What is a Pocket Wheel?

By Amelia

Spin-off collected names and contact information of custom wheel makers. I sent them two Washingtonian makers ... Betty Roberts (see this post) and Doug Dodd.

Added 10 March 2009: I've been hearing that Mr. Dodd's website is down. His contact information was published in Spin-Off's Spinning Wheel Round-up, available from here. Click on "Download" there, not the Adobe PDF icon. You do have to make an account to get to that page, but that's free, and you needn't be a subscriber. I don't want to put it on this page, to save him from unwanted spam-bot mail.

Doug's Pocket Wheel had a big thread on the spindlers Yahoo group recently, I suppose because it is such a portable wheel, at just over 6 pounds.


I own one of these -- or I should say, my daughter has claimed it for her spinning. It's a great little travel wheel, very light. It has its own flyer/bobbin -- the shaft is similar diameter to Ashford shafts (smaller than Majacraft shafts), but the bobbin is larger than Ashford's, it fits a good 4++ ounces on it -- I have 4 oz. of about 20 wpi singles on mine (don't tell DD -- I borrowed it for a cafe craft night) and it isn't full yet. The flyer is released by twisting the orifice (which is shaped a bit like a padlock -- big metal sturdy at the bottom, delta opening at the top, more delta than the usual U of a padlock, though) -- it's a pressure screw, not an actual screw. You give it 1/2 a rotation and then the flyer comes off, similar to the Fricke style (though they have a pressure screw separate from the orifice itself). Then you take the bobbin off the shaft.

You can take it apart -- the treadles and stand come off, and it fits in a grocery-bag sized tote. I just keep it together and use my wool-show-buyin' tote for it, or carry it as-is.

It is a similar idea to the Hitchhiker in that it is a direct-drive wheel. Rather than changing out a set-location wheel for the ratio, though, you move the drive wheel up and down a metal rod to set the ratio -- so there isn't a "set list" of ratios, just anything you care to get, between a minimum and maximum (about 3:1 and 12:1, in the standard model). He's working on a new model that goes up to 15:1, as well.

And I think they're showing up more on blogs and other places, as he gets more made and out there. Mine was #7, purchased last year :-) I guess you'd call me an early adopter.

The Pocket Wheel isn't bobbin-led, rather, it's direct drive -- it uses scotch tension. A wheel rotates the flyer shaft (not the bobbin) by rolling against the big wheel that your treadle rotates. Louets' basic wheels are bobbin led, with a drive band that goes around the wheel and the bobbin. There is very strong draw-in on wheels like that. The Pocket behaves just like the scotch-tension, flyer-driven wheel that it is.

The Scotch tension is around the back of the bobbin, so it's pretty hidden by the bobbin in pictures of the wheel that try to take it all in.

Comparing the Pocket Wheel side-by-side to the Hitchhiker (thanks for asking, Jessie!):

Hitch: direct drive, 3 ratios of 7, 9, and 13:1 by changing out the drive wheel
Pocket: direct drive, officially any ratio from 3.5:1 to 10:1 (or so, mine goes a bit higher) by sliding the drive wheel along a shaft.

Hitch: flyer rod/hooks comes out and stores in the foot.
Pocket: flyer stays in place generally (when you remove it, just the flyer comes off, the flyer rod (aka spindle) stays on the wheel. You can undo the nuts that hold the treadles on and take off the treadles, stand, and flyer for more compact "tote-bag" storage.

Hitch: about 9 pounds
Pocket: about 6 pounds

Hitch: on-board bobbin storage
Pocket: no on-board bobbin storage

Hitch: standard Ashford bobbins, has been modified by Woollywormhead to take an
Ashford Jumbo Flyer.
Pocket: has its own bobbins; Ashford and Lendrum bobbins also fit. To use Victoria or Majacraft bobbins, you need an eight dollar sleeve that fits around the rod; Doug has them available, and I believe you can find them at the hardware store too. I expect you could ask for one to be made with a larger flyer to fit their plying bobbins, but I've found this one to be a healthy size. The rod is usually too short to fit Schacht bobbins, but you could request a longer flyer rod (since it is a custom wheel...)

Hitch: bobbin size about 2-3 oz of fiber generally
Pocket: bobbin size about 4-5 oz of fiber generally

Hitch: hooks on flyer arm (standard Ashford style)
Pocket: slider on flyer arm (like Majacraft)

Hitch: tube orifice; has an on board orifice hook
Pocket: delta orifice; no orifice hook needed

Hitch: screw-in flyer (fair amount of twisting ... I have RSI, so this is something I take note of generally)
Pocket: tighten/loosen bolt for removing/placing flyer

Both: present bobbin at an upward 45-degree angle, about the same height (my knees) if memory serves me okay.

