Seabreeze Spinners

My Schacht Spindle Matchless Double Treadle Spinning Wheel is FOR SALE.

6/1/9 The wheel will sell, the “eBay reserve” has been met.

6/9/9 The Matchless Spinning Wheel Sold !

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6/1/9 WHEEL HAS SOLD

I’ve listed my SpinOlution Bee Travel Wheel for Sale on eBay. The eBay item # is 130307852909 To bid on the wheel, go to:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130307852909

This is my personal wheel which has been gently used. There will be one only at this price. While it is not “new”, it has been lightly used, there is nothing wrong with the wheel. I have TOO MANY WHEELS and must move this to a new home.

The builder specifications for the Bee:

Weight : 13 lbs.

Open Folded
Height: 30 inches 12 inches
Width: 19 inches 19 inches
Depth: 13 inches 9 inches
Wheel Size: 2-9 inch diameter 2 – 9 inch diameter
1.5 in thick 1.5 in thick

Number of Speeds: 7
Ratio: 1:5 to 1:36 (Approximately)

Material: Furniture grade Birch Plywood

This sale includes the Bee Travel Bag. Built to hold the Bee and all your goodies that you need to travel with it. Shoulder Strap included.

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We made it back from the mountains; I finished the microwave dyed hand spun hand knit socks on the way. Did have enough to finish, quite to my surprize.

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Here is the product of my off-and-on spinning while on vacation. This is orange wool and grey/black alpaca.

And for those who wondered what Possum & Wool roving looks like…the photo below.

It is difficult to photograph. It is soft creamy wool blended with cocoa brown swirls of possum. Last year I spun and then knit seaweed socks for the County Fair. I’ve entered projects of Chiengora (dog hair) and seaweed and was looking for something else; this is perfect. I’m going to knit a pair of socks for my husband (really big) and since he hails from Tennessee this seemed the perfect choice. I think he’ll get a smile or two when he wears them and is able to tell his buddies that he’s wearing possum. LOL

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Surprizingly, I discovered they’re aren’t a lot of fiber shops in the mountains despite so many weavers, knitters and fiber enthusiasts and besides…it’s really cold here.

Yesterday, we traveled to Asheville to visit the Earth Guild . They have books, instructions and supplies for fiber and a variety of other crafts including clay. I brought home cards and a book on card weaving. I also couldn’t resist a scarf kit, “Hand-Painted Rayon Warp” in a lush blue and green with black rayon for weft. On the way back from Asheville, we traveled a piece of the Blue Ridge Parkway where we stopped at the Gallery and Craft Shop of the Southern Highland Craft Guild Folk Art Center. The gallery/museum is amazing and the crafts are first quality and absolutely gorgeous. But, my most delightful discovery was today in Gatlinburg. The Smoky Mountain Spinnery where I was “lost in fiber space”. There are sock yarns, mohair, hand spun yarn and all matter of fiber. I’ve been wanting to spin and knit socks for my husband. He’s not much for bright colors and brown or grey seemed boring BUT I discovered marbeled grey roving which was wool and Austrailan brush tailed possum, yes, possum. I figured that was perfect for a Tennessee born and bred “boy”.

In the past, I had the loom out on the porch. It’s rained most every day since we’ve been here so I brought the loom inside. I’ve started a shawl with a varigated blue and cream yarn I’m alternating with pink and white.

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I feared I hadn’t enought yarn for both socks so I knit the first sock just past the completed heel and then started the second sock. I’ve knit it through to the same spot. When I get home I plan to spin a bit more yarn and then dye the additional yarn. It will be used to finish off the toes. It may not be exactly the same but the sock tops will look similar. I purposely alternated the yarns to create stripes but while each sock complements the other, they are not the same. I like variations on the same theme.

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8/14/2010 UPDATE …. I have Louet Hatbox Spinning Wheel for sale. Go HERE.

The Louet Hatbox Spinning Wheel is a compact, small travel wheel that spins great. The wheel was discontinued because reportedly it was too expensive to manufacture due to the curved wood case. I’ve spun out some orange wool blended with natural grey alpaca, “Seabreeze” fiber from Louet.

When I was exploring a junk/”antique” barn I drug out a number of chairs before I spotted the small chair and table that I wanted. The owner offered me the other chairs I’d dug out for $5 total if he didn’t have to stack them back. A deal was struck! To the left is one of the chairs that now lives on the deck. Three others have been painted and are ready to “plant”. I originally planned to use wire mesh then the shredded bark and to plant real flowers/bulbs. We’re not up here enough and they wouldn’t be tended, watered and such, so…they’ll be planted with silk flowers.

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I’ve had a number of questions recently related to Master Weaver Looms. Apparently, the first Master Weaver Loom was a small version which was used much like a rigid heddle lap loom. The photos I’ve seen show a nicely turned dark wood loom. (I don’t have one but would love to find one.) It was somewhat delicate in appearance as opposed to it’s cousin, the large and much heaver Master Weaver III. The Master Weaver loom was a larger version of the lap loom. It was made from natural wood and heavier in frame without the wood turning. Both of these earlier versions were limited in warp by the size of the loom. The warp was “turned” onto the frame end over end so that the warp was 2 times the length of the loom. The final verison, the Master Weaver III (the loom seen under “My Looms”) had a back beam and can accept a longer warp and can be warped like a conventional loom. Once warped (either style) the “feet” on the long “legs” of the loom can be un screwed which lengthens the legs and tightens the warp.

Janet Meany at the Weaver’s Friend was very helpful and can provide copies of various instruction books with patterns is you’ve been lucky enough to find a Master Weaver Loom. Apparently the business reorganized several times and to my knowledge is no longer in business. Hope this helps.

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