How many wheels do you have?

I have 2 Ashford wheels, one a Kiwi and a Traditional, 2 Walking wheels, a little flax wheel (being repaired), and an Indian Spinner.

Yes, they take up some space, so I have tossed out some of the other furniture from my den space in my great room.

I have one, a Louet S10



I don't use it near enough!

Julie

I get great pleasure out of spinning, but haven't had time the last couple of months to just sit and spin.

I encourage you to "waste" time in the evenings spinning!

I have a Saxony, a Babe charkha (which I love) and an electric wheel, and also have 5 drop spindles, as I have just "redicovered" spindling. I am awaiting, very impatiently, a lovely purpleheart spindle from Spinners Choice.
Cheers, Caroline in Australia, who never has too much fibre, just not enough storage space.

None of us ever have enough storage space!!!

I have a Marjacraft Suzie,2x Ashford Traditional.A Matilda upright,an antique Traditional style Turkish drop spindle,bottom whorl drop spinle,top whorl dropspinle ,spindolyn supported quill spindle and a Rakestraw style spinner.I agree there is no such thing as enough storage space i live in my stash!

You are a true fiberaholic!

Yesterday we were invited to a new Assisted Care home grand opening and health fair. My crew took 2 walking wheels, 2 new students learning to run them and I got the Trad. We had a very good time. The few residents were totally interested. The visitors to the home were interested too. Had a Brownie Scout wanting spinning lessons.

How wonderful, I love doing demonstrations and used to do lots at a Pioneer Village. Unfortunately I became overwhelmed by the demand to travel and do demos all over. People don't realise the effort involved and the expense of travelling and most want you for nothing thats no problem, but don't even offer to cover part of your petrol.So i can't afford to do it even if i want to anymore.

I have a really hard time with the fuel portion of it. When invited most of the time I require a motel room and one meal per day. If they can't get those comped they have to pay for them if they truely want me there.

If the festivals are close, it is no problem as I would be attending them anyway.

I started with the demand of motel or hotel room and a meal per day when we started this adventure. Some people have looked at me as if I were crazy, but I really don't have the unlimited funds to chase all over doing it at the cost of fuel this year especially and I don't see the fuel coming down anytime soon either.

Some locations we have cousins or children who host us! That is really very lovely! We get to visit a bit as well as set up the demos. Last weekend is a good example. Our son lives in that town also the lady who invited us, asked us if we would spend the night with her! She is sort of an "adopted" daughter. Same age as our daughters.

You are so lucky as far as that goes. I don't like to be billeted with people i don't know and would rather go to a motel if possible.I do think people are rude to expect you to do things for them and not cover petrol especially as we are paying $133 a litre and there are 5 litres to the gallon here at present.Also i have found that people think if you are demonstrating you are happy to do it for nothing and if you ask for even very basic expenses baulk at getting you to do it.So i have stopped doing it now.

The art teacher in our little town expected me to be paid about $100 USd for doing classes for her art classes, and that was per class. The "Artist in Residence" fund pays for those sorts of things. It is nice when the school system is willing to expend for "non-essential" arts classes and demos.

It is the big museums who come up as "pikers". They even want the guest artists to pay the gate fees to get in to be privledged to give the demonstrations. I have learned a lot about "pricing talent" in the last few years.

OH!! MY!!! the cost of your fuel!!! and I thought the price of diesel for my truck here in the USA was a back breaker! Ok, I will stop complaining about my measley $3.25 to $3.70 per gallon.

I have one wheel. It is around 100 years old. I bought it from a lady who collects antiques. I forget the exact name of it. I am sure it was Canadian something or the other. That's terrible isn't it? I love my wheel though.

Sheri

I have 29. They fascinate me so I collect them.

Right now I have a few drop spindles, a spindolyn, and a rake straw. I'm looking for a wheel that I can afford. I'd really like to have one with some history with it.

Unless you can spin on a wheel or buy one with some history behind it from someone who can demo that it works (and give you a spinning lesson)it's best to stay away from antique wheels. Why? Because these wheels may well have problems that are not readily apparent.

Know the history of an old wheel is nice, but it's seldom that any thing much is known about old wheels. Some old wheels have maker's names or marks, some have the initials of the original owner carved into them.

It's also highly suspect if someone purports to have a wheel used by a famous historical figure for sale (usually for really big bucks!). A year or two back, someone was selling a wheel on e0Bay - had it billed as Martha Washington's spinning wheel and claimed to have bought it from someone who had gotten it at a garage sale at Mt. Vernon. They said they had documentation on all of this but refused to show it to anyone but the buyer and then only after they had been paid for the wheel. Right!!!!

If you do know how to spin on a wheel. you can, on occasion find fairly good buys at antique shops. But if you spot one, be prepared to test it before buying. This requires being prepared with oil, a rag, drive band material, small pieces of wood to use to temporarily replace missing pegs or as shims, some sort of material to temporarily replace missing bearings (heavy cord will work in a pinch), a piece of rope to use as a temporary footman, and of course some fibers to spin. In other words, everything you need to make small repairs and get the wheel going. Most antique dealers will be happy to let you try to get the wheel going - after all, they may get a sale out of it But don't count on them to know anything of the wheel's history beyond where they may have gotten it.

If you find an old wheel that needs repairs, there are some very excellent spinning wheel restorers out there and often they can tell you something about the wheel - an estimate of when it was made and where at the least. There are also some good books on the topic of antique wheels and an excellent publication called "The Spinning Wheel Sleuth".