Hitch: either left-treadle or right-treadle.
Pocket: double treadle. You wouldn't want to wear a long skirt and spin on it ... but I haven't had and problems in my jeans.

Both have their own particular treadle considerations ... I find with any wheel, I need to learn its rhythm, and then I can simply treadle without thinking about it. The Pocket is fairly similar to my Majacraft, I've also heard it compared to a Jensen Tina. The Hitchhiker is heel-toe like the Journey Wheel.

Hitch: standard footman leather (I think) connector of treadle to drive wheel.
Pocket: has bearings that ride back and forth under the treadle, no footman connector used.

Hitch: standard woods used.
Pocket: variety of woods used ... he takes some requests, but mostly is re-purposing woods. I love the patchwork of mine, but I realize others like consistency.

Hitch: $278 standard with 3 bobbins
Pocket: $450 standard with 3 bobbins
These are current prices as I write this, "subject to change" as they say.

Now, disclaimers ... I have only ever really played on a Hitchhiker; maybe filled 1-2 bobbins, and took some videos of how to put one together and take one apart. So it's not a wheel I have studied in depth. I've used my (DD's) pocket wheel a fair bit more.

My new pocket wheel has just arrived!! (August, 2008). Pictures on flickr here!!

Whew! Let me know if there's some attribute I've missed ... I'd be happy to expand this review. And if you have blogged about your pocket wheel, please post a link in the comments of this post so the world of spinning blog readers can find out more! Thanks!

~~
posted 24 May 2008 at http://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/

What Workshops Do You Teach?

I teach a wide variety of classes at my local yarn store and area guilds, shows and workshops. I am happy to tailor a workshop to your group: perhaps you want a sock-blend drum carding class followed by a sock yarn spindling class. Or a fiber dyeing class instead of yarn dyeing. Let's talk!

Background: I "fell" into spinning when a house purchase included two llamas. Since then, spindles of all sorts invade my bookshelves, and there are wheels and charkas in every spare nook. Spindling: The Basics is my first book, and I am having a blast with my blog and teaching workshops.

You can find me on ravelry, flickr, and blogger as askthebellwether, on youTube and LiveJournal as thebellwether, and by my real name, Amelia Garripoli (nee Carlson, if you go back into the archives) on various Yahoo groups.

I sell a wide variety of spindles, amazing batts and rovings, and more on TheBellwether.biz, and my young daughter and I sell our handspun and gadgets on ByOurHands.etsy.com.

Program fees: cost is $30/student per workshop plus materials and travel for most programs, which are 2-3 hours in length; group rates are available, typical workshop size is 2-15 participants. Day long programs are $50/student plus materials and travel. Presentations are 1-2 hours to any size audience, for a flat cost of $80 plus travel.

Expanded day-long versions of most topics are available, with more in-depth exploration are an additional $20 per student. Or, combine 2 topics for a day-long workshop, 4 for a weekend retreat.

Private classes are $20/hour, in my spinning studio.

For a complete list of materials, experience and equipment needed, and more in-depth description of each class, please contact me if there's no link to the full description here.

Spindle Programs

Program: I Wanna Spindle!
Description: Top whorl spindling for beginners. You'll be spindling and plying by the end of the class.

Program: Drop Spindle Ph.D.
Description: Drop spindling for spindlers -- techniques for speed, plying, top and bottom whorl, Turkish, Mid-whorl, Balkan, and more specialty spindles.

Program: Productive Spindling
Description: Rediscover a joy of spindling, learning methods to increase your spindle enjoyment and results. We learn a variety of top whorl tricks, bottom whorl tricks, and handy techniques to get more out of your spindling.

Program: Exotic Fiber Spindling
Description: Learn techniques to spin fine yarns from exotic fibers -- camel, cashmere, yak and more will be spun on lightweight top whorl and Akha spindles. Methods to spin the finest yarns will be covered, as well as plying fine yarns.

Program: Cotton Spinning on the Akha Spindle
Description: Learn to spin cotton the way the traditional Akha people do, on their Akha spindles. They use support spindle and top whorl spindle methods for ease and speed. We'll cover their methods of spinning singles and plying, and learn about their unique walk-while-spindling support spindle methods.

Program: The World of Support Spindles
Description: Navajo, Ahka, Tahkli, Russian ... travel the world without leaving your chair! Learn traditional spindling techniques and fibers on each, each has their own culture, uses and methods.

Program: Spindle Mania!
Description: A presentation of myriad spindle techniques with discussion of their place in history, around the globe, what they're used to spin, and how they all inter-relate.

Weaving

Program: You Wove A Hat?
Description: Weave a hat on a cardboard tear-away frame in an evening. This is fun and great for leftover handspun, novelty yarn, or a dedicated project. No knitting or weaving skills required. The hat is a tam or beret style hat, and can also be felted down to make a fun fruit bowl.

