A quick post

as it's late and I need to get to bed.

Spinning club was great fun as always, and I spent about 2 1/2 hours spinning on the Polonaise. Much to my surprise, when I checked the P. for alignment after arriving, it was in the same alignment as it had been when I put it in the car last night! I did end up angling the maiden a tiny bit to line up a bit better than it was, and I've learned that I can minimize the 'thunk' of the treadle and footman by where I place my foot.

This is how much I got done:

That's pretty good for me!

This merino/tencel is soft even when spun. I do have to pre-draft it a bit, but I've been getting unusually even thread for me (unless I don't pre-draft it very well).

And look at this handy box I found that almost-perfectly fit the flyer to protect it while traveling:


Good thing I didn't throw it out! (And yes, that's the Flip there in front of the chair - I took that to spinning club as well as a couple of people were interested.)

I'm taking the Pedal Pusher with the Brown Sheep roving, a small weaving project, and the scarf I'm knitting, on my annual Thanksgiving trip, so maybe I'll get something done on at least one of these projects.

I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving! :-D

Forgot-to-post Post!

I'm not sure where the weekend went - I sure didn't spend all that time spinning on the Polonaise. :-(

First - thank you very much! to the commenters, saying such nice things about my finishing job on the Polonaise! If I hadn't been in such a hurry to spin on it, it would've been a more fun finishing project! :-)

She does spin, very nicely. I was using the roving that Babe's Fiber Garden sells to test it out, and except for a 'knock' between the footman & treadle (which is normal, and I will be adding a thin pad between the two to quiet it a bit) and a thunk coming from a strange lump in the drive band, and figuring out how to adjust the take-up, I was making a nice, even thread.

Last night I started spinning the beautiful blue merino/tencel (the vendor is The Fiber Station) that I bought at the spin-in last month - that's trickier since it's a bit slippery so I'm having a bit of trouble drafting it and had to loosen up the tension on the wheel even more - to the point the drive band came off! That might be a little too loose.

Tomorrow is the spinning club meeting though, so I'll get lots of practice - and advice (yay!). I'll take the Spindolyn along in case I need a break from the Polonaise, plus one of the ladies wants to see the Flip loom so I'll be taking that as well. I haven't figured out an easy way to move the Polonaise - I picked it up by the table last night to move it, but I don't know how well that will work taking it to the meeting. Though the adjusters look like handy handles (the pieces that run from the maiden's table to the wheel supports), and the wheel is lightweight, I'm hesitant to do that as I'm not sure they are sturdy enough for that, plus I keep having to re-adjust the wheel as it is. I do know that I will rarely be taking out - it's just not easy to move around like the Babes are.

I hope to post pictures tomorrow night, so stay tuned!

Ta Da!

WHEW!

It's way past my bedtime, so all I have is a couple of pictures for you, but IT IS DONE.


Kromski Polonaise in Minwax "Gunstock", with 2 coats of Howard's Feed-n-Wax.


It looks a bit rustic in that color; it will be interesting to see how it ages.

I didn't get a chance to spin on it, but I did oil it and treadled it a couple of times.

And now I really need to get to bed. Good night! :-)

Parts is parts...

Wow that's a lot of parts (did I already mention that?)!

I don't have much to report, as this has taken up all of my time. The stain isn't quite turning out how I expected, so it will be interesting to see what the wheel looks like assembled. These parts are stained and waxed, so they are finished though not quite ready to assemble. The big pieces are getting an extra day for the stain to dry before waxing, since it's been raining today and I was getting a bit of stain off the small pieces when I was waxing them yesterday.

The lazy kate is finished and assembled:

Whew! At least something is done! I dunno - what do you think of the color?

Tonight I'm taking off since it's rainy - and I still haven't picked up a single crafty thing. I do need to find my beeswax for the threads on this wheel though. Now where did I leave it....

It's here!

It's a Kromski Polonaise spinning wheel, ordered from The Spinning Loft (Beth at TSL was very very very helpful while I was deciding to buy this wheel, and answered my dumb questions very quickly!). This doesn't look so intimidating - look, it's barely bigger than the hound!





Um... wow, that's a lot of UNFINISHED pieces...





Always start with something small...

I know I don't have the bobbins on right - I was just making sure everything fit.



It sure is pretty - even without stain!

Those are my stain 'chips' in the middle - I'm almost positive I'll use the 'browner' of the two.

I just dry-fit the wheel together, so it's not really usable, but I wanted to make sure everything fit together and was all there before I started sanding and staining. I was able to twist my already-spun yarn and have it draw in, so the wheel appears to work. :-) I started sanding the pieces tonight, and I'll be able to test the stain on the bottom of the lazy kate tomorrow. :-D

Here I am!!

I've been distracted by trying to decide if I really wanted to order one of these before the price increase. After much head-scratching, asking questions, and double-checking the bank account - it will be here Tuesday. :-D I'm getting the unfinished model, so today I will be doing some test-staining on a piece of scrap birch. I don't know if I can spin on a double-drive wheel, since I've only had Irish-tension and the Liten Spindle charkha, but learning keeps us young, right?

I have done a little bit of weaving on the dishcloths, but still haven't finished first one. :-/ That is also on my list of things to do today. I do like how the yellow is turning out.

(Sorry about the dark picture - the flash version was even worse!)

I did some knitting last week as well - it's the 'Even Colder In My Office' time of year, so I decided I needed handwarmers fast. I picked this pattern since I'm not very fast with dpns and wow did it go fast! I used a heavier yarn than it called for, which also speeded things up, and knit both at the same time.
I really like them and will make them again (and I have plenty of yarn leftover), only this time using dpns and probably knitting top-down so I can get good placement on the thumb. Too bad I can't wear them while staining - it's downright chilly today!


The most beautiful dog ever:


And now - time to start staining! :-D