Hi Everyone,
I'm new here, but I have an old Haldane wheel that I bought on ebay, it's lovely and it seems to spin fine.Keep in mind that I am a beginner. I also have a kick spindle, which I love and a spindolyn that i use.

Alice in Cockeysville, MD
P.S. I'm hoping to take lessons at The Mannings this spring.

Hi Alice,

The Haldane is an excellent wheel. Do you have the Saxony style or the upright style?

Hi I am new here, but not to spinning.

I have 2 Ashford Traditionals, 2 Joys which I won, 1 Lendrum double treadle and a handmade oak wheel which Martin at P&M Woolcraft made for me. I also have a Navajo spindle and a couple of high whorl spindles.
For choice I use the oak wheel, at the moment I am spinning fine 2 ply for Heirloom yarns for a sampler for Sharons latest book.

Regards

Hi Sue,

Would Sharon be Sharon Miller, perchance? If it is, and she has a new book coming out, please keep us posted.

BTW, I used to work as a production spinner for the fly fishing industry

Hi Llyn,
yes it is Sharon Miller, I am not sure when her book will be out, but not for some time, I have only just received the Shetland for the sampler and I know for this one she is not working to a deadline.

What did you used to spin for the fly fishing industry? I spin some of my own threads for fancy fly bodies and use a lot of loose fibres too, it is such a good cross over of skills from spinning to fly dressing.

Hi Sue,

The yarns I spun for fly fishing were 100% mylar 2 plied. I gave it up in favor of concentrating on spinning my own stuff when my hands started bothering me.

Hi Sue,

I have Sharon's book on Heirloom Lace knitting. It's beyond my lace knitting capabilities at the moment...but I'll get there given enough time. I have gotten through an EZ Pi shawl and think maybe a hap shawl next...then maybe the fine lace

ehh, does this sounds crazy?
I got 3 working ones, one build in the 70's, one Ashford Joy and another german one, 2 upright ones build to be lamps, but workable after I redid them, 2 in the basement waiting to be redone and a few small model ones, one of them a child wheel or so...workable, but needs to be redone. then I make drop spindles, got several of them.
Since my son left to be in the German Airforce I claimed his room to be my spinning room and got the Joy in the livingroom to work with while watching tv. So Brock has to share his room with my flock of wheels, when he comes home on weekend leave

I have 0 wheels but I'd love to get one soon. In the meantime, I'd like to get a drop spindle to create yarn for my 2 weaving looms.

I have nine antique wheels that I teach with. Flax spinning seems to demand wheels like the early American flax wheels as the ratios; whorl to bobbin pulley seem to be very accurate. I can't believe the low prices that antique wheels go for at these farm auctions here in central Minnesota. I was really surprized at one a few years back that went for $1500.00!!!!! Then I found out what was going on. The auction was for the parents of kids doing the bidding and a few of them really wanted the wheel which was not anything unusual. Other than an original castle wheel I can not see that kind of money for a spinning wheel. I love to tease my brothers when I tell them that spinning wheels give me "warm fuzzies". They just roll their eyes and look at each other like I was left on mom and dads doorstep by gypsies. They seem to get warm fizzies when they go out and shoot a beautiful deer and take it home and eat it. Can you imagine??? Forgive me all of you avid hunters but I just can not look into those beautiful soft deer eyes and pull the trigger.

I have 2. One is not currently functional. Antique-broken flyer.
The other I bought from a shop in The Netherlands via Ebay. He refurbishes and tests them and then offers them for sale. It is old, but the company that made it, still exists. I'm getting used to the 'feel' of it. It's a saxony style, kind of small wheel, but it spins.

I have one. I've only been spinning for a year now. It's a Louet Victoria S95. It came with it's own carrying case which makes it very easy to go to a spinning group I'm a member of. The fact that it's lightweight is a plus too.
Lorna

I have 7 or 8 extra antique flyers with bobbin and whorls if you are interested.

That is a very nice wheel!! Enjoy!!!!

How many wheels? I'm just getting started! I don't know where it will end, but currently, I have an Ashford Traveller in my office, and an Ashford Trad (old style) in my Bedroom. But I've been at it for less than a month. Give me time.

I have plans to make one of those box wheels, at the moment I can't remember how to spell them, they're usually imported from India and have a spindle rather than a flier??? Anyhow, I have rudimentary plans, now to just get time and the power tools together...

Hmmm, well I think I'd go looking for a flier for that one. I've been studying the structure of the wheels I have and others, and I think that if you have the basic wheel, you can probably find a flier to go on it. It may not be from the same maker, but I bet you could make it functional nonetheless. I've been talking with folk who took a flier and a sewing machine motor, mounted both on a little platform, added a foot control, and "boom" instant electric wheel. Also people who mounted a flier on an old sewing machine treadle's guts. Yours with a replacement flier would look much more traditional than those.

Hey, it'd be fun to try, wouldn't it?

I have 2, both Kromskis. My first was the Symphony and the second is the Sonata. I also have a Golding Tsunami drop spindle. Bought the Symphony before I knew how to spin, just knew that I HAD to do it. Been spinning for 2 years. Now I've started taking weaving lessons - got to continue on the process. Beginning to think fiber is my obsession, not hobby.

Well, I know I am not in the minority, but I still feel guilty everytime I say this . . . I have four! A Majacraft Rose (my first baby and still a favorite), a Jensen Tina II (absolute favorite) a Reeves Frame wheel, and a Roberta Erotel. . .

with a Betty Roberts wheel on the way, I will be selling the Erotel wheel I think!

Oooh, a Betty Roberts! Please post some pics when you get it. Those are beautiful wheels.

And, don't feel guilt - I have 29 wheels and still have a "wish list".