I’ve been putting in quite a bit of time on my cool new custom lateral treadle wheel in the past week.
It is spinning great, but ratios are a little bit different than my Minstrel, so I’m working on getting a good feel for it. I hope to use the 15:1 as my main production ratio for two-ply yarns, but is a little faster than I’m used to drafting, so I’m working on getting myself re-calibrated.
Right now, 8:1 is giving me singles that work really well as 3-ply.
(that’s an Edgar/Griff blend)
I had The Man shoot a little video of me spinning on it so you can see how the alignment works.
[flickr video=8354814087 secret=7dc4f35b32 w=400 h=225]
(It makes a little bit of a whirring noise, but it really isn’t nearly as loud as it seems in the video.)
Now that we’ve got the wheel project done, I’ve found that my mind is wandering to other types of custom mods that The Man could help me with to make my fiber process more efficient.
Check out these cool ideas:
The Cyclocarder: http://www.fibershed.com/2011/11/01/mother-of-invention/
A hand-mixer powered drum carder: http://www.fabinbc.com/2011/12/14/new-fibre-carding-station/
I am really partial to the pedal-powered one.
I am also really interested in making a felted cat-pod for Boo Kitten.
I think she would really dig it.
But I’ve never really done much wet felting. Perhaps a knitted and fulled pod?
Or a recycled sweater pod?
Whatcha think?
Edited to Add: Go Hawks!
Wow you make the longdraw looks effortless!
What a cool wheel, it looks pretty fast. If you can invent a nice skeiner then I would buy it 🙂
I like the cyclocarder!
Me too. Isn’t it just the coolest idea?
I like the felted cat pod – what a neat idea – and yes GO HAWKS – we will miss the game on Sunday because The Shepherd is giving the service at church that morning – I thought about skipping, but I had already promised to do the music. Darn… ::-) T.