I went out to garage sales and plant sales this weekend with my oldest son, Alex. (The youngest was in South Carolina all last week for a wedding. He had a great time, got to swim in the ocean and even got to go para-sailing -- glad I didn't know about that ahead of time.)
I came across this little double drive saxony wheel at one of the sales. It was very reasonably priced, but it didn't have a drive band installed, so I couldn't really test it out much. The single treadle worked well and I could see the bobbin was broken. I made an offer an brought it home, much to the chagrin of Alex -- some people just don't understand the need for multiple wheels or the excitement of finding a spinning wheel in the wild. There is nothing but the initials O.T.S. on the bottom. I wonder how old it is.
When we finally got home and I installed a drive band, I found that the double drive doesn't work with that broken bobbin, so I improvised a scotch tension string and spun up two ounces of BFL yarn on it. I oiled it, tweaked it, and used the little wooden peg to stabilize the mother-of-all. It spun really nicely! I'm not used to single treadle wheels, but this was pretty easy for me. I spun one bobbin full and then made a center pull ball and plied it. Plying was a little more difficult with my makeshift scotch tension, but I did a reasonable job.
I left the broken bobbin at the Fiber Co-Op, hoping that Winnie's husnband, Russ Johnson can make me two or three new bobbins. Then I will be able to use the double drive. Yeah! :-)
I worked at the fiber co-op yesterday. It was a hot day and not many customers came in, so I got started on making another vessel. I hope to make a cover for it today. This one is made of Gotland fiber (from Louet), BFL fiber (from my flock) and a BFL/Gotland cross fiber from Judy Colvin's flock. The cool thing is that I make my birdhouses with the same template I make these small vessels. Felting is so versatile!
Next post, photos of Leta's ram lamb and my new DUCKS!
Hahaha, Becky--"finding a spinning wheel in the wild"...I love this expression!! :)
ReplyDeletePurchases like that are such fun, aren't they?!?
No, we might not 'need' it, but if it's a good price and we can get it to work, it's like a present we give to ourselves!!
Your new vessel is spectacular! You do such precise and elegant work.
Missing you--I must send you a note soon and tell you all about Portugal! XXO--