Program: Starting with the Rigid Heddle Loom
Description: Learn to weave on the rigid heddle loom, creating a scarf with 6-8 ounces of yarn. This class is a day-long class.

Nalbinding

Program: What is Nalbinding?
Description: You will learn the basic looping stitches of Nalbinding and their use in creating a hat. We'll discuss its place in history and use in the world today.

Program: The Nalbound Edge
Description: Have you heard of nalbinding? Use this technique to edge and embellish a knit or woven garment. You'll walk away with knowledge of the history of nalbinding and a new skill you can do with yarn you already have!

Felting

Program: Needlefelted Pins
Description: Learn to needlefelt a flat design that can be turned into a brooch, badge or pin. For beginning and experienced needlefelters. We'll discuss fibers, design, texture, and finish.

Program: Silk Fusion
Description: Make a lovely piece of silk "felt" using silk and fusion material. The fabric can be used in many places ~ quilts, book covers, notecards, lampshades, vests and more. A great way to approach this lustrous fiber!

Spinning on a Wheel

Program: Learn to Spin
Description: a weekend or long-day program from scratch to plying on a wheel. Includes handcarding and combing, spinning singles and plying on a wheel. Participants need to have a wheel.

Program: Spinny Gritty
Description: Have a handle on your spinning and want to take it up a notch? Explore ratio, wraps per inch, twists per inch, crimp, grist, worsted and woolen, repeatable yarn and correcting yarn.

Program: Plying Around
Description: Looking for some new ways to twist your fiber? This will have you plying up a storm of new creations in no time! We'll ply our way through Navajo ply, cable, boucle, plying with thread, coil, snarl, beehive, diamond and more.

Program: Color Whirl
Description: play with color in singles and in 2-ply: we'll create rainbows of color with a variety of techniques for mixing solid rovings and for getting the most out of space-dyed roving. Learn about nub yarn, candystripe, faux cable, self-striping, coils, fractal plying, exploring plying colors.

Program: Spinning Slippery Fibers
Description: We'll spin the slippery stuff -- fibers without wool scales to help them hold together. Silk, bamboo, alpaca, mohair -- Join me to explore some really "out there" spinning fibers ... with a life vest on!

Program: Spin a Fine Yarn
Description: Learn techniques to take you beyond laceweight; make your wheel do the work, explore fiber handling and plying techniques.

Program: Spinning Sock Yarns
Description: Learn how to spin a great sock yarn: we'll tune our wheels for socks, pick fibers, spinning style, and plying methods, and play with color. Discuss knitting with handspun vs. commercial sock yarns.
Explore the world of spinning sock yarns!

Program: Constructing Yarn
Description: Explore the world of created yarns ... from designing blends to designing art yarns, we'll have a go at garnetting, nubs, loops, inclusions, beads, batts, swirls, and more. Bring yarns you'd like to copy and topics you'd like to try out!

Program: Explore Boucle
Description: Boucle, the pinnacle of a spinner's repertoire. We'll do a boucle entirely from handspun (no thread!) then move on to simple boucle, fuzz boucle, coil boucle, and even Navajo boucle. Who knew there were so many boucles?!

Program: Spin Soft Singles
Description: Let's teach our wheels how to spin soft singles. From laceweight to bulky, we'll pick fibers, tune our wheels, and spin! Woolen spinning and long draw will be explored, and how to finish skeins for non-biasing knitting.

Fiber Processing

Program: Using The Batt Machine
Description: Bring your drum carder and learn how to make terrific batts and roving for your next spinning or felting project. We’ll start with basic drum carding of a clean batt of wool, then move on to fiber blends, color blends, texture blends, and self-striping batts. Let's get batty!

Program: Combs, Flickers, Handcards
Description: Learn the techniques and appropriate fibers for each of these hand-processing tools. Combing fibers for worsted spinning, flicking for spinning from the lock, and handcarding for woolen spinning. Then take it a step further with variations and blending techniques.

Dyeing

Program: Rainbow Dyeing
Description: Turn 3 colors into 6 with this fun dye method. Dye wool or wool blend roving or yarn with acid-mordanted dyes.

Program: Self-Striping Sock Yarns
Description: Have fun turning undyed or pale solid colored sock yarns into interesting self-striping sock yarns. Fair-isle and striping dye techniques are covered with microwave dyeing using acid-mordanted dyes.

Program: Overdyeing
Description: Turn ho-hum into yum, with overdyeing. Take fiber, yarn, or a knit tube in a color you aren't fond of, and jazz it up with overdyeing. Works best on light colors. Microwave dyeing using acid-mordanted dyes.

