Handmade (Little Grace Special Spinning Wheel)

I love things that are handmade. I imagine a lot of us do. I have spent thousand of hours knitting lace or spinning lace weight yarn in spite of being asked by non-crafters, "Can't you just buy that in a store?". I don't get mad anymore. Instead, I just show them a finished shawl and assure them they will never see one of these in a store.

That said, I have wanted a Little Grace Special spinning wheel since I first saw one in Spin-Off magazine many years ago. They are made by Mike Keeves of New Zealand as a more portable version of his "Grace" spinning wheel. If you follow the link above, you can see all the different versions of his wheel which he makes by hand out of marine grade plywood for durability.

Though I lusted after this spinning wheel there was no "on-line" store to order one. If you want one, you have to e-mail Mr. Keeves and get on the waiting list. I had also never actually had a chance to spin on one since there are not a lot of them around. I finally decided to "go for it" after giving away my "Little Peggy" spinning wheel earlier this year. She was pretty and vintage but spun too slow. This made room for one more wheel in our small house and I decided I just had to have that Little Grace Special wheel. Of course, I had no idea if he was still making spinning wheels.

I sent an e-mail to Mr. Keeves (mkeeves@clear.net.nz) who is a lovely gracious man. Lucky for me he still makes this wheel though he is in his later years. I asked about the the whorl sizes since spinning thin is a big deal for me and found that this would be no problem so I went on the waiting list with an estimate of 6 months before my wheel would be ready. 6 months later and I got my first picture of the finished wheel sitting on top of Mr. Keeves work bench (the first picture above).

In order to arrange for payment, I had to go to my bank to initiate a money transfer in New Zealand dollars. The nice young man helping me at the bank was great until he asked,

Him- "What are you sending away for?"

Me- Smiling "A spinning wheel!"

Him- Blank stare

Me- Less smiling "You know, to spin wool or other fiber"

Him- Blank stare

Me- Not smiling "You know. Before they started making yarn or thread with large machines you had to make them yourself so you had to spin the fibers of animals or plants using a tool called a spinning wheel"

Him- Blank stare-

I gave up explaining at that point and kept my "eyes on the prize" so to speak and got through the rest of the transaction.

I had asked for a clear finish rather than the dark stain pictured in the brochure and she came packed securely in 2 boxes with excellent and clear assembly instructions. It took less than 25 minutes to assemble and she spins perfectly. I took lots of pictures of the various parts so if anyone in the future is considering getting one of these wheels they will have a better idea of what they would get. It's very cunning in design and can be either assembled for left or right side spinners. It comes with one whorl with many different sized ratios, (smallest is 5/8" diameter for a 22:1 ratio) is a single treadle wheel that utilizes a nylon drive band. The tension on the drive band is adjusted by a "tilt tension" system that can be adjusted easily. The scotch tension is very thin fishing line with a rubber band with a knob in the front. Simple and easy to adjust.

This wheel is virtually silent and has sealed bearings in the wheel and flyer head so it needs oil only on the treadle hings if they are squeaking and in the ball joints of the Pitman arm which connect the wheel to the treadle. The wheel comes with 7 bobbins, an orifice hook, pigtale attachment for plying and a reducing orifice attachment to make the orifice in the flyer smaller. The wheel is approx. 31" tall, 12"x 16.5 inches at the base with a 14" wheel diameter and comes with a lazy kate. It spins well as you can tell from the pictures so I'm very happy :-)

Last but not least, two spindles that were a gift from Wonder Mike who has a new podcast called "Fiber Beat" If you get a chance, check out his podcasts and video casts. The two spindles were made for me by Ed Ligenfelter of Tilt-A-Whorl. Both are about 0.7 ounces and they are great fun to spin with. Both were made with the theme of "lace" since Wonder Mike wanted them to reflect my obsession and Wonder Mike knit the lavender lace that tops one of the spindles which makes it extra special :-) Thank you Mike!

