Pre-scrips – sorry in my face-planting-the-keyboard-tiredness last night, as i put this up (it was a long day of shopping then spellchecking!!) i forgot that some of you may not have discovered felting through spinning so my post may sound like arcane language of mystic origins (not very clear on the parts i am talking about). so i made you a map!!! i hope this will help alleviate confusion.

*18)Parts of the Tumbalena Castle style Spinning wheel

Aw yes, some of you caught the mention of a new wheel near the end of the post about the Peterborough Fiber Festival 2024.  Recently, there have been a number of wheels listed for sale on the local guild Facebook Group. We had a local professional weaver and spinner who had to retire due to her health and had a huge studio sale with fibre, looms, wheels, books and other equipment.  it was a huge sale and I should show you the pictures, but not today. I did not get the wheels that were there. (Books, yarn and some small course carders followed me home.)

In early April, I spotted a post on the OVWSG (local guild) Facebook group. It was a listing with a number of other spinning items for sale. The equipment had belonged to the poster’s Mother. (I think she had been active with the Richmond guild, which is a small guild just south of the west end of Ottawa.) Amongst her Mom’s equipment, she had listed 3 wheels. Two were older Saxony wheels, smaller than a CPW (Canadian production wheels usually from Quebec).  They looked interesting but the third wheel was a little castle wheel, which drew my eye. It is quite similar in size and style to my Lendrum Rook (also a small castle wheel), which I love.

These are the photos of the wheel from the post, I am sure you can see why I was intrigued.

 1) Pictures in the post from the seller of the wheel.

I contacted the seller and arranged to meet her at 3 pm on Tuesday. Grate all set. Then early Tuesday morning I got a call from my car’s Doctor, her replacement parts were in and he would be there shortly. Oh no Car spa day and wheel shopping day are on the same day! Drat! Ok, Hameed is pretty amazing and said he may have her finished by 3 pm. I let the seller know. Sure enough, she had her new footwear(Tires), ball joint replacement ( shoulder surgery) and minor repertory issue (part of the muffler pipe replaced) fixed in time and I was off to look at a wheel!!

All the wheels had been stored for a while, not in a house.  That is to say, a farm-out building that was dry but unheated; all needed a good cleaning.  They also looked like they would be good wheels once cleaned. The little upright castle had this odd configuration of the footman (the shaft that connects the crank at the wheel hub to the treadle) that went through the table!!!  She also had a built in lazy Kate (to hold 2 bobbins for plying). The wheel showed 3 bobbins in the pictures since there was one on the flyer too.

Oh yes, she is cute! Her joints are a bit loose, but that should be fixable. There are previous brakes in the flyer, which have been repaired with glue, which is very unfortunate but the price was good so if I need to replace the flyer I could beg help from Judy Kavanagh. (She has good prices for reconstructed flyers and bobbins.) There was also a bobbin rack (it was probably a huge lazy kate with more bobbins on it. A couple of the extra bobbins look like they will fit this wheel.)

I selected the little castle wheel, and the bobbin rack, I checked the books, magazines and knitting patterns for anything the guild would be interested in and found a bit that should be helpful. She sent me home with a bag of mystery fibre as well.

2) Bobbin Rack or very big lazy Kate, also needs cleaning.

Once home, I grabbed a spare tarp and set her up with the mystery fibre in front of the front door bench. It was time to give her a good spin.  The maidens are loose, and the orifice hook is missing but a paper clip will work for now. Let’s see how she spins.

Ah, this is not some strangely fine short type of merino, it looks like cotton, cool!  Possibly pema, Nice!!!

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3.1-3.2) The test spinning of the Wheel and unknown fibre

When I first was taught to spin, it was on a drop spindle. I was still allergic to wool, so was handed a handful of cotton and told to “use this”. Not knowing that cotton is quite different to spin than wool I developed an enthusiasm with twist, which I have taken years to try to unlearn. Now that I have been spinning with wool for quite a while, it took me a moment to remember spinning with clumps from a bump of cotton.  She is a nice little comfortable wheel and was quite happy to spin cotton.

4) Unknown fibre seems very similar to Pema Cotton.

Carlene posted that she thought the wheel was likely a Thumbelina wheel by Sleeping Beauty Spinning Wheels of New Zealand. Approx. 1978 I was able to find assembly instructions, online, and have printed them out.

Now what to do about that needed cleaning? It’s getting late so let’s find the cleaning supplies tomorrow.

I gathered Murphy’s oil soap, soft scrubby pad, and paper towels, and suggested Glenn’s morning walk should be in the direction of Lee Valley tools (yes I live within walking distance of both Ikea and Lee Valley!! Please do not die of location envy, it’s a very small house, and quite a busy road.) Glenn returned with a multi-pack of fine sandpaper “18-Pc. Sample Pack of Mirka Fine Wet/Dry Sandpaper” The pack contained 2 sheets of 320x, 400x, 600x, 800x, 1000x, 1200x, 1500x, 2000x and 2500x grit sheets (www.leevalley.com). Am I missing anything?

