And There's More!

This is a new wheel I just got. It's called Mach 1 by Spinolution. I was intrigued by the thing. It's just new on the market and there are only a few people who have one and I am one of them.

I got the thing yesterday and started playing with it - putting aside the paperwork and paying of bills I was supposed to be doing. It took a little finagling but I finally got it. It's very different than any wheel I've seen. There treadles kind of rock back and forth and the wheel is pretty when it spins. It has those two little pedals on the sides to stop the wheel when you want instead of sticking your hand in there and breaking a nail.

It does have really good movement and the momentum is great. It's a little noisier than I would like but we're talking about the early stages of production here and little improvements will be made little by little - as I complain about stuff:-)

It works sort of like a scotch tension wheel I think. The tensioning knob is above the bobbin. I don;t have photo of it - bummer. The front of the flyer snaps off and the bobbin slides out. The bobbin is HUGE. I need to spin some yarn and see how much it can hold but I think it's bigger than a Louet bobbin.
I kind of like it and I have a feeling it might grow on me.

It's a little heavy - heavier than a Schacht Matchless - so you wouldn't want to be toting this thing around very much. It comes unfinished and so I probably will put a little wax on this one to protect it since I have plenty of people coming in to try out wheels.

Current Retail on this wheel is $495. It does only come with one bobbin - which we have talked about - but additional bobbins are available.

Come in and try it if you're around.
Next are my samples from the Abby workshops. First up spindle tricks. I made this teenytiny little skeinlette on this teenytiny little spindlelette made by Abby's own hands. It is a dowel and a tiny toy wheel. No notch was to be found on the shaft. Half hitches all around and I was spinning. It actually worked very well - especially as I got a little yarn on there. We spun and spun and then we learned the Andean method of plying. Not what you think - go check out Abby's YouTube videos and her blog. You can really get some twist on that spindle if you spin it from your palms! Three hours of spindling and some went home and some stayed over.
Around 11PM Abby made me a mini batt of Masham and Tussah. It was a beautiful thing. I just want to say that the girl is anal about the carding. Light touch and smooth movements. I made a tiny skein of singles yarn. It hasn't been washed yet.
Saturday morning off we went to learn about sock yarns and we began with a striped yarn of 2 colors of Blue Faced Leicester. This is a poor picture. It's better in person. This one is a 2 ply.
There was chained plying of SWTC Karaoke. (I'm a master at that now that I had Patsy's class:-)
There was the bouncy springy yarn. The dyed yarn is Jitterbug that I bought in Frankenmuth and wanted to copy. I was convinced by the way it moved that there was elastic in it. But the label said 100% merino. Check out the white on the right. The twist angle in the ply almost matches it exactly and the springiness is fantastic.
I am also going to be carrying Abby's Batts at the shop - oh, yeah I told you that already. Well, I swiped these before anything went on the shelf. Alpaca and some other stuff that I can't remember cause I am a poor listener and never write anything down.
Remember the orange yarn from Abby Batts? Well she brought me some coordinating batts cause pink does go with orange. The colors aren't showing up very well here but there are streaks of orange in those pink batts. I wonder if I have enough to make one of those shawls? The article calls for 18 ounces and 1040 yards of spun yarn. I only have 5 ounces but....hhmmm.