In case you wonder "Where's the lace?" I'm still knitting the "Surprise" as you can see from this crumpled lump. It takes about 45 minutes to go around the shawl one time if it's a pattern row now, 30 minutes if it is a plain knit row. I have also been taking Ukulele lessons and knitting fingerless gloves for my niece who is away at Philadelphia University so not as much progress as I would like. Of course, I never claimed I was a fast knitter :-) Until next time.

Excess? (Some things are too good to pass up!)

I recently de-stashed a large amount of spinning fiber. It wasn't bad stuff since I don't buy bad stuff. It was just "second string". You know what I mean. You look at your stash of fiber, yarn, whatever, and you reach for the "Really good stuff I want to use before I die you have to take it from my cold dead hands touch it and you will pay with your life" stuff. So the second string fiber just sits there. Unused, unloved and so very very sad. I gave it to someone who will use it well.

As a result, I have "space". Good thing too since fleegle opened an Etsy shop "The Gossamer Web" It started out simply enough. There was a yarn that was no longer being made and fleegle still wanted it and thought others might like some too. Well. I just had to have some since it is a cashmere, silk and merino cobweb weight yarn. I know that 20 skeins at 2,600 meters each might look a little excessive to some but to me it's like storing nuts for the winter. You know. Be the ant, not the grasshopper. Besides, I'm thinking of taking that natural dyeing class at A Verb For Keeping Warm. Anyway that's my story and I'm sticking to it. For those who don't want to dye their own, you might just mosey on over to The Gossamer Web and look at the beautiful hand dyed roving's, lace weight yarns and the fun "tools". I picked up cashmere roving in the Hydrangea colorway which you can see I'm spinning into a nice single. It's very short staple and I ended up spinning it like you might have to spin cotton. Cashmere does not have a lot of strength as a single so I plan to ply it with a silk single that I also got from fleegle's shop which you can see in the little plastic bag. I believe it's a 30/1 weight single and should give me the strength I need. The little box fleegle gets from Japan is perfect for my various tiny little stitch markers so I don't have to keep hunting through little containers to find what I want. It was great to go to a shop that had lots of what I need rather than having to hunt all over the internet and fleegle is even making me more of that cashmere roving since I want to make a large project from it. You can't ask for more than that :-)

I have been knitting on my "Surprise" project and I'm up to row 213 of a 314 row pattern. Since it's a square, it just feels like "forever" to go around once, but I think it will be worth it. In the mean time, I did pick up a new book on Estonian lace called, "Haapsalu sall " by Siiri Reimann and Aime Edasi. You can get it at the Apollo book site if you are really interested. I posted a few pictures of some of the shawls on Flicker but I'm sure if you google the title you will find others. The stitch key is in English though the rest of the book is not. If you have knit from the Nancy Bush book then you will already have the basic information you need to use this book. It's a "coffee table" over sized hardcover book with pictures of all the lace designs and charts for the patterns. There are no actual patterns for the lace stoles you see pictured in this book. It has the charts for the centers and the edging but this is a strictly "Make up your own stole" kind of a deal. I plan to use the cashmere I'm spinning now for one of these stoles once I finish "Surprise". Last but not least, I got 4 more spindles from Kevin Rhodes. These are great little spindles at a reasonable price and he is willing to make them to order for you.

Spinning Frenzy and Surprises (What you can and cannot do when you have the flu)

It's flu season. How do I know this? I know because I have had the snotting, coughing, wheezing, loss of voice and fatigue associated with the current flu bug for weeks. Did you know you can still spin a fair single while you have the flu? Did you also know you knit lace at your peril if you are doped up to the gills on drugs? I also want to mention that shopping for spindles on the internet is not a problem for me even when I'm sick. I'm better now, thank the Lord, though there is a stubborn cough that just won't go away. Here are a few pictures of what's been going on.

