Crochet Crazy

last year i saw the spinolution wheel, and i was very interested by it, the whole magnetic flyer thing, by the fact it has brakes and so on. That and not everyone and his dog has one. Sadly the uk dealer on contact said they didnt have one for me to try. However, i waited, but this wheel was haunting me.
Earlier this year i wrote to the uk dealers to be told, they didnt stock wheels any more. One word. Arse. So annoyed. I checked out the spinolution ravelry group, it seemed there was no one in the uk prepared to let me come try theirs either. Saying that, only one person reponded with having one, just bought it back from the states, but it needed a drive band, but i could try it when it got here. Anyway about 3 months passed, i reminded them, nothing.

Spinolution at some point launched something that made it very difficult to not do

 

So, basically anything you could need, at $470 off

Although, im still asking wtf you do with a 32oz bobbin.

I ordered it through a lovely lady. Spinolution were quick to ship and i watched its progress getting to me like a hawk. Uk customs as always was the biggest issue. It took forever it felt like to make it to the point where it got to the uk postal service, who then had to send me a bill, i paid it, then finally it was out for delivery friday.

All brits will tell you that its a standing joke that anything going through royal mail with fragile on it, meant frankly they drop kicked it, ran over it or whatever the hell they did with it, it had a hard time. My dad once sent a lathe head in a ply wood box he built for it, out of half inch ply wood. They smashed the box.. Seriously elephants could stand on that box.. But they managed to break it, despite the big red fragile stickers on.

It seems usps is the same.

I did fear it would be damaged. Not too surprisingly

 

 

First inspection, it looks fine, what a relief

So, i put it together. Despite no actual instructions and the youtube video shows a prototype, and while it was simple enough, i had no washers like she did. I also put the smaller flyer on and the whole head thing could move more than enough. I tried a quick test peddle but it moved too much and made noise. Was very puzzled as woman in video had two screws whick locked it in place. I had nothing obvious. Thankfully i thought to look at the other head, it had a big twisty screw knob at the base which would be right so i took that and fixed the head on securely.

 

I just started spinning my first bit of fibre when a friend persuaded me that i had to go out. But i made this really short bit of yarn

 

So, anyway. Filled my first 8oz bobbin today

 

Looks very sloppy as i found it hard to load evenly because the take up is a bit weird. Most wheels give you your yarn back, this almost wont, no matter what tension the take ups on. But it also doesnt suck it in quite the same way, so if you end up feeding it a long chunk, it yarn tends to flap and jump off the flyer pins… And move where its loading onto the bobbin. Hence there are loose bits, big cross over bits in this

I finished the single lunchtime today.

 

 I wound it into a centre pull ball and then plied it back onto the same bobbin.
I then used their skein winder to make it into a skein. I found i couldnt use the peddles to turn the skein winder it was too stiff. Even with the bobbin on their lazy kate, the skein winder needs a perfect line up ortherwise of course the yarn jumps off the winder. However.

My 8 3/4 oz bobbin, thats 250g of yarn. Measuring 793 yards.

I love my new wheel. However there were down points

1. No instructions on how to put it together.
2. Only one head holding on screw knob between two heads
3. The take up is odd, it feels like somone holding your yarn who will only take your new yarn not give it back, but when it takes it it doesnt suck it up quick like most wheels so it can jump the flyer pins
4. The skein winder creates too much drag and any tiny resistance such as the bobbin on the lazy kate, you cant peddle. But you can use the smaller prongs as a winding handle.
5. Getting yarn off the skein winder is hard as it has no give in it

 

Tags: spinning

This entry was posted by Liz on Sunday, June 28th, 2015 at 7:29 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.