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.