The first two pictures are of a "Surprise" project I'm knitting. The yarn is 100% Baby Alpaca lace weight yarn from "A Verb For Keeping Warm" in "Vermillion" (4.0 ounces, 1,000 yards). The next picture is of the actual project. You won't see clear pictures of this baby until it's all done and blocked, hence the surprise factor. I'm about 2/3 of the way through and the pattern is 313 rows long. I'm using Addi Lace needles in US 0. Fleegle might have a good guess as to which pattern it is and there are a few folks at Verb who also know. This is proof that I'm still knitting lace though you wouldn't think it looking at the rest of these pictures. As my concentration improves, I will go back to Goldregen but at US 000 needles, I just couldn't hack knitting on it while I've felt so under the weather.

The next pictures are of singles spun from my Verb fiber club shipment of alpaca fiber in “Bleeding Heart” colorway. It was heaven to spin. I have the bobbin on top of some pigeonroofstudio rovings that I was considering to ply with it. I eventually choose the green roving which is a combination alpaca and merino and I'm still working on that project.

It's no surprise that I got more spindles. I didn't mean to but it's boring being sick.

Butterfly Girl Designs : Hemalyke stone whorl .8 ounce

Golding "Acorns" made of a Danecraft Sterling Silver Inset with a Walnut shaft .89 ounces.

Spindle Bowls from "The Wheel Thing" for me and my sister in Bubinga and Cherry (We took a support spindle class at Verb and I sucked major at it)

Tabacheck Tibetan Spindles from "The Wheel Thing" 2 in walnut, a cherry and one in Honduras Mahogany.

Tom Forrester Russian Spindesl from "The Bellweather"

4 spindles from Kevin Rhoads ( Yew, Red Palm, Monkey Puzzle and Laburnum)


I also bought fiber from Corgi Hill Farm as well and finished spinning and plying my other Verb fiber club shipment "Intergalactic Space Travel" in Cashmere and silk plied with Indigo dyed merino/silk also from Verb.

That's all for now I'm afraid. I hope to be able to post blocked lace next time but the rows for the Surprise project are getting ever longer as the shawl grows. I've finished one ball of yarn and I'm onto the second one. Hope I actually have enough of it!

Mitteldecke (Fast Test Knit)

Hand spun 2 ply lace weight yarn made from Wensleydale X fleece purchased from Lowder Colours Farm. Spun on Majacraft Rose on the smallest whorl using the lace flyer and fat core bobbins. Knit on US 1 needles. Pattern from Anna Magazine 1996. Fast, easy and a test to see how this yarn works up. I plan to make a shawl with it. It's still wet so I will have a few shots of it when it is dry. It is a lighter color of grey than this and some sections are lighter than others since I spun worsted from flick carded locks and did not do any sorting for color variations.

Easily Distracted (Oooh! Shiney!)

It has been some time since I've posted and that is primarily because I've been spinning more than knitting. I admit that I can become easily distracted and the spinning took up a lot more time over the last month or so that I had anticipated. The little wheel I got from New Zealand has been given away since it just did not spin fast enough for me. I loved how it looked and if I had been a more patient person I could have just made lace weight singles very very slowly on it. Grass grows faster! So off it went. In the mean time, I picked up some Wensleydale X and Teeswater X fleece from Lowder Colours Farm . The grey fleece is the Wensleydale and the sheep was named Madonna. The White fleece is the Teeswater X and that sheep's name as Tal. I don't know why it matters to me that I know their names but it actually adds a little something to the spinning experience :-) That's not all the fleece I've got lately but I'll show them as I actually get to using them. I used a flick carder on the locks and spun from the tips for a nice two ply lace weight. As an experiment I'm making a doily pattern on US 1 needles and I can already tell that twisted stitches don't stand up with this as they might with thread which is more rigid. The detail on the flowers is lost. If I make a shawl with this yarn I will change the twisted stitches and perhaps replace them with a cable cross so they stand out more. The pattern is from an old Anna magazine from August 1996 and is referred to only as "Mitteldecke" I've also been spinning a nice lace weight from batts of "Goblin Market" that I bought from Enchanted Knowl Farm that has Merino, Angelina, Silk and bits of Sari silk. I have continued to buy spindles at a frightening rate but I just can't help myself. I purchased the first two from Spunky Eclectic. The first is a spindle by True Creations in Chakte-Koh the next a Jenkins Turkish in Ambonya. Next we have two IST spindles. The first is Oak burl with brass shavings in the cracks in the wood and the second is Ambonya, The next three are by Brandywine Woodworking and are labeled. The last one is a Spalted Tamarind Turkish Delight purchased from The Wheel Thing. Whew!