I took a workshop with Alison James (the care of spinning wheels) and watched carefully last year for tips as Deborah gave each of the guild wheels that went up for sale a spa day. I have a wheel that looks like a mud river spinner (like an Indian head spinner) but it has the wrong drive wheel. Its original was likely replaced at some point. I took that one to Alison’s class to see if we could improve its spinning, it likely just needs a new drive wheel which is a big repair, but in the meantime I had sanded that one to a butter soft finish. So even if it doesn’t spin well it feels fabulous and looks good.

5) BC Spinning Wheel, it seems to be called either a Mud River spinner or a Cowichan spinning wheel.

6) For her workshop Alison also used files, originally they were used to sharpen chain saws. Alison used them to clean out the centre of bobbins. (It was amazing how much gunge was in there).

During one of the socials, I was gifted a piece of “Round Abrasive Cord”, which I am trying to track down more of this magical cordage. It looks like Amazon and Lee Valley both have some in various diameters and grists. I have to figure out what size and grist I should use,  I will have to investigate this further. It helps get into some of the groves in the spindle turnings. (Remember, don’t use it on the spots the drive band will sit)

This time I had a foam nail file with a medium course unlabeled grit to it. It smoothed out a couple of little dings and removed a bit of white paint drip. It was also coarser than the 320gr sandpaper and worked very well on the underside of the table and mother of all (neither felt like it had been sanded before). It was also helpful in smoothing the glue or epoxies used to repair the brakes in the flyer.

7) Previous brakes in both arms of the flyer (before cleaning or sanding)

I started the cleaning by giving the wheel a good wipe with Murphy’s oil soap.

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8.1- 8.2) I elevated the wheel on the salt box and used either the paper towels or the scrubby to loosen and then remove the dirt.

To give better access to the mother of all (the part that holds the maddens, which hold the flyer and bobbin) I took off the front madden. I am tempted to try to find the right tool to take off the build in lazy Kate too, but at the moment, I am still working around the support posts.

9.1 Bobbins, flyer, lazy Kate support rods, the front maiden, whirl and orifice hook without the hook sitting in front of the rest of the wheel.

9.2 ) Close-up of the mother of all and the back maiden.

10.1) Close up, of the back of the table with flyspeck. The part closed is partly cleaned, the far side is still dirty.

 10.2) A bit more scrubbing (I think it’s still called elbow grease) and I had removed the fly spots, (little black dots).

 11) As I continued to work, the great plant migration continued.

I got most of the wheel wiped down and called it a day.

Next trip into the guild studio I took the wheel and its parts.  After getting a section of the guild library database work done, I started with the foam nail file and the 300 grit sandpaper.

 12) The front maiden, cleaning and beginning the sanding.

I have torn the sandpaper into thin strips. I have strips going up to 2500grit. I had spent most of the day working on the database so did not get as much sanding done as I has hoped.

The next week I was back in at the guild and I did the same thing, worked on the library most of the day then switched to working on the wheel for part of the social. This time I worked on the mother of all.  I was working slowly towards 1200 or 1500 grit. It is now feeling buttery smooth and makes other parts of the wheel feel really rough!

13) Working on the mother of all

Moving on to the next week, Library first, then I can work on the wheel and I added the knitty-knoty I bought in Peterborough. It was very cute but not as smooth as I would have liked, I can fix that! More Sandpaper!

14) the new Knitty-knotty in pieces and I got replacement foam and cardboard nail files.

I kept working on accessories and got a couple of the bobbins up to about 1500 grit smooth…… butter!!!  Note I am not sanding the centre core of the bobbin where the yarn winds on till it’s super smooth. I did spend time cleaning it.  The leader on a super smooth surface, even properly tied, will want to slip, which is not helpful at all to spinning.

15) Sanding is great but not in all spots.

The drive band has to be able to grip the bobbin, whirl and drive wheel. The bobbin core has to be grippy enough to hold the leader without slipping. So don’t get too gungho and sand every surface!!!

16) A brief FYI, I am fueling all this sanding with the help of “Green”.

Which is a well-caffeinated and sugar-laden beverage! I probably should not have the drink so close to the cleaner. I am sure the flavour would not be as tasty with one, and the cleaning properties would be disappointing, with the other.

17) working my way to finer and finer sandpaper

And the sanding continues!  It will likely be a couple more weeks of intermittent sanding before I have the wheel ready to add the finish.  It is now time to visit garden centers, get ready for the May Guild meeting and today I did a quick drive down to another fibre festival. There was a bit of shopping (Ann was advocating for even more shopping!!!), and a fleece followed me home so there will be washing to be done soon too!

Once the sanding is completely done, to a grit fineness that feels fabulous, I will post again and show you how I am going to finish her.

Have fun enjoy spring and keep felting!