Spinning on the Great or Walking Wheel

Spinning on the Great Wheel takes a bit of adjusting techniques. First off, one needs to retrain their left hand if they are right handed. If they are left handed, they need to train their right hand to turn the wheel. Can you really walk, pat your head and rub your tummy all at the same time and explain what you are doing while doing it? That is what spinning on the Great Wheel is all about. It is a definite crowd attraction. Set the wheel up in a public place and you get all the attention from passersby you can want.

Getting the wheel set up and adjusted takes a really good eye. The wheel post must be at the correct angle for the drive band to work correctly and pull the whorl. This takes some minute adjustments to keep from throwing the band. You might have to shim the axel with leather to keep the wheel from wobbling. Then use Vaseline to grease the axel and leather liner. There needs to be a leather washer between the post and the wheel. This too needs a light coat of Vaseline. Sometimes there is a hole in the end of the axel for a keeper pin. This can be a large hair pin, a cotter pin (split pin) or a nail. If the Post isn’t set at the correct angle in the bed it will tend to spin off the axel.

Now setting the Mother-of-All correctly. If the mother-of-all isn’t snug on the post, it can cause a great deal of grief. It will turn and throw the belt. Snug it onto the post with leather shims. If necessary hit it with a rubber mallet to get it down tight so it doesn’t turn. Again use some Vaseline on the leather to keep it from drying out and getting hard. On the Mother-of All are the Maidens. These are the two posts that hold the spindle. The spindle may go through the posts or may be tied to it with string or leather. Both of my wheels have the simple spindle, so the drive belt goes around the simple whorl. They usually have several spinning notches in them. It really does not matter which of these notches the drive belt goes around as long as it doesn’t throw off the wheel.

Now, use beeswax on the drive line and on the rim of the wheel. It keeps the drive band pulling the wheel. No, I don’t use beeswax on my other wheels, either, but the drive band will slip if it isn’t waxed. I make my own drive bands for these wheels. Chain two, single crochet in first chain, chain one, single crochet in last single crochet for the length needed to go around the wheel and around the whorl. Wet this rough chain and tie it snuggly around the wheel and whorl. It will need adjusted, tightened, a couple of times, so don’t tie it off permanently at first. When it is ready to tie permanently, use the Weaver’s Knot and trim the ends close.

Quill, rhymes with Wheel, is a foundation bobbin on the spindle. These will allow you to take the singles off the spindle when you determine you have enough thread on them. I make them from a sheet of scrap paper. Standard notebook paper folded in half lengthwise then in thirds. Cut the papers, stack and cut off a corner about an inch in. Wrap these one at a time around the spindle so they are smooth with the point of the paper about an inch from the point of the spindle. Put on a tiny piece of tape to hold the tube. I will fill about 2 to 3 dozen of these quills in a day of spinning, so make plenty of quills. I put on a starter line of about 18 inches tying it loosely in the middle of the quill. A single half of a square knot will hold beautifully. These quills do not have a back on them, so I wind the thread on in an egg or nut shape rather than a cone shape as you would do with drop spindle, for instance.

Now we are ready to spin!! Holding the fleece to be spun with the starter line, spiral the starter off to the tip of the spindle. This is where the spin goes in to the fibers, with every pop here at the tip of the spindle. Watching the spin point just at the end of your fingers, you can see and feel the spin forming. When the wisped out end of the fleece has grabbed hold, draw back on the fleece, always watching the spin point, turning the wheel. You might want to give the wheel another turn or two at the end of the draw. You are coming off the tip at an angle half way between straight out and the tip . This gives the best results. You will be able to step back about three steps while doing the draw. You can go only as far as you can reach the hub of the wheel. Reverse the wheel, swinging the thread up to align with the bed of the wheel, reverse to forward again to wind the new singles thread onto the quill. When about six or so inches from the quill, spiral off the tip again to start spinning again.

Photos of my girls learning to spin on the Walking or Great Wheels are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/CactusPatchLamb/Spinners along with other spinners and their wheels.

A couple of good Youtube Videos on spinning are here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrrJLAXwUBU and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ha6g3WKW-s

Enjoy your spinning experiences.