Program: Shadow Dyeing
Description: Create fun effects in yarn, pool color on purpose, and just plain play with color -- come dye with me! Microwave dyeing using acid-mordanted dyes.

Program: Tube Dyeing
Description: Become your own Matisse -- dye a tube of sock yarn and watch it metamorphose into art when it's reknit into socks. Microwave dyeing using acid-mordanted dyes.

Circular Sock Machines

Program: Circular Sock Machine Demonstration
Description: A demonstration of sock machines -- a sock is created while the history of the machines and the techniques used are discussed.

Program: Using the Circular Sock Machine
Description: A workshop for those with sock machines, to get them up and started with a basic mock-rib sock. No ribber needed. This can be tailored to the class's experience level -- we can go on to explore hems, ribbed socks, argyles, mittens, lace patterns, i-pod pouches, or more.

Program: Using the Ribber on the Circular Sock Machine
Description: Get the most out of your ribber, we'll learn how to do cuffs, legs, cleanly transition to heels, and the top of the foot.

In Conclusion ...

Whew! I know, that's alot of workshops ... What can I say, I like variety ;-) And some of these are taught much more often than others, as interest in the topic comes about in the venues I've submitted applications to teach. I'm happy to do individual instruction on pretty much any topic, even more than are here -- spinning on a charkha, washing fleece, knitting, warping a loom ~ so if you don't see a topic you are interested in pursuing here, feel free to ask!

Me-me-me-me-me (Meme, of course! About Me!)

When one is tagged by Abby, one rushes to get meme answers up, of course!

Her great blog was encouraging to me when I started, that there was an audience for all this stuff in my head, and I greatly enjoy finding her posts on her blog, email lists, ravelry, and all the other internetty places we run into each other. Some day, I may even get to meet her in person (Ohio - Washington. Okay, so not this summer...)

So, here we go ... on with the meme!

The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?

10 years ago, my son had just turned 2, so we had a little party for him at his daycare. I was working at a tiny startup in Oakland called Cloudscape ... the software lives on in several incarnations, the proudest of which for me is Derby, the JavaDB that is in Apache. How cool is that. I'm tempted to sign up and download it just to see if some of my old tags and comments are still lingering in it.

It was around that time that we decided it might be a good idea to have another child. My daughter didn't show up for another year and a half. It was a great time, the energy of the startup was invigorating. The worst part of it was the trouble I was having with my wrists -- that turned out not to be carpal tunnel (thank goodness) but recurring tendonitis (not so good). Once I found the Kinesis keyboard, though, I was back to pounding the keys night and day. 60 hour weeks were "easy", 80 hour weeks were far more common!

I was knitting here-and-there, but with days so full, that was it. I'd just found Straw Into Gold in Berkeley, and wandered the "other" side of the store with its wheels and looms in perplexed amazement.

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):

• Following up with a customer on the SpinOlution's warranty information (done -- added it to the blog, too).
  
• Answering this meme (in progress!)
  
• Packing orders (ok, so far, order, but the day is young!)
  
• Writing up the next issue of the All New Rhyme Times, and the old-style Rhyme Times.
  
• then I get to pick from the myriad list of possibilities ... tagging handspun for the Shepherd's Festival on Monday in Sequim (MacLeay Hall, 290 MacLeay Rd, 10 am - 3 pm); putting together a restocking order for Cushings; printing and stuffing Rhyme Times; finishing spinning a new Three Bags Full color; uploading some fiber club and handspun snapshots; vacuuming the carpets (hey, someone's gotta do it); start finishing my SpinOlution wheel ... I'm sure there's more, and it's most likely I'll end up doing something not even on this list!
  

3. Snacks I enjoy:

There's a bag of nut-and-fruit-crunch things in the pantry right now, they are nice, salty and sweet. Before that I had a bag of chocolate covered pretzels, but they disappeared *way* too fast, so I won't get another one of those real soon.

My DH keeps me supplied with Lindt dark chocolate bars, he's amazed at how slowly I eat them ... a piece a day, if I remember, and all is well with the world. He's also purchased fancier chocolates for me, my favorite are Joseph Schmidt truffles. Mmmmm. When I lived in Alameda, popping over to San Francisco to buy them fresh was a treat!

Peanut M&M's ... my car-summer-emergency-food. You know, you're on the road, and you just don't feel like fast food. Pop a few of those and keep going. Yay!

Beyond that I don't snack much ... probably because we have afternoon tea and bedtime rooibos, so I keep a nice supply of treats on hand for that ... scones (made by me) or the local bakery's danish for afternoon tea; cookies or biscotti (sometimes made by me, sometimes from the store) with bedtime rooibos.