As you may have noticed, I have done a little housekeeping. I have given up on the Princess Shawl for now and also trashed the Dragon of Happiness shawl that I was going to make for my niece. I just could not get interested in either so my niece will be getting a version of Aeolian instead. I'm still working on Goldregen but have a long way to go on those US 000 needles. I'm going to try to force myself to stop with the spinning and weaving so I can get a little more lace done!

Vacation: Part 2 (Some assembly required)

When I say "Vacation" I don't mean I went anywhere special physically. I was home doing chores that needed to be done which I had no time to do because my sister and I work and commute. I'm not complaining. Things got done so I'm happy. However, I did allow my imagination to go on vacation hence our building materials for raised beds for the garden and my foray into spindle spinning (successful at last). I also looked in on E-Bay at all the spinning wheels. Now I routinely do this but I never buy anything. I mean, I just look. I drool a lot but I never buy. We already have three wheels and a pocket wheel on order for my sister (she's number 36 right now) and we live in a tiny ranch style home so it's not like I need another wheel. The problem is, when I go away somewhere on vacation, I routinely set aside money to buy something nice as a memento of my trip. Just because I didn't go anywhere doesn't mean I didn't give myself permission to buy what I wanted.

See above the wheel I got on E-Bay while I was on vacation. Of course, in the picture on the website it was assembled. I used the "Buy It Now" option because I really don't like to bid for stuff if I don't have to. The wheel is a "Little Peggy" wheel and I purchased it from a seller identified as "pippygirl34" on E-Bay. She was great to buy from and the wheel came very quickly from New Zealand. It came as you see it and it came with written instructions but no pictures for assembly. I put it together and found, you guessed it, left over pieces. A few e-mails later I had it assembled correctly and I have to say she spins very nicely, quietly and is a pleasure to use. It's not as fast as a modern wheel but it does spin a nice lace weight single so far. The wood is really beautiful and I didn't know anything about the wheel or who made it when I was buying it so I went to a nice website called "New Zealand spinning wheels and their makers" and got a little information on the wheel I have. I won't bore you with details but it's about 30 years old and made by John Rappard. The design is based on an old Shetland wheel he was given permission to emulate and is made of a local Beech wood. Mine has a fairly dark stain though it looks lighter in the pictures. I love my "new" old wheel. Any dings or scratches are from "honorable wear" from the elderly gentleman who owned it before me. This wheel can be set up for either double drive or as a single drive with Scotch tension. I have pictures of both types of arrangements. I did replace the fishing line that came on the Scotch Tension with black cord instead and I'm using a cotton drive-band. This wheel actually spins lace weight better with the Scotch tension/single drive configuration so that"s what I settled on. I am currently spinning a little Lisa Souza fiber in colorway "Awwtum". Lastly, I did pick up two more spindles. A Cascade spindle "Rainer" made of Rainer flame wood for the whorl and Walnut for the shaft and weighs about an ounce from Carolina Home Spun as well as a Ken Leadbetter spindle off his site. That spindle has a Walnut & Dichroic glass inlay whorl with a Maple shaft (1.94 ounces). The glass is by Andrea Frost of "Rabbits and Rainbows". Good thing it was only a week long vacation or I could have gotten into much more trouble!

