# Scored a new wheel today!!!



## RedTartan (May 2, 2006)

Here's a link to my sheep album. The first four pictures are of my new wheel:

http://s54.photobucket.com/albums/g89/RedTartan/Icelandic Sheep/








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It has a distaff! What do you with a distaff? :hysterical: I don't know yet, but it's gorgeous, yes? Yes!

She's an early bday present from my husband. We were sifting through an antique store and found her along a back wall for *just $90!* As far as I can tell, all she needs is a drive band and a little strap to hold the treadle to the footman! Weeeeeeeeeeeeee! :sing:


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## RedTartan (May 2, 2006)

I have carefully checked her all over and there's no mark of any kind anywhere. She can't be old. Her finish is still glossy and everything. I'm going to start pinching myself in a minute


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Oh yay!!!!! Hooray for you!!! Can't wait to see what you do with her.


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## InHisName (Jan 26, 2006)

Beautiful! Can't beat that deal!


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## RedTartan (May 2, 2006)

I'm definitely thinking it's a Country Craftsman, WIHH.

Has anyone ever seen a distaff like mine? I keep looking for pictures so I can figure out how to "load" it and in all the pictures I've found the distaff is a straight stick. Mine is teardrop-shaped. I have no idea what to do with it.

I put a drive band on her and that's okay.

I'm having some trouble treadling though. I'm using a strip of plastic to hold the treadle to the footman and I'm not sure it's working. What should I use to hold the footman to the treadle and how long should it be?

Next thing to check is if my bobbins for Martha (old castle wheel) will work with Eleanor (new saxony wheel.)

Thanks guys 

ETA: It is called a "cage" or "lantern" distaff. Long fibers are draped around it and short fibers can be put in the "cage" and drafted out through the bars. I still don't know how to "dress" it though


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## lonelyfarmgirl (Feb 6, 2005)

ok, stupid question. If a wheel comes with that distaff thing, which looks like you should just shove a hunk of fiber in there, and it is intended that one spins out of the fiber hunk, what is the point of making rolags?


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## RedTartan (May 2, 2006)

lonelyfarmgirl said:


> ok, stupid question. If a wheel comes with that distaff thing, which looks like you should just shove a hunk of fiber in there, and it is intended that one spins out of the fiber hunk, what is the point of making rolags?


Your guess is as good as mine. I hate hand carding and am currently working on spinning my icelandic from the lock. My rolags are snarly messes in the middle


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## Chaty (Apr 4, 2008)

That type of distaff is for flax I believe. That was what I was told and you drape the flax over it instead of putting it in the bars. I have a distaff also but mine doesnt have the cage, thats what some call it is a birdcage distaff. But my grandmother just hung the flax over hers and believe me that was many years ago. Very nice wheel...CONGRATS ! on the find!


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## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

Attach your footman with a leather shoelace, long enough that at the bottom if the turn if the wheel the treadle is about half to one inch off the floor.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

CC's are flax wheels. I have one and zi love her but Zi only use her for fine spinning. The orifice is very small as are the bobbins. The CC can be a finicky wheel to use. This is the wheel that used to jump the drive band for the person I bought it from but not for me. Maybe she likes me better . Although I have a friend who has only spun on a CC, it is not what I would consider a beginner's wheel. As for the distaff, you can just remove it, they are kind of a pain in the backside. The distaff is intended to hold flax but you can put whatever you want in it.


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## littlesheeps (Jan 1, 2010)

RedTartan, your beautiful wheel looks like a copy of an elderly wheel I just bought, signed "D.Shelly". Yes, that is a flax distaff... of course, I have no idea how to use it! My wheel could be functional but needs a bit of work, however, I am loving it as a decorative accent in the dining room. I did some googling on D.Shelly; he was from Bucks Cty, Pa in the early 1800s, and apprenticed to a millwright about 1818; so we are surmising this wheel is around 180-190 yrs old. She's a beauty... I'll have to figure out how to copy and paste a photo; could be more than my brain can handle. littlesheeps in Co


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## RedTartan (May 2, 2006)

Marchwind said:


> CC's are flax wheels. I have one and zi love her but Zi only use her for fine spinning. The orifice is very small as are the bobbins. The CC can be a finicky wheel to use. This is the wheel that used to jump the drive band for the person I bought it from but not for me. Maybe she likes me better . Although I have a friend who has only spun on a CC, it is not what I would consider a beginner's wheel. As for the distaff, you can just remove it, they are kind of a pain in the backside. The distaff is intended to hold flax but you can put whatever you want in it.


Oh, I'm loving the distaff! I don't actually dress it, but the roving looks much better hanging around the distaff than hanging off the back of my wheel in a Walmart bag 

I'm actually excited to have a wheel for fine yarn. I have a hard time trying to spin fine yarn on my castle wheel.

As a cute aside, my autistic 8yo is very curious about my new wheel. I'm not letting him touch it for now until I figure out what's wrong with it. So he's turned his trike upside down near the wheel and spins his front wheel while I fiddle with my wheel. ound:


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

Very Nice,how Fun! I have seen many wheels in antique stores and they are never all there,I'm so gald you found a Good one! Yes the distaff is for Flax. The "stick type" distaffs are ment to have the flax held on with a ribbon wrapped arround the flax to hold it on the "stick". Some Flax wheels even have a small cup to hold water for dipping your fingers while spinning. ps. I learned to spin on a Country Craftsman,not exactly like yours,an older one.


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