none.

• Peloton (the main group)
• Rookies (first years)
• Sprinters (fast and/or high mileage, like lace, sweater quantities, etc)
• Climbers (conquer mountains, big personal challenges)
• Breakaways (textured “art” yarns)
• Lanterne Rouge (you will participate as much as possible but you may skip days here and there)
• Maillot Blanc (This team is intended for our younger participants. Anyone under the age of 18 who wishes to take part in the Tour is encouraged to participate in the Maillot Blanc team. This thread will be monitored and is required to be kept at the equivalent of a G/U rating.)
• Wildcards (This is for people who want to form their own team. This includes sponsored teams, like those affiliated with a specific fiber shop or people who live in the same town, etc.)

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Akerworks Bobbins Review

One necessary product us spinners need and tend to have too many of (is there such a thing? Sorry no!) is bobbins! I have 11 types between all my wheels (with about 30+ in total), and because it was a fun idea here are all my bobbin types in a row!

Missing a Wee Peggy!! It's like an Ashford DD anyway. So 10 out of 11 bobbin types

Anyway.... I had known about Akerworks for awhile they not only do bobbins, but also 3d printed spindles, magnetic needle holder lazy kate and flyer threaders (there is some non-spinning stuff as well). I had been fascinated by the bobbins, but unsure due to the $USD to $AUD. Why the fascination about the bobbins? There are a couple of cool functions. First is this is a bobbin you can put in your pocket!

Picture from Akerworks.com

These flat pack bobbins allow use have a hollow composite core with two 3d printed ends. Because the ends are 3d printed this allows for the choice of not only several cool colours.

Picture from Akerworks.com

There is also a choice of different cool ends. 

Picture from Akerworks.com

They also have a large range of wheels they have bobbin for including Ashford, Hansen, Lendrum, Pocket Wheel, SpinOlution, Fricke, Kromski, Schacht, and Majacraft.  They cater for lots of different types of flyer types within the brands including double drive, jumbo, and lace. So what made me finally break the piggy bank and get these? Well, I have been loving my pre-loved Woolee Winder but have been unable to use it on my Aura due to the bobbins being 2cm or so too long. I noticed that they had Woolee Winder Majacraft compatible bobbins available so decided to go for it. To make the shipping a little be more palatable I also grabbed a Baby bobbin so I could ply on my lace flyer. 

The website is very well put together and easy to use. They also are very active on Ravelry where they frequently get USA members to be beta testers of their products and have a wishlist on which wheel/flyer types to consider engineering next. They are also quick with correspondence and shipping. 

I had initially just purchased the Majacraft WooLee winder and baby bobbins, then thought I should ask if the WooLee Winder one fit on the Aura. I did get told they do but had seen in the Ravelry chat they were still too long. I wasn't too worried as I could still use it on my Suzy.  I chose the Lotus design in in Emerald Green and the Honeycomb in Purple. Being the Aura is a bit special I was pleasantly surprised that all but the Bike Tire design was available to use on all Majacraft wheel types. It was under two weeks (like a lot under) to get it made and shipped and I got emails throughout to let me know how it was progressing. 

So excitedly I ripped open my package and found some nicely packed products. They came flat packed in special black gauze bags that has a separate area for the spool part and the round parts. They each had a small Akerworks card and there was a personalized thank-you letter that commented on how they liked my two colour combos.

Lovely hand written note

So I excitedly put the WooLee Winder one on my wheel and did it work........no. It was the same length. On inspecting the bobbin there was a part that pocked out more that I felt I could possibly sand back. This didn't work (or more so I didn't have the patience to get it down far enough). So I thought, as well, and got back to things.

Baby Bobbin Purple and WooLee Winder Bobbin Green

The baby bobbin is cute, it does run a bit noisier than standard bobbins, but my Suzie is an older edition so the drive shaft is a tad longer and things clack a little in general. So I don't hold that against the bobbin. I have done a full ply on it and it did well.

Showing the ball bearings and notches you use to attach

While I was exploring the Baby bobbin I noted something in the design. It was missing that middle section I found was protruding in the WooLee Winder version. So I unclipped the back part and clipped on the back section to the Winder version and low and behold...it was actually a tad too short! The two cog parts just touched, but they did touch! When I treadled my Winder did what it is supposed to do and wound!

Combo! The cog at the front of the WooLee Winder

Now you might remember I had this problem originally with my WooLee Winder on my Suzie and I just put a small washer on the shaft and it worked! So I tried the washer to give it the tiny push forward, but the random one I have is too big, but I am sure I can hit up a store for a cheap small washer (or even a rubber band!). I did try the shaft on the baby bobbin and different combos, but only the Woolee Winder bobbin with a different back end worked. 

So what started as sadness is ending in happiness! I have a bobbin I can use to combine my Winder and my Aura as I have been trying for ages to figure! What I might do when my piggy bank fills up enough again is when I order more (could do with 2 more) is to have a chat beforehand and figure out the exact combo that could work. With having so many different brands I am sure they have the right combo of front part with cog, shaft length and back part to make a perfect bobbin. I am also sure being able to advertise that this is possible might help another person like me. 

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