Vacation: Part 1 (Where in I finally "get" using a spindle)

I recently had a week off from work. This does not sound remarkable except for the fact that I have not had a full week off from work since April of 2008 when my co-worker retired. I didn't know what to do with myself until I remembered that I have a mountain of fiber and yarn in my home. Now I have been spinning on a wheel for donkey years but I have never been able to feel comfortable using a spindle. I had tried on and off again with my sisters many spindles but I just couldn't get it. At least not until this vacation when I finally "got" it. Please see above some of the spindles I bought during my vacation. I started by buying an inexpensive spindle from "A Spinners Lair" on E-Bay that can be used as either a drop or support spindle. She recycles wood for her woodworking so I have spindles in Red oak, Apple, Walnut and Cherry. Some have two sections so you can spin two sets of singles and then ply for lace. These work nicely for spinning while sitting down. They are "center weighted' which means they spin fast but for a short amount of time. I use them primarily as drop spindles. Having admired beautiful spindles all these years but having no reason to buy them, I was now at a point where I could use part of my tax refund to "get a few" for myself. I went surfing the net and I purchased 3 Tom Forrester Spindles for myself from "The Wheel Thing". I have bought products from them before and been very happy with what I received. I have a "Granny" spindle with a Purple Heart whorl and Beech shaft, a "Linium" with a Paduk whorl and Beech Shaft and an "Orchard Pyro" with a Paduk whorl and Rock Maple Shaft. All of these spin a long time but slower than the more center weighted spindles. They are a joy to spin with now that I do more spinning and less dropping! Drunk with power I then surfed over to "The Fold" where I proceeded to drool over the Avi Wasserman spindles. I called Toni Neil and ordered three spindles. She was very kind and made sure I understood that they would spin fast but for a short time which is just what I wanted since I found I like to sit while spinning and I am spinning for lace. Imagine my surprise and gratitude when she asked if I would be interested in having some "cosmetically challenged" Avi spindles. She wanted them to go to someone who would really like to have them. Needless to say I was overwhelmed but accepted her offer. I can honestly say that the few irregularity's I found did not detract from the beauty of these spindles and they spin up a mean lace weight single. Thank you Toni!!! The first one is a 3/4 ounce Ebony whorl and Tulip wood shaft Next is a Rosewood and Ebony whorl with a Maple shaft. This one has a very slight scratch and ding on the whorl but spins like a dream. next is a 2 &1/4 ounce Olive Wood and Ebony with silver Inlay, 1 and 1/4 ounce Blackheart Myrtle and Ebony whorl with a Goncalo Alves shaft, 1 ounce Olive wood and ebony whorl with a Walnut shaft and lastly another 3/4 ounce Olive wood with Ebony and silver inlay with Walnut shaft. Phew! I have a few more things I want/need to get but I'm still working on it :-) I did manage to spin and ply up a few things.The first picture of yarn is the "Faded Flowers 100% African Wool from Black Bunny Fibers that I had stashed. I didn't want to muddy up the colors so I plied with a single of Cashmere from a spare cone of Colourmart I had lying around. The second picture is of a 2 ply 5/50 Yak Silk from A Verb For Keeping Warm in colorway "Magnet". Some of it I randomly spun and plied and some of it I separated into color groups to spin and ply just for laughs. I also have some 80/20 Merino/Tussah Silk also from "Verb" in colorway "Victoria"made up as a two ply lace weight yarn. Aside from spinning, I also worked on a UFO. "Bells Through The Leaves" AKA, "Cloches a travers les feuilles" from that hand spun Madder dyed BFL from Verb I spun so long ago. I finally finished the "Birdseye" section and am into the leaves. As a parting shot ,you can see two Tom Forresters I bought my sister as her birthday is coming up and we are still waiting for her Pocket Wheel to be made. They are a Purple heart "Linium" and a Lace wood "Granny". The remaining spindles my sister purchased for herself at Verb. Two by Lars Larsen (she lost the tags so I don't know the wood) and two from Spindlewood of Leopard wood and Birdseye Maple. There's more but that's for Part 2 :-)