Drop Spindle

Mornin I fell off the posting bandwagon again. But I had good reason too,


So last weekend was the Local Renn Faire. Bunny, the small and I loaded up the odds and ends we've made over the year to join, my fellow knitters in the booth they set up, to see what people liked and didn't. What would and wouldn't sell. Despite being cold, and rainy on Saturday, and Cool and Windy on Sunday it turned into a good weekend. Only barter one thing though. But the small had fun, and Bunny met some new troupers and has some new ideas for things to make.
One of which he made a prototype last night, which I cant wait to try out today. Drum Roll Please


Here is the first T. H. Horsemen Turkish Spindle

Now that both Bunny and I are off from school for the summer, I think its time to open up the old Arts Fire, Etsy, and Zibbet sites and get to selling some hand made wooden knitting and spinning notions. Ive also got a few Ideas running through my head for another shop. But that shop will be strictly online, I have no plans to sell any of it at any of the fiber shows, arts shows, or Faires that  that I may or may not join up with. 

Since fair weekend, Ive made

1. 2 wire weaved bracelets only thing they need are clasp and they'll be ready for sale.
2. 3 pairs of crocheted juggling balls for the small
3. 1/2 of my newest pair of yoga socks.

Which isnt to bad for my slow poky self. I've had a few requests from friends for footy balls/ juggling balls. So Im going to whip out a few more of them in the next few days so I can get them in the mail this week. I also plan on trying to Spin on the Turkish this week too. 

No new progress on the Maleficent the spinning wheel. I still need to get out the drill and attach the parts for the scotch tension. But Bunny is worried if we start drilling into it, that the wood is going to crack and then will be up that famous creek without any tp or a paddle. But Im wearing him down about it I think.

A few things Im enjoying this week

Music:  Far East Movement White Flag, and the Sublime Channel on Pandora

T. V.: Nothing from the US tbh. Saving the last half of NCIS and NCIS: LA for summer to fill in the weeks between Memphis Beat, Rizzoli and Isles, The Glades and Haven.  But am watching a few good Kdramas and one Jdrama (more about that later)

ReadIng: Just finished beautiful maria of my soul by oscar hijuelos. I enjoyed the story immensely. But did not like the way the book was laid out. Alot of bouncing around and multiple view points and narrators. As much as the book lay out annoyed me, I do plan on reading

the next 2 or 3 books in the series which are A simple Habana Melody, the Mambo Kings play songs of love and can also be found on Amazon.

Knitting / Crocheting: Juggling Balls made out of Bracco Sock Yarn and Cotton and Creme.

That seems to be the round up for today. 

What do people think of the ad links, Im not looking to make any/alot of money. I was thinking of the amazon one mainly for books, etc.

Have a great Day Readers, and remember find your Zen when and where you can.

Keep Calm and Knit On. 

I did it.

So its been awhile. The weather is warming up, which Ive so been looking forward to. Why you ask, mainly because I can take the small and the spinning outside in the sun and out of the house. Besides it being winter in the frozen mid-west, I've been trying to finish up this semester of school and have done absolutely zero spinning.

That being said for that last week, I have been refurbishing an original (1938ish) Ashford Elizabeth spinning wheel. Yes you heard that right, Ive given up on the drop spindle (which I never figured out how to work properly) and have moved onto an upright single treadle double drive spinning wheel.

I bought this beast from an antique consignment shop, for around $75 usd and figured I just needed a few parts, a good cleaning and me to figure out how to work it.

Heres how I pictured this working:

1. Clean and Polish.
2. Put back together and replace a few parts.
3. Start teaching myself to spin on this bad boy.

Simple right. WRONG...

It cleaned up beautifully, awesomely in fact. A few more good polishing's and this thing is going to a beauty.

Now onto step two in my feverish brain. Putting it back together. With the help of the wonderful WWW I was able to find out what it should look like and the missing parts well I couldn't afford to order all new missing parts, I figured a quick trip to the local hardware store and some redneck engineering and we would be could to go. 6 trips to the hardware store later and I was right. Its up and running. Awesomesauce. and then it happened, my first EPIC fail of wheel spinning, the slightest amount of pressure on the flyer and it split. Yes I shanked the flyer on its first rotation. On a Sunday night no less. WTH was I going to do. I'm not patient enough to order one online and wait for it to show up. So what do I do, I call all the local fiber farms, and stores, turns out there is one about an hour away that has a single drive for the wheel, (remember when i said this is a dbl) I say sweet will be right out there, the web site listed it for around 50 bucks, I could handle that. So the small and bunny and I all load up into the truck and head out on a road trip. Get out there get everything I think I need to get this thing up and running again plus some cheep fiber to practice with. Get to the register and the total comes to 175 usd. Well at this point, I'm like WTF but everyone was tired and hungry and Bunny sweet guy that he is was getting pissy about the cost (I start hearing I could have just bought you a new one at this rate). So I pay the guy, I try to shop local when ever I can, even if I am way over paying but I wont say that out loud. While were out at this farm its late mind you after 5 and its feeding time for two of the lambs which Pat was nice enough to let the small help out with. Which in my book was worth it all.  We all load back up in the truck and  stop grab some grub and head back home to get this bad boy back together for the third time.

Now I'm figuring how hard is it turn a double drive band into a single (right, once again WRONG), now were going into Monday week 2 Day 1 of trying to get this thing running. Well this time, I dragged my dear Bunny to the HW store with me, because obviously I'm challenged and cant get the right parts in 6 trips  the 7th trip will be no different. We get the parts to change a 1938 parts to well 2011 parts. Some more redneck engineering and guess what, my double is now a single. But wait for it readers. This thing isn't set up for Scots tension. So Monday night W2 D1 and Bunny and I are staring at this thing, going WTF now. Were into this thing for over $220 usd. it's not like I can say screw it and buy a brand spanking new one and sell this one.  I'm like Bunny will put it away for tonight and Ill figure it out tomorrow.

It's truly Machiavellian at this point. But I'm pushing on.

Today is W2 D2 and I'm spending the first day of no school not in bed catching up on some much needed sleep or outside playing with the small (which I did do for a bit) no I'm back on the WWW looking for a way to redneck engineer a Scots Tension on this thing, until I can afford to buy a new double drive.

Pictures forth coming once its completely finished and working..

So dear readers, wish me luck and remember to find your Zen anyway you can.

Keep calm and Call Batman.