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

Oh wow. You know, I just don't think of this. I'll never be one, so I don't tempt myself with the possibilities. Philanthropy, I hope. Letting myself explore more, I bet. I've had the great good fortune these last two years to choose what I do, albeit within the constraints I place on myself (I do believe customers prefer to get their orders in a timely fashion, rather than hear I'm off cavorting on a beach somewhere). A billion dollars would cause me to throw almost all those constraints to the wind, albeit in an orderly fashion.

There seem to be two choices ... use the money to fix some problem in the world, which would likely eat all the money up; or use bits and pieces of it to fund others' efforts, while living off of some of the interest. Heck, at 5% interest of 500 million, you'd still be seeing $250,000 a year, or $175,000 after the tax man got is cut ... which is *way* more than what I live on.

And, left to live with no concerns, I'd likely explore spinning more, weaving, take alot of classes, and write and teach more myself.

5. Places I have lived:

England, Massachusetts, Colorado, California, Washington. I've had the great good fortune to travel many places ... almost all 50 states (not Hawaii yet, though I have been to Alaska); Canada; England, Wales and Scotland, though never mainland Europe; Japan; and Brazil (the best place to beat winter blahs in February!!).

6. Peeps I want to know more about:

Now, you all know by now I don't tend to pass memes on. I always want to know more about Abby, but she's already answered these six questions so she's off the hook. Teyani, Amy, Melody ... if you're reading this, I'd love to find out more about you!

And if anyone else wants to chime in, please take this post as license to do so. Add a comment to this blog post to let me know!

How can I match a commercial yarn?

Spinners often want to combine a commercial yarn with their handspun in a large project ... a nice solid brown commercial wool with space-dyed handspun accents can look terrific! That said, there are some things to consider when spinning-to-match.

Factors to consider to match up to a commercial yarn include:

• measure the wraps per inch of the commercial yarn, this gives you a guideline of how thick your yarn will need to be
  
• decide if you want to spin singles, 2-ply, 3-ply, or what, to get that thickness. Singles are clear – you spin that thickness that you need; 2-ply, try about 1.5 * the wraps per inch of the goal and sample to fine-tune; 3-ply, try about 2 * the wraps per inch of the goal and sample to fine-tune
  
• decide if drape is a factor or not – you may want to play around with how much you compact the yarn as you spin (the whole woolen vs. worsted spinning style thing …)
  
• decide if twist is a factor or not – is the commercial yarn high-twist (over 35-degree twist angle) or low twist (under 20-degree) or in the mid-range, and do you want to match that.

~~~

And now, for a metaphor ...

Well, all that said I usually just try to get in the ballpark and find it all works out okay in the end. But it’s helpful to know where home plate is so you can be on the field.

You were warned!!

~~~

See the earlier related post, How can I copy a commercial yarn?

Some recent matching/copying work shown in the pictures in this post, Icelandic low-twist 2-ply, blogged here.

My most recent copying attempt, laceweight Merino singles, on flickr.

Where is the end on my bobbin?

We've all had it happen to us ... spinning merrily away, and then Snap the end breaks and as quickly as we can stop, it's whipped onto the bobbin and disappeared. Oh No, how to find it?

Here are some ways to find the lost end on a bobbin:

• a piece of tape, see if you can lift off the end by ‘patting’ the yarn on the bobbin with the tape
  
• a toothbrush (clean and dry ;-) ) see if you can brush off the end by gently brushing the surface
  
• pick a likely strand and follow it around (maybe open up a paperclip and slide it under it, then rotate around). If a strand goes on top of your strand, switch to the upper one (this sometimes doesn’t work, though, if the end has gotten entirely embedded …)
  

And here are some ways to make it easier to find the end, done while spinning:

• have a regular pattern of movement on the hooks or of the slider (Ashfords have hooks; Lendrums have sliders ... Louets, well, it depends on the Louet ;-) ) ... if you have a WooLee Winder, then there's a regular pattern already. This will let you know where to expect to find the end, reducing your search area.
  
• if you are spinning fine, besides filling from front to back (or from back to front), consider laying down a life-line at the end of each pass -- a strip of paper about 1/2-1" wide and as long as your bobbin is, on top of the pass. It may be a little fiddly to lay down, but once you have a round or two on it, it should stay. Heck, try a post-it note if you want it to be self-stick, just test that it won't rough up your yarn too much. The next pass will be on top of the strip, so your end can't get too deeply embedded.
  
• change hooks often enough that big ridges don't build up -- definitely not so much that they start collapsing on themselves, that can be a right mess!
  
• Another way to create a life line is to fill from front to back, then bring the strand directly to the front again from the back -- this long swipe down the bobbin creates a self-life-line, but it's not as easy to find and utilize as the paper method.

Do you have end-finding tips for bobbins? Pass them along, before this happens to me again ;-) Thanks!!

