Tag: Denisee Special

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!

Meet the Denisee Special (aka “Stupid Spinning Wheel”)!

My design + The Man’s welding, woodworking and general mechanical skills.

Here are the specs:

single drive, flyer-lead
lateral treadle
weighted scotch tension
ratios: approx 8, 15, 24 to 1

The driveband is tensioned by a moveable pulley on a horizontally mounted bracket

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways….

1. The lateral treadle setup gives me lots of room to work in front and to the left, which is how I draft.

2. The compact upright arrangement lets it have a pretty big wheel (24″) and still have a relatively small footprint (13.5″ by 26″). big wheel = higher ratios = fast

3. Single drive set-up with the pulleys on the front of the flyer allow me to change out bobbins without having to unscrew anything!

4. Since the bobbin is perpendicular to me, I can see exactly how it is filling up and when I should change hooks.

Next up- a built in-lazy kate?

Denise is such a happy girl. 🙂