# A care package. :)



## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

Looky what Frazzle sent me. Note the thoughtful packing material to the right......and don't get lost in that monstrous black hole of an orifice on the Indian Head! 










Now I know what a thistle/bark concoction can do for a natural shade of straw/yaller, too.  Ain't that flyer a trip ?










I wonder what the fiber fairies might have in store for Frazzle..... :whistlin:


Thanks, Fraz. I actually started your book at Cyndi's between the insinuated threats of willow thrashing...... Now I can finish it, out of reach of the switch. :heh:


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

Oh my, what a huge bobbin you have there.
Now you just need that treadle machine.
Then you can get serious about your spinning.


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## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

I knew that flyer belonged at your house, Forerunner.  I got it at Fibre Week, and I do have a treadle machine and did get it set up on there and tried it out but you know, I'd use it way more on one of the complete 'stands' (a simple box frame with a treadle and wheel). Meant to make one but ... 

Also, I have a rather substantial stable of wheels here and this one just TOLD me it wanted to come live with you. Who am I to argue?

And yes, I have now discovered that God *did* make Canada Thistle for a reason. It makes a pretty dye.  That's the greenish stuff. The browner one is bark - probably some sort of poplar, it's whatever was near my firewood pile, which is mostly poplar. Natural dyeing is really fun ... plus I know how you love earth toned yarns. It's not the nicest fibre prep, it's just some spare wool I had around, so you can use it to practice with and not feel like you ought to make something perfect, it'll be "interesting" no matter what you do! 

Glad it got there in one piece ... can't wait to see the stand you build for it! If you check out images of the Country Spinner or the Indian Head or Cowichan wheel, you'll find lots of inspiration. I have two friends with frame-supported wheels like this, too, if you want dimensions or close up photos, let me know and I can acquire them. 

My one friend has put more than one pound of yarn on her wheel - and had room to spare. 

Totally your kind of wheel.  ENJOY!

ETA PS: I did round 2 of pasture clearout today ... the compost heap was STEAMING and it was 24 degrees Celsius out there! I thought to myself, "I gotta tell Forerunner about that - he'll be so happy!"


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Oh wow! Talk about a score . Great mind working together, nothing can stop them.


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

Now there's a _Cowichan_ wheel ?! 

Well, of _course_ I gotta have up close and personal pics uh _that_!

Looking at the first link that Wind put up, I'm thinking some extra designing needs to go into one of these to make the treadling just as smooth as possible.
For "art" and bulky yarns, I see a permanent battle line being set up between the treadler and that single treadle. :grit:

I'd have to say that the straw shades (that's what they looked like to me in the dim evening light of the cabin :shrug rank right pretty highly up there for my favorite natural colors, right under oatmeal/creme white.
I'm scheduled to go to Missouri sometime Octoberish with Dawndra to pick up my long-awaited drum carder. Frazzle's packing material *giggle* will be the first to be lovingly strewn thereupon.


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## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

There's really no drag on that flyer, much as you might expect it! You don't need it to spin really fast (bulky yarns usually have lower twist) so a wheel about a foot across or thereabouts and a single treadle is all you need. The SpinWell wheels have one giant treadle that you can put both feet on ... I find that a bit odd, but it does work! 
Spinwell:









This construction is easy to do and very sturdy:









And another variation:


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## lathermaker (May 7, 2010)

My Ashford Country Spinner is a double treadle and I don't have any problem at all treadling, even when the bobbin is pretty full. I don't know if I'd like it to be a single though...that might be a little harder to work.


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

So.....if I end up using my super wheel for, say, a yarn thickness somewhere between worsted and bulky weight, how much tension headache should I expect as the bobbin fills ?


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

That isn't something you can really guess at. I personally find that my tension doesn't change so much as I'm spinning a single but plying it changes significantly.


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

I haven't plied anything yet.
Running multiple strands through cup hooks (I _have_ graduated to an old, heavy duty ceramic insulator, actually) really works well.

I do get in the occasional cone of lace mohair that I can't ever get to the end of. :grit: 
Plying that likely 100,000 yards of light sewing thread into say, one reasonable thickness of 8-10,000 yards would be, at least psychologically, advantageous.

I am amazed at the huge variation and multiple types of spinning wheels.
The ones Frazzle listed seem serious about their business, as well as fairly simple in construction. Why all the diversity ?


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## menagerie momma (Sep 29, 2008)

"I am amazed at the huge variation and multiple types of spinning wheels.
The ones Frazzle listed seem serious about their business, as well as fairly simple in construction. Why all the diversity ?"


LOL! As soon as I saw this, a scene from a movie popped into my head:



Azeem: Salaam, little one. 
Small Girl: Did God paint you? 
Azeem: Did God paint me? 
Azeem: For certain. 
Small Girl: Why? 
Azeem: Because Allah loves wondrous variety. 

Just as the Lord loves variety, so does His creation! It would be a dull world indeed if we all liked the same thing! 

Jessie


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

I suppose that, on it's face, it was kind of a naive question, huh.......

I'd never seen the boxy frames like what Frazzle posted, always the dainty wagon wheel type spinners. The boxy ones give me an odd sense of hope in that I can build a tough spinner without feeling guilty about function over form.


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