Why is my plying thread tangling?

If you read this post ~ Do you want to play with thread? ~ then perhaps you've been playing with this plying technique.

It's a great way to make effect yarn like boucle, super coils, and gimp.

And it's a terrific way to stretch a single when you don't want it to be thicker, don't want to ply it on itself, but don't want to work with an active single in your knitting or crochet.

But oh man can the thread be a headache! Put it on your vertical lazy kate, and it quickly comes off the spool and wraps around the metal post. If you aren't watching, snap goes the thread! Put it in a box or bowl, and it seems to develop Mexican jumping bean disease, hopping out and rolling across the room ~ delighting nobody but the dog.

So, I was thrilled when I recently ran across a *really great* thread plying technique on a Patsy Zawitowski video. It's so easy, I have the tools permanently in my spinning kit now.

Put the spool of thread in a sandwich baggie (ziplock or not, as you leave the end open), feeding the end of the thread out the open end of the baggie. Take a large-ish rubber band and rubber band the baggie to the underside of your wrist, feeding the thread out of the end of the baggie. The rubber band shouldn't be super-tight, so the thread can come out.

I've done this with spools and with little sewing machine bobbins -- the thread stays under control, nearby, and feeds out as you need it. Just remember to take the baggy off when you get up from your wheel.

And because you can put the baggie on your fiber-feeding hand, this greatly simplifies the task of plying with thread for spindlers as well! Woot!

~~~~

Have you done some plying with thread? what techniques work for you? I'm always interested in learning more fun ways to spin!

What's a SpinOlution?

By Amelia

A few weeks ago, this arrived ...

First things first ... there were no instructions, and a few parts had come out of the baggies taped to the top, so I was a little worried. But we chased down the 8 screws for the wheel kit. The two other odd bits in a baggie -- a spring on a plastic flange and a knob that clearly screwed on -- looked like they belonged on the naked screw at the top, and they did! Those are the bobbin tension adjustment spring and its tightener.

The wheel comes bagged up with a protective piece of scrap over that upper screw. Remove the wood, take it out of the bag, put the spring, flange-side-down, on the screw, and screw the knob above it just until the spring starts to compress.

Click on the mini picture to see the flickr notes about the various wheel parts.

The bobbins "lock" in place on the back of the flyer, a shape cut out of the end of each one fits onto a hex-bolt at the back of the flyer. This is very similar to a Journey Wheel, providing it with a front-loading bobbin design. You take a bobbin off by twisting the front orifice bar off the flyer side-rods and taking that off. Fairly simple, after a few bobbin changes I had a feel for how much pressure to use to release the orifice bar and to re-twist it into place, and for how to line bobbins up to match the bolt to the cut-out shape. The SpinOlution people put together a YouTube video showing the wheel in use (with the trainer on - that's the clicking noise) and how to remove and replace bobbins.

If you got the wheel and strap kit, the wheels screw in place on the audience-side of the wheel, where there are pre-drilled holes (four on a side) for the screws that hold the wheels on. The strap attaches to the wooden handle on the audience side of the wheel. Once they are installed, you tilt the wheel onto its wheels and pull it with the strap. Set it in place, and tilt it back up to its normal working position, which lifts the wheels just off the floor and out of the way.

My first impression of the wheel, out of the box ... really nice work, very professionally cut and assembled. And the bobbins ... my goodness, they're huge! I got extras, and promptly started using the metal rods on the body to hold them.

Later I determined they "fit" better with the rod in the center of the bobbin, not in one of the holes on the bobbin.

My wheel came with the regular attachment in place and the "trainer" shown on the SpinOlution website in another baggy. Good thing, too -- when we tried out the trainer later, *wow* was it loud! And since both my son (my helper-tester!) and I already spin, we found we really didn't need it.

One surprise ... the SpinOlution website hadn't shown any pictures of the audience-side of the wheel. What do you think of it? I like it!

My son and I both played around with treadling that Thursday evening, and I managed to put a leader on one bobbin, but that was it. My son probably spent a solid hour treadling away at the 3:1 ratio, getting a feel for it and being amazed at the inertia-factor. The wheel just keeps going and going and going once you've started ... so you can take a little treadle break, or take advantage of the super-light-touch you can use to keep it going. I found also that you can treadle with one foot as easily as two, should you want to use the wheel single-treadle.

The next day, I was off to Lacey, WA, early, to run a dye workshop.

The Mach 1 came with me, and in the spare moments, I spun on it, and let the sock knitters try it out too.

