Drama About A Wheel

I didn't write a post last week because I didn't trust myself not to write anything I'd later regret, you see, I was very close to commit some murderous acts on my beloved 16 year old son. Let me tell you why.

Remember Little Grace Special? Yes, the handmade wheel that I waited 5 months for and finally came two weeks ago? Last week my son broke the flyer. Huh? What?! How?! Well, he was lying on the sofa like teenagers do, and had his lanky legs dangling over the side. My wheel was on the other side. As he was getting up he did this lifting up the legs and kicking out thing and WHAM! the wheel took a tumble but didn't fall (just as well!) but the poor flyer took the full force and fell, one of the flyer arms snapped - he is a blue belt in Martial Arts!

I was stunned, gobsmacked, stupefied, speechless, and sad...  Of course it was an accident, and he was very contrite - he even offered me all the cash he had, the cash he'd been saving up for something special. But that didn't help at the time, my brand new wheel!!

Luckily Mike, the wheel maker, said that if I sent the flyer back to him he would repair it for me. And the good news is as I write this post the flyer is on its way back, so all is good. And I still love my son, dearly ♥

While I was feeling sad last week I had something new to keep me occupied, my Cricket Loom had arrived. I know I know, I was going to get it when I visit the U.S. in January but I gave in to my impatience. Well, there is another story in there but I will tell you another time, one drama a post is quite enough!

Anyway, I used the yarns that came with the loom and made a practice piece:

and here it is tied off, washed and dried :-)

The edges are a bit wonky, especially on the side where I carried the yarns and it's only short, but I am very happy with how it turned. This is so much fun!

On the spinning front as I couldn't use my new wheel I got to play on the Jenkins Turkish spindle, I already had two singles spun up so I used my new Swan to do the plying which was perfect as I found it's a little too heave to spin singles for my liking. I was very impressed with how much the Swan can hold, a whopping 118g and 163 meters in this case, wow!

Well, that's all the drama and excitement for me this week. Now it's your turn :-)

Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party!

Introducing Little Grace Special ♥

My love affair with spinning started a year ago, in fact it was last September that I started my spinning classes. I still remember the buzz when I first treadled on a borrowed wheel and the excitement when I owned my first wheel, now a year later I am a proud owner of a gorgeous custom made Little Grace Special. (I'm a little over excited so please excuse the number of photos!)

You may already know that I have been patiently waiting for months for this little beauty to be made, and now it's finally here I can hardly contain myself!

It came well packaged in a polystyrene box:

The assembling instructions included a video which was very helpful, it took me a little over 30 minutes to put it all together - could've been quicker, it helps to watch the video first, duh!

Here it is fully assembled, complete with 7 bobbins (one on the flyer, the other six held at the front):

Here are more details:

My wheel is number 842 and it's got my name on it :-).  The orifice has two attachments, one is the reducing attachment which you can see at the bottom left, for spinning thinner yarns; another is an art yarn attachment showing here on the bottom right. The arm of the flyer head has three holes to hold the two attachments and the orifice hook when not in use. Not only that, a left handed spinner could flip the flyer head and have the flyer on the other side.

It has six ratios so the spinning range is huge.

But one thing surprised me (I wouldn't say disappointed, OK,  maybe just a teensy bit), is that the "double treadle" really is a "twin treadle" as shown here:

The two treadles are actually connected and move as one, meaning when treadling I'm not using alternate foot but both feet together. I don't remember reading anything about it when I did my research, and I assumed (always a dangerous thing to do) that two treadles means alternating actions. Still, I have spun on it and I am impressed, very smooth and effortless. So overall I am happy with my new wheel and I am sure Little Grace Special and I will have many happy years together :D

Oh yes, last but not the least, my Jenkins Swan has arrived. Isn't she beautiful!

That's more than enough to keep me busy! Now it's your turn :-)

Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party!