12 Days of Christmas: Day 10, fixing a wheel

Day 10: Thursday morning, bright and early, and it was time to start working on the Prinsenhout Staphorster wheel which had followed me home from M's house on Tuesday.
The problem: a footman that hops off.... all the time.....
I started by going online on Ravelry and posting photos and asking questions, and then after an answer or two I took matters into my own hands.
It seemed to me that for some reason the white plastic bearings in the hole at the top of the footman was protruding too much and not giving me space to put a washer on the end of the crank to keep the footman from jumping off. So I got a hammer and gently coaxed off the white plastic from one end.

I cut off a small ring from the plastic, with the thought that I might put it back on now that it was shortened, bu only if it turned out to be necessary. I tried the footman first with only one plastic bearing on and a black rubber tap washer to hold the footman on.
I also retied the cord at the end of the footman which had tied it to the treadle. Now both ends of the cord go through the treadle and that means less wobble and jerking around of the footman as I spin.

And then I sat to spin - and it spun!
Only minor problem was that the knot under the treadle worked its way up through the hole and now the treadle fell to the floor. I used the tiny ring that I had just cut off to anchor the threads together under the treadle to eliminate that problem, and retied the knot.
I had already noticed that the one and only bobbin was missing a bushing at one end, and that the existing bushing at the other end looked identical to the white plastic piece I had taken off the footman, So I tried it, and yes it fitted. Waste not, want not!
I tried again, and yes, the spinning wheel spun without any problem.
Later that evening I spun on it again, and yes it still continued to spin.
 All I need now is a better, more permanent solution than the rubber washer, I am thinking that if I can find a C-clip or a lock washer with teeth, diameter quarter inch, that I could use that to hold the footman in place, especially if I could get somebody to just cut a shallow groove in the crank for the clip to catch on to.

And the wheel ideally needs two or three more bobbins, so that the spinner can ply with it, with relative ease. (Otherwise, with only one bobbin, the spinner has to wind on the singles from the bobbin onto kitchen roll cores and then ply using them. Possible , but not easy)
The bobbin on the wheel seems to be about 16.8cm long, and the bobbins I see for sale on www.wolplantage.nl/ger are 17.5cm long, sadly. Nevertheless, I will send a message to Marianne on that site and see if she has anything that would suit.

I have started an Instagram account and I aim to post mostly spinning stuff on it. Rest assured that there will be no photos of my children doing funny sweet things! You can find me there, under the name spin_me_a_yarn_ie. There is a 30 day photo challenge for spinners, #wemakeyarn. I am trying to post one photo a day for that challenge. Let's see how that goes, once I return to work next week!

12 Days of Christmas: Day 8: Spinning excursion

Day 8: Tuesday 2nd of January, 2018.
It will take me ages to get used to writing 2018, this I know from past experience.

Today, I went on a mini spinning excursion. I went to visit a spinning friend, M, who lives about an hour's drive from me, not necessarily including the ten minute traffic jam in the small county town nearest her house. I think I counted 3 or was it 4 sets of pedestrian crossings in that town, with the result that all the traffic between Limerick and Cork and vice versa just c...r...a...w...l...s through the town. The promised motorway between Limerick and Cork would be a great relief to drivers and townspeople alike, I imagine.

M has two wheels, an Ashford and an older wheel. I was particularly interested in the older wheel,  which at first reminded me of an East European wheel, as it has a pronounced slant to the table. However, closer examination a few months ago showed that it was probably a much more modern wheel, maybe 1970's or 1980's even and of Dutch origin. I am tentatively calling it a Prinsenhout Staphorster wheel.


It had two problems, firstly, the footman kept on hopping off as M tried to spin on it and secondly, it had no bobbin brake.
First things first: I had a few different washers  and circular metal clips with me. I found one that more or less fits the end of the crank where the footman sits. However, the crank seems very short and the clip hops off and then the footman hops off, after ten seconds or so of spinning.

Undaunted,  I rigged up a basic bobbin brake from kitchen cotton cord and got the wheel to spin by shoving the clip on as tightly as I could and just spinning. The clip hopped off again and again, but at least I was able to get it to spin and to take up the yarn.
Later, after a lovely lunch, M had a spin on my Bliss and my Ashford Joy, and I admired the lovely batts of Zwartbles and merino and alpaca she had made and the blue and grey punis. Well done M!
I need to dust off my drum carder and get blending too!
The Prinsenhout has come home with me. Nobody at home has even noticed yet that I have brought home another wheel. Excellent! This means I have built up their tolerance to wheels to the point where one more doesn't matter!

the Prinsenhout Staphorster 

12 Days of Christmas: Day 3, Ashford Scholar Mark 2 teaches me a lesson.

Day 3, Thursday 28th December
Today there was a beautiful sunrise, I know this because I was up early to drive my daughter to work for 8am. The sky was clear and blue. However, it didn't take long for the clouds to roll in from the south west. I could see the horizon darken as I was driving home for my breakfast. The forecast was for showers of rain, sleet and snow. Oh dear...




Luckily the roads were ok for driving and after my breakfast, I gathered my bag of Very Important Things for Fixing Spinning Wheels, and off I set. I got safely to my friend's house, M in Killaloe, Co Clare. M has a Mark 2 Ashford Scholar. The connector between the conrod and treadle had broken off ages ago, and a new piece was needed, but it wasn't working out so well for M to fix it.

Well, all I can say is that I live and learn. I will spare you the trials and tribulations of the learning curve, but I can assure you it was steep. Finally, M's partner discovered after over an hour of us women trying and failing, that actually, there was a short piece of the old green connector stuck in the hole of the conrod. Sigh.... That was why the screw couldn't get a grip on the connector piece properly. I had seen a little bit of green, but didn't realise it was a whole chunk of old connector! Mea Culpa!

Oh well, it was a successful visit after all, as the wheel did spin after that, albeit with a slightly shorter piece of connector than the optimal length, (boohoo, I had cut the piece earlier, dang!...)

A drop of Ashford Spinning wheel oil worked wonders and the wheel spun smoothly for me before I left.


Lesson 1 learnt today, Use your eyes and keep asking questions of yourself: i.e. What might that little patch of green mean? Investigate!
and Lesson 2: Order more Connector pieces asap.

 It was snowing as I was driving home, but it didn't land and  it didn't last.
Plan for tonight: Weave, Spin and read up on the Foundation Certificate in Spinning in UK.