This is what I got done, almost 2 ounces of Carnations From Steve, a CVM/silk/silk noil blend, spun fairly high twist at about 20 WPI. I was just amazed at the bobbin size -- that almost 2 ounces looks like nothing on the bobbin!

Around this time, folks on ravelry "outed" me as a vendor for the wheel ... being primarily a spindle vendor, I hadn't carried wheels at The Bellwether since the Journey Wheel stopped being available wholesale. It felt like time, but I admit I'm easing back into it with this one wheel. It's unique, and The Bellwether is very much a focused, one-woman business. They were interested to know what it was like to spin novelty yarn, thick-and-thin, on the SpinOlution Mach 1 Wheel.

My Pluckyfluff study group was meeting to spin Lexi's posie yarn, so it seemed a perfect test. For this yarn, Lexi says you need to use your orifice hook to get the flowers through the orifice, each time, and then wind them on without letting them near the hooks, or they would hang up.



The SpinOlution's unique peg "orifice" and peg-hooks looked like they would make this task much easier, and they did! There is only about a 3/8 inch gap between the front peg and the bobbin, so my big flowers did need a little hand-help past that, but so easy -- no hooks, no yanking, just lift up the single, move it slightly to be past the orifice peg, and keep going. All but my biggest flowers made it between pegs on the flyer just fine. The biggest two needed a similar hand-help to get through the gap, and then wound on just fine from there.

I skeined up my yarn from the bobbin after loosening the tension knob.

Once I had all my posies done, I decided it would be a good idea to cable the posies for strength and stability. So, I spun the rest of my white wool very finely, on the SpinOlution -- it works like a champ on the fine spinning, I adjusted the tension right down to nothing, and used the cross-lacing you see done on other wheels to reduce draw-in even further. Plying and cable-plying were a breeze, and the finished skein was well worth the effort.


As far as the separation of the treadles is concerned ... it is a much easier treadle than some double-treadle wheels, in that your thighs aren't continuously rubbing together, and if you wear bell-bottoms, they aren't likely to be whapping each other. I haven't tried wearing a skirt in front of this wheel, but I'd say it would be very feasible. To compare with my wheel-on-hand, the treadles of the Spinolution are toe-end treadles, so they are not full-foot-length. They are 4-5 inches wide, and there is 12 inches of space between them. On a Majacraft Suzie Pro, the treadles are 4 inches wide and have 5 inches of space between them. My son (11 yo, almost 5 feet tall, size *mens 10* feet (eeek)) finds this comfortable to treadle; my daughter (8 yo, about 4 feet tall) finds it more of a stretch, for her leg length alone.

My son has spun up some of his "signature" low twist worsted-weight singles on the wheel as well -- the 3:1 ratio meant he could be as energetic as he likes to be, and still end up with a nice soft yarn when he was done.

Additional observations on the SpinOlution Mach 1 ...

When spinning Z (clockwise), I found the yarn was held best by the orifice-peg if I laced on the right-hand side of the flyer; on the left-hand side, if I didn't sit square on, it jumped off the orifice peg. Annoying, but not shocking. Similarly, when spinning S (counterclockwise), the left-hand side of the flyer gave more stability on the orifice peg. If I wanted to use the other side, for more even filling of the bobbin, I made sure I was holding the yarn square-on to the orifice peg, similar to how you hold yarn square-on to a delta orifice wheel like a Majacraft or Fricke.

The ratios go from 3:1 to 15:1. I found, that after it was used 3:1 for a few sessions, the band was a little loose at 15:1; when I moved it up to 10:1, there was less noise when spinning. I left it in a warmer spot for a little while so the band could contract back to a good fit at 15:1, and the noise came back down with the return of the band tension.

In terms of noise, now that I've mentioned it ... I'd say this wheel is perhaps a little quieter than my Journey Wheel, and not as silent as my Majacraft wheel. It had a continual soft whirring sound when in use, which increased a little with the loosened drive band. I'm thinking for consistent use at the wide ends, I might want to put a second drive band on to use when I'm using the highest ratio. The brakes can make a fair bit of noise when they are applied, though they work very quickly; I found using the off-side brake (e.g. clockwise/Z, the left brake) was quietest.

In terms of heft, this was comparable to my Schacht Matchless wheel, lighter than my Betty Roberts wheel, heavier than my Majacraft Suzie Pro wheel (okay, so I've had a few wheels in my day!) It's 22 pounds, and sits solidly on the floor. My 11yo son found this worked well for him, his wheel, a Louet S-17 Kit wheel, is a bit light for his growing muscles.

I'm not sure I'll ever know for sure the true volume of the bobbins ... but I was pleased to find that they fit on my Nancy's Knit Knacks Kate, and that their own metal bearings gave a nice level of friction on the kate, since they are groove-less bobbins.

