Recently traveled from Florida to Dallas for a holiday visit and some “picking”. I brought with me my recent Craig’s List find, a Norwegian Princess Spinning Wheel, and along the way, in south-east Texas, I picked up an eBay pick-up only auction win, a Rick Reeves frame wheel.

I traveled light, a small bag with clothes and a large tote with spinning accessories, niddy noddy etc. and a large box of fiber … plus of course the two wheels. I picked up my daughter from school. The large college parking lot was resplendent with older white four door cars and as she scurried ahead of me, I said “look for the white car with two spinning wheels in the back seat.” She didn’t bat an eye, just gave me a knowing smile … who doesn’t travel cross country with two full size spinning wheels.

Found a sighting in Paula Simmons book, Spinning and Weaving with Wool, on page 68 a picture of the Norwegian Princess (much better shape), which apparently were imported and sold by Robin and Russ Handweavers, McMinnville, Oregon. The wheels were reported made of Beech with a lacquer finish. Originally the wheel came with 4 bobbins and had flyer ratios of 1.33 and 1.66. A very fast wheel. My wheel came with a new flyer and several new bobbins.

The Rick Reeves was in need of a major cleaning. The Norwegian was in less need of cleaning but it’s leg came off and it appeared there had been an old super glue repair. Super glue doesn’t work on everything, but Elmer’s? … Used white glue to repair the leg, and all was well. She spins beautifully. More regarding the Rick Reeves Frame Wheel in previous post.

I had forgotten my lazy kate and don’t tend to like on board kates so I improvised; who doesn’t carry knitting needles on trips, just in case?

Tropical Twister

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When planning my trip to Dallas over the holidays, a Rick Reeves hand turned chair wheel appeared on eBay, “pick up only”. I won the auction, adjusted my itinerary and made a swing through southeast Texas to pick up the wheel. I was already traveling with a “Norwegian Princess Wheel” snagged from Craig’s List and delivered by FedEx days before I left.

The Rick Reeves wheel was made in 2000 but had never even had a drive band on her. The purchaser had planned to learn to spin but health issues arose that kept her from learning. The wheel sat untouched. And I mean “untouched”; it had better than a decade of dust, kitchen oil residue and roach droppings layered in a thick coat of grime.

I used a Mr. Clean Magic sponges, 3M green scrubbers, denatured alcohol and degreaser to scrub her ’til all of the grime and most of the Danish Oil Finish were gone. Rather than run the risk of reassembling the wheel and having parts freeze, she rode home “naked”. Once home, I disassembled everything that easily removed and coated the various pieces with several light coats of Datco Danish Oil. After leaving the disassembled pieces several days to cure (the wheel was dry the first day but the additional curing time made sure the finish was hard and the parts wouldn’t stick after being reassembled), I coated the pieces with Goodies Wood Beams, a vegetable, lemon, cedar wax concoction which smells wonderful and makes the wood gleam.

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The Rick Reeves Norwegian Spinning Wheel had sold and has arrived at it’s new home in Washington State … quite the trip from Florida. The wheel had to be partially disassembled for the trip but was loveingly waxed and reassembled.

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The new group takes a fresh look at spinning, knitting and weaving with a tropical twist. We’ll explore exotic and classic fibers which lend themselves to warmer climes . . . bamboo, silk, llama, linen, and cotton. Our focus is hand spinning, and hand knitting and weaving on small looms. (You need to do something with all that yarn.) Novice and experienced spinner alike are welcome whether planning to buy a wheel or looking for ideas for your next project.

Individuals who wish to sell off any of their personal stash or yarn, needles, magazines, books are encouraged to list it here. This is not a group for business owners to sell same or for selling stuff you make, but for individuals to sell their used stuff. You may post links to Ebay if you are selling your stash stuff there.

All who have an interest in fiber are welcome to join. This is a drama free zone. No adult content. “Disagree” is for “I disgree with someone’s stated opinion”. “Disagree” is not for expressing “I think they’re asking too much for their item”. Advice and suggestions are always welcome, but please, keep it positive and helpful. Please stay on topic. This is a place to chat and share with others who share your obsession with fiber.

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The second skein was handspun from hand painted fiber purchased at the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair, SAFF. The locks were sewn in after the yarn was spun and before it was fulled. The finished yarn was soaked in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes without stirring which caused the locks to be felted permanently into place.

On this blog, there are other examples of faux hand painted yarns.

Visit us again here at Seabreezespinners.com We’ll be posting a demo of various ways to add locks to handspun yarn.

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Have also listed Rick Reeves handturned hardwood spinning wheel orifice hooks … lovely.

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SeabreezeSpinners.com

Beautiful, rare handmade Rick Reeves Norwegian Spinning Wheel for sale. The wheel has been well cared (as you can see from the photos) and is in perfect working order. This is a dream wheel. The purchaser will also get handmade Rick Reeves Lazy Kate and a total of 4 bobbins.

Lots of photos below … click on thumbnails to see larger images.

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Lovely Sterling Silver Smokey Quartz bracelet and complimentary silver ring. Find these and other beautiful items for sale HERE.
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Seabreezespinners.com is offering quality, trendy, silver jewelry at deeply discounted pricing. Handmade, silver jewelry from Bali, Napal and India which compares in fashion and quality to high-end catalog offerings while deeply discounted in price.

Be wary of 925 jewelry from China. Some wholesalers are touting that their listed plated jewelry is stamped “925″. For an example look HERE. Seabreeze Spinners always is careful to describe offerings. We would never list “plated” jewelry without clearly identifying the jewelry as “plate” or “layered over …”.

ALL OF THE JEWELRY posted on this site is 925 silver or even more refined. (The jewelry smiths of Napal & India at times employ silver that is more refined, that is, has more silver than sterling and is less likely to tarnish.)

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The Sterling Silver Smokey Quartz Racelet show above is $70 (not the $175 of the Ross Simons Citrine bracelet) and the Sterling Silver Swirl & Square bracelet is $200 (not the $295 of the Ross Simons Onyx bracelet).