Wheel of Time

Quite a bit of time it took to assemble; not days, but certainly more than half an hour. Even deducting for beers and breaks, it took a good deal longer. But here it is, all lovely and assembled, and for the cost, I must say it works like a charm. The only little complaint is a persistent tendency for the left treadle to clack after continued use. We haven't quite figured that out yet. Today, it got a treatment with stain to integrate the various woods used in the construction of the wheel.

It didn't take long to use up the small bits of roving I had purchased at the class, so the next step in the adventure is to find sources for yummy wool to spin. I love the yarns from Beaverslide Drygoods, so of course, wanted to try their rovings as well. They also have organic wool quilt batts for a very reasonable price, and I love supporting a small wool grower. Here's the box that came in the mail, with a real-life prop for size comparison. Those are some big balls!

It's here!

Well, it wasn't such a long wait. We had prepared ourselves for much longer suspecting the package might sit at customs in San Francisco on its way from New Zealand to The Middle. But, we got lucky, and here are all the components of our new Baynes spinning wheel all laid out and ready to assemble. The instructions assured us it would take about one half hour.

The Man o' the Place gets right to it. I had thought we should oil all the wood parts first, but he didn't think so. Well, and that's because he had every intention of allowing me the job. Bless his heart. I stand by my original theory that it would have been better to do that before we created all the nooks and crannies of an assembled spinning wheel. But, I digress.

Here is is, coming together. Okay, it's been a little more than half an hour. Not bad though.

Is it time for another beer yet?

All Hail the Queen

Elizabeth that is.... even more precisely, a friend's Ashford Elizabeth which she had purchased for her daughter in the 80s. It had been used once, and before I knew it, Lizzie was parked in my parlor waiting for some serious attention. She got it in a hurry, though not without a little frustration. Poor girl was bone-dry and her moving parts squeaked relentlessly. After a quart or so of oil and a ton of frustration, we got her to do her job. With two decades of early retirement behind her, she probably forgot her reason for existence so wasn’t very good at training us, and we weren’t very up-to-speed on how to handle her. In fact, the Ashfords have changed so much that working with this wheel was really akin to having an antique.