All-in-all, I am happy to be a vendor for this wheel. Its $495 unfinished/$595 finished price tag makes it an approachable new wheel for people, and its solid construction means it will last a long time. Given that it's a double treadle wheel, that's even more impressive. The ease of treadling of the SpinOlution Mach 1 is wonderful, the selection of ratios from 3:1 to 15:1 suits a wide range of spinning and spinners, the bobbin size is eye-opening, and its unique peg orifice and peg hooks make threading a breeze.

Compare this to the high-end Schacht Matchless double treadle current retail price of $975, with its standard ratios from 9:1 to 15.5:1, traditional orifice, and generous but not this-huge bobbins.

Now, price-wise, wheels that are in the same price-range include the Lendrum Complete, the Schacht Ladybug, some Louets, and some Ashfords. For a choice of wheels, I find it useful to look at wheel reviews such as those available on The Woolery and on Abby's Yarns blog (on the Louet Victoria and Louet Julia). Neither has yet tried the SpinOlution, however, so they do not discuss this wheel.

In addition, the SpinOlution makers stand by their work. They provide a 1 year parts warranty. If there is a defect in workmanship, they will always work with the owner to resolve any issue. Usually they will supply the replacement of the broken part, as shipping the unit will get very expensive for the customer. They never want an unhappy customer, and will do everything in their power to correct any issue. From what I've heard so far, they have been fast to respond to any customer questions and requests for adjustment.

If the wheel has a downside, it would be that you would want to purchase additional bobbins ($30 each), the wheel and strap kit ($20) and if you don't have one yet, a Lazy Kate. I was glad to find the Nancy's Knit Knack Kate fit the bobbins very nicely. Given the large size of the bobbins, you wouldn't need many. And with this great blogged trick, you can effectively "double" the number of bobbins you have if you like to spin enough to fill your plying bobbin.

My wheel is unfinished, I plan to finish it with a wipe-on/wipe-off varnish. Also, I should point out, there is no WooLee Winder for this wheel -- though its open threading makes the lack less arduous for me than with an orifice-and-hook wheel.

If you're on Ravelry, you can find members' discussion of this wheel in the forums. The maker has a website as well, www.SpinOlution.com.

Next, I would like to spin some boucle on the SpinOlution -- those pegs look like they'll do a great job!


I'll have the SpinOlution Mach 1 Spinning Wheel at the NwRSA Conference in Salem, Oregon, June 5-8 2008, in Salem, Oregon; and at Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene, Oregon, June 20-22 2008. And it's set up in my spinning studio, if you'd like to take a trip out to Port Angeles, Washington.

In 2009, I'll bring the Mach 1 to Black Sheep Gathering where I am vending; if you'd like to see it at any of my teaching venues (NwRSA, OFFF) let me know.

I've written some comparisons of the Mach 1 to other wheels on the SpinOlution group on Ravelry: Mach 1 and Schacht Matchless, and Mach 1 and Majacraft Suzie Pro/Alpaca.

Interested in the new wheel from SpinOlution, the Bee Travel Wheel? See my review, And Then There was Life Before the Bee.
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posted 1 May 2008 at http://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/ Edited 22 Mar 09 to add review links and these maker marks.

How do you steam-block handspun yarn?

A while ago, I had a post on Spinning on a small budget where I mentioned making your own PVC niddy-noddy, and earlier had instructions showing the parts using CPVC to ensure it could take the heat for dyeing.

That's a great solution for steaming as well, since you can make the CPVC niddy any size you desire.

However, if you are just sampling, or don't want to run out to the local plumbing supply store, check your closets for a metal hanger. Yep, a hanger.

Grab the bottom straight part in the middle, and pull the hanger into a diamond shape. Instant niddy-noddy!

It's a little unconventional, but yarn winds on just fine.

Click for bigger to get a clearer view of the wind on ... you go over one corner, under the next, over, under, and repeat until done.

This simple niddy-skeiner contraption has a great handle, which makes it very handy for steaming! Get a pot of water boiling, or a small saucepan on the stove, and you can hold the handle (away from the steam!!) while steaming each quarter of the yarn.

If your hands are at all sensitive to heat, put on your oven gloves before doing this! I held each quarter over the heat for 30-60 seconds, 2-3 times, until it looked like it was fully steamed. I admit, sometimes I just let it rest against the kettle's handle -- very convenient!

Oh yes ... I wound the yarn onto the niddy dry, then did the steaming.

Let the yarn cool on the niddy -- hang it off a handy shower rail or doorknob -- then remove it and let it finish drying if needed before twisting up the skein or winding it into a ball.

I recently was pointed to (yay Ravelry!) a blog entry about microwave setting yarn ... it sounds interesting, but I haven't tried that yet myself.

Here's a bobbin waiting for steaming, so there's a chance I'll be trying it soon!

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Have you steam-set yarns by some other method? I'd love to hear about it!