Friday, November 09, 2007
I Take It All Back
Remember Lily? The wheel I love because she's so pretty but I hate because she won't spin worth a damn?
I take it back.
Today I had the honour of busting Mrs. Q's spinning cherry. She showed up around 10am, right after the coffee had finished brewing.
We broke out buckets of fibre and two wheels and went mental. We went over the basics of what the parts of the wheel are called and noted that almost everything about spinning sounds vulgar, if you say it right.
She spun some BFL and some Romney and something else -- Coopworth, I think. There was much hilarity with wheels deciding to spin backwards and roving breaking into bits of useless mess and the usual thing one gets when one is learning how to use a wheel.
By the end of the day, she was spinning fibre that, while a little lumpy and thick, was recognizable as yarn. Heck of a lot better than I did my first time out of the gate, I can tell you.
She left, two hours later, happy and spun out, with my Ashford and three bags of fibre in the back of her van.
No, I didn't give away the Ashford, she gets it for a week or two while I beat up Lily. I'm generous, not crazy.
Anyhow, I had set Lily up in the living room also, so that Mrs. Q. could see how not to spin. She heard me call the wheel a motherfucker and I have to say that I told my husband that she was the c-word. Not chenille this time. Also not Mrs. Q; the wheel.
I had decided to spin up some goat fleece (I think it's mohair -- you have two kinds of goat, right? Mohair and angora? Anyway it's some sort of goat) that I had purchased from Shades of Narnia at the PNE this year.
Lily has always been a trial to me, as many of you know. She's clunky, she's badly balanced, but she's so pretty I haven't wanted to give up on her.
There's a hole on the hub of the wheel. When I first got her and took her out to my Guild for them to have a look-see, a couple folks said they thought it was an oil hole, but then it was generally decided that that was in the wrong place and it was just a flaw in the wood and bla bla bla.
I took the advice of spinners more experienced than am I, and oiled the shaft of the wheel and all other moving parts, but I never put oil in that hole.
Guess what? It's an oil hole.
Today for some reason, after spinning on her for a bit while Mrs. Q was here, I decided to put oil in that hole.
She sang (Lily, not Mrs. Q, although I believe that Mrs. Q can also sing).
She sang, indeed and she feels a heck of a lot faster than the Ashford. Who knew I'd like a fast wheel?
She's still a little clunky and unbalanced, oil alone will not make up for poor woodworking, but dudes ... apparently not only did nobody tell me that it was an oil hole, nobody told me how much fun it is to spin goat.
I suspect that I may be spinning laceweight. I hope it'll hold up in the plying, it's awfully darned thin, but it seems to be even and it's not breaking yet.
I believe that it may be time to rejoice.
# posted by Rabbitch @ 4:27 PM 
Comments:
<< Home
No way! Lily actually spins? >:D
Mohair fiber = angora goat hair
Angora fiber = angora bunny hair
Then there's Cashmere...which is goat belly undercoat, or something equally fascinating. :P
Mohair fiber = angora goat hair
Angora fiber = angora bunny hair
Then there's Cashmere...which is goat belly undercoat, or something equally fascinating. :P
See, Lily just needs a little booze once in a while to cooperate! Congrats on finding the secret.
Now just watch out she doesn't find the liquor supply when you're gone...
Now just watch out she doesn't find the liquor supply when you're gone...
# posted by 
: 5:54 PM
: 5:54 PM
Who knew that a squeaky wheel just needs -- you know this one -- oil? :) I can't wait to see the yarn. If you're having this much fun with goat, maybe it's time to acquire one? I hear you never have to mow the lawn again...
There are pygora goats, too. I got a small batch of pygora fiber at Stitches last year. It's got a nice sort of silky feel to it, like mohair.
~snort~snort~snort~Oil hole may be a whole new way to really insult the living crap out of people. Now I'll be snickering in the worst places to snicker thinking of Lily's oil hole and goat hairs.
I'm not really that surprised that you'd like a fast wheel with an unusual oil hole....heheheh! (Thanks, BTW, that was fun!)
oh yeah, that you'd like a fast woman is SUCH a surprise.....
Never mind the lube joke I'm not making.
Never mind the lube joke I'm not making.
When you read about a wheel being called the c-word, you know you're dealing with someone who is extraordinarily frustrated. I'm glad a little lubrication in the right place turned Lily from a c-word to a singer.
Ok there are two sorta holes in the hub of my ashford, i've been putting oil in there. Am i right or wrong? ( this is not a contest or a quiz lol i wanna know)
# posted by : 6:14 PM
: 6:14 PM
I so refuse to go to the where you put your lubricant path on this comment. I will, however, suggest that RABBITS make angora....Maybe the crazy spinning dying and knitting bunny is ANGORA???? (just sayin'.... :)
# posted by : 8:42 PM
: 8:42 PM
Rabbitch, I will take anything you spin that is laceweight or finer. I am heavily into knitting miniature right now and need stuff that is fine, but not, you know, crochet cotton - something that is NICE! Basically if you end up with laceweight or cobweb, I'LL TAKE IT!! Let me know!
That reminds me of a similar but different fiber experience. My mother's old sewing machine was cranky and made grinding noises for years, then one year the wires were so bad that I had a new foot control installed on it - presto, a machine that worked like new.
# posted by : 7:04 PM
: 7:04 PM
What do we have to do to get some pictures of your marvelous spun stuff?!
Lady, you make me laugh out loud.
And Carol? I laughed so hard at your comment I nearly peed myself!
Post a Comment
Lady, you make me laugh out loud.
And Carol? I laughed so hard at your comment I nearly peed myself!
<< Home
