Seabreeze Spinners

SpinOlution has a brand new portable wheel, The Bee Travel Wheel. I’ve ordered mine but they won’t be shipped until March. This is shameless self promotion since I’m a distributor for SpinOlution but take a look and you’ll be amazed as well.

Click HERE and HERE to see the new Bee.

The Bee retails for $645 and includes three bobbins. If you order from me, I’ll toss in Northern Lights fiber in your choice of color range. That’s the fiber I use to make Faux Hand Painted Yarn.

It’s been a crazy week. Lacy went to the “doggy dentist” yesterday. They put her out so today I have a drunken dog with a hang over. She is pretty wobbly.

The video of the mystery wheel was fun to make (sorry about the limited production value due to webcam time-delayed video) but how I hate seeing my profile. Too much sitting!

To get the wheel fine tuned, my husband created a bushing out of a plastic wall anchor. It spins great. Not as many choices (one whrol), so no funky yarn. But, it loves spinning fine yarn of wool. Although it’s diminuative size makes me look like a giant, I’m thinking it will be a good choice for demonstrations. It looks like people think a spinning wheel should look.

I also have had the fiber I dyed last week drying on the patio. We’ve had a cold snap so it was slow to dry. It’s a beautiful day; will be up in the 70′s. Winter is over!

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If you go to HERE you’ll see the Mystery Wheel spinning. It took a little more fidling but it’s a go.

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Have the wheel spinning but not without an “ethical” dilemma. The lock nut that held the whrol from spinning is long gone. I did visit my friends at Chrowder Brother’s Ace Hardware. The grooves don’t fit metric (likely made before metric machining was instituted) and don’t match any USA grooving. Likely was hand grooved and “nut” was tooled to match. The dilemma, do I tamper with the historic nature of the wheel and have a spinnable wheel or keep it intact but unuseable. To me, a spinning wheel should spin…sorry to those with tender sensibilities. I used a 1″ Hex Die to re-groove a small section of the rod that supports the bobbin and whrol. I turned the die by hand to gently turn the grooves. (The original grooving is still visible over most of the rod. I used a square nut (I bought 3 knowing I’m likely to loose one before I was done.) The whrol locks but is still removeable. I had considered other options like glueing the whrol in place and keeping the originality of the wheel but that wouldn’t allow removal of the bobbin. The drive band, some cotton/linen thick and thin yarn. I likely will replace it at some point, but for now, more suitable than plastic. I am totally pleased with my self…it spins. (Click on photos for larger images.)

The small wheel in ratio to the bobbin suggest the wheel was created to put little twist into the yarn (as opposed to large wheels which put a lot of twist into the yarn). This suggests to me this wheel was created to spin wool as opposed to flax or say cotton or other short stapled fiber. I would love feed back from more technical spinners. What do you think?

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My sock machine was recently repaired where I had forced it and the old cast metal broke. It is up and running but not without a lot of frustration…not to mention a bottle of oil.

New meaning to “Tropical Twister”.

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I went to the Norsk Folk Museum here using rokk as the search word and found wheels that have the same feel as my wheel (look at pages 1 and 22). Could this wheel have originated in Scadinavia?

Anyone hazard a guess?

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I cleaned up the Mystery Wheel with Wood Beams. A mix of beeswax and essential oils, it is amazing stuff! I took fresh photos of the wheel. NO METAL HINGES. The hinges are leather straps. Mildew/mold on the leather had taken on a metalic tone. When I cleaned it up, I discovered leather. I love the detail. A combination of woods were used. I’ve identified bird’s eye maple, tiger oak, and perhaps walnut. What a treasure. It appears hand turned with hand carved detail. Often the detail compliments and balances a corresponding part but is not a mirror image. Quite lovely. I hope to get it up and spinning shortly. More on that later.
Oh, and P.S., I’m using the new camera. Love it!

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This antique wheel came off eBay and the seller had purchased at an estate sale. I have no information other than I think it’s lovely. Anybody know what it is or its origin?

Interestingly, the foot treadle is hinged from metal brackets on the front of the treadle. For close up photos, click on small photos above:
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Click here for an interesting video on Woven Glass.

Picked up my sock machine from the metal worker extrodinere who fixed it. Haven’t been able to get it going but have ordered parts from Angora Valley so should be up and running soon.

Purchased a “new” spinning wheel from eBay. Hope to arrange with the seller to pick up the fax wheel and will have photos of that as well soon.

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