This is the Treadle, you pedal this to power the wheel. Treadling is a skill in itself, you have to remember to lift your foot aswell as press down or it's twice the effort.
This is the main wheel, the one that drives everything. On most wheels it has one groove.
This groove holds the Drive Band that takes the power from the wheel to the other bits
Here we have the shaft equipped with Bobbin and Flyer The Flyer is the u-shaped part with hooks on, note how the blue Leader (strand of cotton in this case) lays over the hooks and is tied to the bobbin.
This is the Mother Of All It holds the Bobbin, Flyer, Shaft and the Uprights. The round knob at the base is the Tension knob, in this case it moves the MoA closer or further from the Drive Wheel. It doesn't need moving much, once you find your tension you can pretty much forget about it.
This is the Orifice, your newly spun single or plied yarn will go through here
This is the other end of the Orifice with Orifice Hook in place, the Orifice Hook is used to draw the single/yarn/Leader through the Orifice prior to spinning or when it gets away from you.
This is the Scotch Tension. It's a length of plastic that goes from a knob on the MoA, through a hook and over the bobbin to a spring that's hooked on the other side of the bobbin.
Here's another view of the Scotch Tension where you can see the adjusting knob, just a quarter turn makes a huge difference in the "pull" from the tension.
So, yes, that's a guide to my Ashford Traditional Spinning Wheel. I know more experienced spinners read my blog so if I've mis-labelled something or made a right balls-up let me know please.
2 comments:
Hi Fluzz
I am a first timer and have never joined in before. Just read through your archive from the ferrets to date and wondered what happened to your poorly ferret, Thomas? I have often wondered about keeping them but, as I have a staffie decided about it for now. I do however have five rats and a cat, Rosie, was well as Ruby the staffie. They all get on very well but my oldest rat, Pickle, is boss! I love all crafts, especially knitting and collecting buttons and am getting over run with my goodies!! Did you sell your old wheel? I have toyed with that too! I did collect a fleece from Freecycle which is stored in the shed. I thought to make some fleecies animals with the technique in a book, Fleecie Dogs, which you basically just hook and shape! Haven't tried it yet, but got all the stuff to do it. I have had experience of the carpet/wool bug - it's horrible and damaged quite a lot of my stash in the past. It now seems to have got hold of my lounge/diner carpet and has had a feast! Bought some spray bur am not convinced it's not lurking still. Gives me the creeps and I long to getr rid of the carpet and replace with wood or even tiles and a rug. Apparently they love dark places, under heavy furniture. Nice to read your interesting blog. Kind regards, Sharon
Hello Sharon :)
Thomas is now officially a disabled ferret, his back legs work but not enough to support him but he's still a happy chappy and gets about well enough. Ferrets and dogs can work very well, it all depends on the dog really. But ferrets and rats doesn't work anyway, unless you can keep them well away from eachother or those rats will be tasty ferret food.
Not sold the old wheel yet, I am arranging to have the leather bits redone so it will then be a proper spinner and sellable.
I've very glad we only have once carpet in this house and a big enough back yard I can sort fleece outside.
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