tarnation!
G'day all!
Well, what an annoying day it has been. Make that weekend.
Yesterday started well but went downhill around lunchtime when my easily upset gut decided to have a spaz. And I forgot to drop some money for Goodies tickets in to a friend's place early and got there late. D'oh! And Nathan had a complete and utter spaz over things that will remain unmentioned on this blog.
Today I happily trawled out to get the spinning wheel. I had the impression it was pretty new and had hardly been used. It is in perfect working order, according to the person who was recommending it.
Da-dow! (That awful NO noise they use in quiz shows)
The wheel had quite clear signs of having treadled quite a lot. Plus it has been stored somewhere where it can get wet - the finish has water marks all over it and the flyer hooks have a spot of rust or two. Still, it is sturdy and trundles around quite well. So I coughed up the dough and brought it home.
When I tried to set it up for spinning, I noticed a bit of a problem. Now I am a complete newbie to spinning with a wheel. Even my husband knows more (but he has used a spinning wheel).
The wheel wasn't drawing the yarn onto the bobbin. The yarn would just wind tighter and tighter and tighter but there was no tension.
No tension? How do these wheels work? Well, after a bit of googling, I worked out that I had a single drive wheel, most likely an old (say about 20 years old) Ashford Traditional. It is certainly a very plain saxony style wheel, and nicer than the overly ornate Elizabeth. (I've never been fond of colonial style stuff.) Single drive wheels have a Scotch tension device on them - basically a wire with two springs hooked up to a peg-type tension device (like the tuning things on a guitar) at one end and a eye-hook at the other.
My "new" wheel has no such thing.
I played around with some wire but I am not at all happy, Jan. I've called for some help from the person who recommended the wheel, but at present it will be going back and I'll get my money back. I could fix it up but it is not worth what I paid for a wheel that is in "full working order." Especially when I will need to get more bobbins, a lazy kate and various bits and bobs for it.
Can't even get any pics, which is the other thing that made me particularly grumpy. Because we have moved our toys from room to room two or more times in our sanding the floors caper, the spare batteries for the digital cameras (yes, cameras, plural) have gone walkabout. So halfway through my photo shoot of my recent acquisitions and dare I say FINISHED OBJECTS, the camera starts beeping at me. Battery low! Battery low! Then it didn't even turn off properly. I grab the old camera and guess what? Batteries dead in that one too!
I spent nearly half an hour grumping around the house looking for the spare batteries. I found three. Each camera needs four batteries. Sulk. Grump.
So no pics of the FOs today, nor of the wheel nor of my recent naughty acquisitions. Grump.
Still, apart from those annoying things, life is pretty good. I did a bit of moving stuff back into the study. Nathan had a lovely afternoon playing in the garage with his brother - hmm, that sounds suss - making new speakers. I did manage to jury rig a tension device for the wheel but it is not good. The yarn I made is best described as novelty :-) And I had to navajo ply cos there is only one bobbin. I shall just have to save my pennies and get a nice new little Kiwi wheel instead.
Maybe I'll have pics tomorrow. We can have a picture fest!
anon!
Well, what an annoying day it has been. Make that weekend.
Yesterday started well but went downhill around lunchtime when my easily upset gut decided to have a spaz. And I forgot to drop some money for Goodies tickets in to a friend's place early and got there late. D'oh! And Nathan had a complete and utter spaz over things that will remain unmentioned on this blog.
Today I happily trawled out to get the spinning wheel. I had the impression it was pretty new and had hardly been used. It is in perfect working order, according to the person who was recommending it.
Da-dow! (That awful NO noise they use in quiz shows)
The wheel had quite clear signs of having treadled quite a lot. Plus it has been stored somewhere where it can get wet - the finish has water marks all over it and the flyer hooks have a spot of rust or two. Still, it is sturdy and trundles around quite well. So I coughed up the dough and brought it home.
When I tried to set it up for spinning, I noticed a bit of a problem. Now I am a complete newbie to spinning with a wheel. Even my husband knows more (but he has used a spinning wheel).
The wheel wasn't drawing the yarn onto the bobbin. The yarn would just wind tighter and tighter and tighter but there was no tension.
No tension? How do these wheels work? Well, after a bit of googling, I worked out that I had a single drive wheel, most likely an old (say about 20 years old) Ashford Traditional. It is certainly a very plain saxony style wheel, and nicer than the overly ornate Elizabeth. (I've never been fond of colonial style stuff.) Single drive wheels have a Scotch tension device on them - basically a wire with two springs hooked up to a peg-type tension device (like the tuning things on a guitar) at one end and a eye-hook at the other.
My "new" wheel has no such thing.
I played around with some wire but I am not at all happy, Jan. I've called for some help from the person who recommended the wheel, but at present it will be going back and I'll get my money back. I could fix it up but it is not worth what I paid for a wheel that is in "full working order." Especially when I will need to get more bobbins, a lazy kate and various bits and bobs for it.
Can't even get any pics, which is the other thing that made me particularly grumpy. Because we have moved our toys from room to room two or more times in our sanding the floors caper, the spare batteries for the digital cameras (yes, cameras, plural) have gone walkabout. So halfway through my photo shoot of my recent acquisitions and dare I say FINISHED OBJECTS, the camera starts beeping at me. Battery low! Battery low! Then it didn't even turn off properly. I grab the old camera and guess what? Batteries dead in that one too!
I spent nearly half an hour grumping around the house looking for the spare batteries. I found three. Each camera needs four batteries. Sulk. Grump.
So no pics of the FOs today, nor of the wheel nor of my recent naughty acquisitions. Grump.
Still, apart from those annoying things, life is pretty good. I did a bit of moving stuff back into the study. Nathan had a lovely afternoon playing in the garage with his brother - hmm, that sounds suss - making new speakers. I did manage to jury rig a tension device for the wheel but it is not good. The yarn I made is best described as novelty :-) And I had to navajo ply cos there is only one bobbin. I shall just have to save my pennies and get a nice new little Kiwi wheel instead.
Maybe I'll have pics tomorrow. We can have a picture fest!
anon!
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