The new bearing that I made for an antique great wheel works! It is slightly longer than the original, but since the maidens adjust separately, the fraction of an inch difference doesn’t affect functionality.
Photo description: my hand holding the original bearing on the left and the new one on the right
The shaft of the bearing ended up being a little thick. It was a tight fit, but needed to be able to rotate to hold the accelerator wheel as the maiden post was twisted up or down. I used my pocket knife to shave off some of the wood so the bearing could rotate.
Photo description: bearing with the shaft narrowed held in my hand next to the maiden post, spindle visible belowPhoto description: fully assembled accelerator head on a great wheel with new bearing on the left side of the picture and the original bearing on the right
I spun for about an hour, working on my yarn width consistency and testing out my new part. It worked just fine! And rotated in the socket when it came time to stop and release the tension on the drive bands. I always lighten the tension between spinning sessions so the bands don’t stretch. I don’t loosen them enough to come off when stationary, which is standard practice for spinners. I can see though, how someone coming along and turning the wheel might be startled by the drive bands coming off or the parts not moving. The bands just need to be tightened before use.
I had the opportunity to make friends with another walking wheel! I went to the Doss Heritage and Culture Center in Weatherford, Texas and met with the lovely people working there with the collections and events. They let me go down to the basement where there were two antique walking wheels, one with all the parts, albeit with some field-expedient repairs, and another missing the spindle and accelerator wheel.
Photo description: great wheel before I startedPhoto description: mother-of-all with spindle and accelerator head
I took off the mother-of-all, which holds the maidens, accelerator head, and spindle, to get a good look at the condition. I’m fairly certain that this mother-of-all is not the original one that went with the wheel, or the wheel was painted at some point, but the colors don’t match. The top of one of the maidens has also been lost to time, replaced with a dowel and metal spike, which certainly does the job.
Photo description: small wood stake that goes into the mother-of-all to hold the braided rawhide straps in place
Where the last great wheel I worked with had waxed linen that held the spindle, this wheel had rawhide magic braids that were nearly as hard as the surrounding wood. I was surprised that the pegs holding the rawhide in place could still be pulled out.
After looking over the mother-of-all, I put it back on the wheel, upside down. Oops. It took me about an hour of tinkering and fussing before I figured it out. In that time, though, I gave her a new cotton drive band waxed with beeswax, waxed the accelerator band, aligned the wheel with the base, and adjusted the wheel spacing against the post. The wheel rubs against the post, so I wrapped the post with waxed cotton cord to protect it from abrasion.
Photo description: waxed cotton cord lashed around the base of the post where the wheel rubs against itPhoto description: great wheel mother-of-all and tension system set up and spinning, there is another great wheel base in the background, which has a wheel, but the hub hole has worn away and it needs refitting
I love the tensioning system on this wheel. The wood nut on the right in the picture loosens to allow the center post to rotate forward and backward, decreasing or increasing tension. I think I actually like this set up better than the double nut Great Wheel, although both are more reliable over time than a greenwood tension system that relies on the bend-ability of fresh wood.
I did put a corn husk quill over the spindle to make it easier to remove the cop of yarn. For a leader I pulled three strands from my cotton twine, and did a larks-head knot over the corn husk quill. I spun Texas grown cotton sliver for a while before time called me away.
I finished single spinning the rest of my Teeswater wool roving from Pitchfork Ranch. I’ve been spinning with this fiber for a year, on and off, and it feels strange to reach the end of the bag.
Photo description: small bobbin on an Ashford Traveller wheel filled with single spun Teeswater woolPhoto description: three bobbins of single spun Teeswater wool on the Lazy Kate built into the Ashford Traveller spinning wheelPhoto description: jumbo bobbin filled with three ply Teeswater wool yarnPhoto description: the three initial bobbins with the left empty, middle with a small amount of single spun yarn, and the right with more
My first two jumbo bobbins of wool were crocheted into a circle vest. This last bobbin I’ll use to make a page for my spinning journal. With that idea, I two plied the yarn on the middle bobbin, and chain plied the yarn on bobbin on the right to get some more examples to put in my book.
I have had an idea twirling around in my head for a while about having a drop spindle combined with a wind spinner for when I’m walking and spinning. The idea is that the walk and wind will give a little more power to the spindle spin. I needed a material that was easy to work and light, so chose finished leather and cut it with my laser cutter.
Photo description: two leather halves of a wind spinner sewn together at the end of the tabs with waxed cord, dilute calico cat in the backgroundPhoto description: finished spinner on a different calico cat, dilute calico in the backgroundPhoto description: leather wind spinner installed on a drop spindle and used to spin some Romney wool, outside on a windy day, coop in the background
The cool thing is that this spinner only spins one direction when wind is blown across it, so it is easy to tell which direction I have been spinning, and suspended on freshly spun yarn, the wind absolutely spins it. Until the power in the twist in the yarn is greater than the push of the wind, which doesn’t take much. Hm. I have some ideas on how to improve the design. I’m hoping to have something working by fall when I can go out walking again. It is too blasted hot right now.
The Black Welsh Mountain Sheep is also on the Livestock Conservancy’s Shave ‘Em to Save ‘Em list as a threatened heritage species. I have finished single spinning my 4 ounce sample. It is very nice to spin, and I was able to achieve a nice thin single. My challenge for myself in this spin was switching direction half-way through, so I now have half the wool spun in the S direction, and half in the Z direction.
Photo description: spun Black Welsh Mountain wool on two spindles and one center pull ball, sitting on the original bag from Camaj Fiber Arts, and another bag with a lock of unspun wool
My plan is to do some parallel experiments with the two different spins in weaving, knitting, and crochet, until I run out of wool.
Critters and Craft 