Wheelie
About a year ago, my mail carrier decided to loan me her spinning wheel because she thought I needed to learn how to use one. :) So, the other day when I went into the PO, she said she had found a little spinning wheel at a garage sale for me. She's decided to take up spinning again, and she wanted me still to have a wheel. How sweet is that?!?! So today she brought it over. It's a cute little castle, but that's about as much as I know. Does anyone know what kind of wheel this is? Edited to add: Kerry and my friendly neighborhood fiber pusher have figured it out! It's a Thumbelina from NZ, made in the 70s! Now I need to find bobbins. They're fairly small....
What is this tab? Edited to add: moving the tab to the side allows the spindle to drop back so that the flyer can be removed to change bobbins. Assuming I can find other bobbins, that is!
It's a double drive.
The treadle is held in place with leather.
There's a screw in the wheel. To balance it?
Tension adjusts from the bottom
It has one leg in back and two in front.
And a cute little treadle.
It's a totally adorable wheel, and L oiled it up and played with it, but she said she couldn't get it to draw properly. I think this may be because the wheel shimmies a bit. The spokes are a bit loose (easy to fix).
It would be cool if anyone knows what it is! TIA! :)
What is this tab? Edited to add: moving the tab to the side allows the spindle to drop back so that the flyer can be removed to change bobbins. Assuming I can find other bobbins, that is!
It's a double drive.
The treadle is held in place with leather.
There's a screw in the wheel. To balance it?
Tension adjusts from the bottom
It has one leg in back and two in front.
And a cute little treadle.
It's a totally adorable wheel, and L oiled it up and played with it, but she said she couldn't get it to draw properly. I think this may be because the wheel shimmies a bit. The spokes are a bit loose (easy to fix).
It would be cool if anyone knows what it is! TIA! :)
Labels: spinning
posted by Romi at 1:42 PM
11 Comments:
it's so CUTE!
I'm not sure whether I'm most surprised that you know your mail carrier that well, that she actually spins, that she lent you her wheel, that she went to the trouble to find one for you, or that she found a working spinning wheel for sale at a garage sale! You must live in a very different neighborhood than I do.
Congratulations!
What a great gift. You'll have to hit craigslist and ebay for bobbins. You have an awesome mail carrier.
I adore my wheel.
ok so you have the coolest post office in all the land!!
Rosemary- wow, mailcarriers out there sure are friendly.
What a sweet wheel.
Yes, the mail carriers here are super awesome! First off, it's a tiny little town of 1,645 where everyone knows everyone else, and I also see them every day at the post office while mailing off pin orders and also during the day driving around! We've gotten to know each other. :) They're the best.
If you can't find genuine Thumbelina buttons, you can have them made for you. Dave of the Merlin Tree in Vermont can make bobbins for you...you send him your bobbin and flyer mechanism (in the mail, of course) and he will send you more bobbins...
And yes, I am friends with my mail carrier too, (It's a small town thing!) although he doesn't bring me spinning wheels. Dang.
Duh. I just thought about it again. I'm sure your husband could make these bobbins for you! Whoops!
What a surprise to see this post, or should I say, your wheel! I was given the exact same wheel by my sister in California who bought it for me at an auction at a fiber guild event. The story goes that there was a husband and wife team who both were spinners and they got old and...both of their wheels were there for sale/ auction, so my sister grabbed me one. I wonder if you have the other to the pair?! I even have an "event" name tags from a 1991 spinning conference that was still hanging on the wheel when I received it. Their names were Edward & Margaret Lewis and they belonged to South Coast Weavers, an Orange County group. Small world, eh? I am also searching for bobbins, so if I ever locate them, I'll let you know.
How cool! Mine was from further up north, but you never know. There seem to be more of these cute little wheels than one would suppose. :)
Romi, Allison, if the two of you could PLEASE contact me. I have been desperately searching for one of these wheels since late '91/early '92 when I learned that my grandfather's whhel had gone to auction. I doubt either of ypu has his wheel, but...please...
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