More wheel work...

I worked on the wheel some more today.  FIrst I changed the knitting needle I'm using as a spindle, as the aluminum needle was too flimsy.

This acrylic needle may be a bit too flexible if the fiber isn't easy to draft, but at least it won't stay bent like the aluminum needle (and it looks really cool!).  Since the new needle is a bit a larger and I had to enlarge the holes in the maiden, I decided to try the Liten Spindel-style maiden, which uses a slot in the front post:

 But since the wheel isn't done yet (very little is glued or bolted together) that didn't work out too well - the spindle kept popping off.  So I went back to (mostly) what I had before.  Though instead of having the back maiden post drilled all the way through, I cut off the cap end of the needle and just drilled one hole, so the needle is captured.  To remove the aluminum needle I had to cut the cap end off thus ruining it for re-use, and this will solve that problem.

I want to add another 'whorl' or two as well.

I also made a slot in the bottom frame so the maiden upright can swivel forward and back (and forgot to take a photo), and drilled a hole for a bolt to hold the drive wheel at 90 degrees.  But you probably can't tell the difference from last week:

I'm still considering lengthening the drive wheel post - I think it might be just a little low, though I could probably get used to it.  I've also discovered that the wheel seems to want to stop in one position - the same extension is always at the bottom.  So I'm going to need to balance the drive wheel a bit, but that should be easy.

I think I'm going to try the Tour de Fleece on Ravelry this year.  I have been buying way too much fiber this year and need to make a dent in it.  I have a braid of variegated red wool of some type that is 8-ounces - much more than I usually spin in a project, so I'm planning to spin that up on one of the Babe wheels. :-)

It's ALIVE!

It actually spins!

The aluminum knitting needle I used is too flimsy to do any serious spinning on it - it will be bent in no time, but DH says he has some oak and walnut dowels I can raid. :-)

Also, as I suspected, the base was too long, so I shortened it:

Much better.  It's now approximately 36", and since the maiden rotates I can 'stretch out' as far as I want to.  I'm debating moving the drive wheel up, but I think I need to practice on it a bit first.  And the maiden moves too easily, so I need to fix that too.

A few parts still need to be glued, once I'm sure they work ok; and I'm sure I'll find other tweaks over time.

What a fun project!  Except now I need to de-clutter the guest room (where the last picture was taken) so I have space to use it!

Building your own stuff

This is what I did this weekend:

I'm building a great wheel (with DH's help, of course). :-)  It's based in general on the photos I've seen of a Babe Great wheel; it will be interesting to see if it actually works.  And I'm sure it needs a bit of tweaking (it's not complete yet as I'm waiting on some epoxy to dry).  I think the base ended up a bit long, and I may need to shorten the maiden too - it looks awfully tall in this photo.  Plus glue more of the base together (but not completely - it must be somewhat portable).

It has been easy to build, yet difficult.   I've seen very few great wheels in person, and only one actually being spun on (watching YouTube is just not the same) - so of course I've not used one myself, making it harder to figure out how big, how wide, how tall.  Plus making a wheelchair wheel bigger around was a challenge.  Luckily DH is very smart. :-D

I may paint the drive wheel and extenders brown, eventually; but again I'm going to wait until I'm sure it works. :-D


If there is interest, I'll do a longer post with more details and photos (if the wheel works!).

Maybe...

I ought to re-name my blog since I've been doing more spinning than anything else! :-) I haven't even touched a loom for what seems like forever! Yep, I've been doing spinning stuff again.

I washed the Lapis:
It bled quite a bit and is a tiny bit 'faded' (or less lustrous) from what it was, but I still love it. :-D

I spun a tiny bit of silk tussah on the Bulky Pinkie:

It was shinier before I washed it - I think there is something in my well water causing that though as even my hair is darker/less shiny than it used to be, before we moved here.

And I started the Tiger Eye on the Production:
And "Jungle Love" on the spindle on the Production:
We'll see how having two projects going on one wheel works. :-D

Well nuts - it looks like Blogger changed how we upload photos. :-( I'll look into it and upload the photos later. (sigh)

More spinning...

I spent last week working on this beautiful BFL called "Jungle Love" from, yes you guessed it, Corgi Hill Farm. :-)

 (It's not really that dark, and has more green-turquoise in it.)

I used the spindle attachment on the Production,

 and stripped the roving lengthwise to try to preserve the variegation (vs. muddying the colors). 

Unfortunately I cannot quite reproduce the variegation with the camera, but the color is pretty close.  I love how this turned out, and the BFL was so easy to spin (at least after doing all that splitting!).

 
I kind of wish I had bought more!

The loom started calling to me Sunday, so hopefully I'll get back to weaving in the next couple of weeks.  Hmm... maybe I could weave something with this skein (after I finish the log cabin project).