The Proof Is In the Pudding

My First Wheel-Spun Yarn
Originally uploaded by The Stitchin Sheep.

Here is the final photo in our Fixing Up An Old Spinning Wheel series. Go back and read the previous entries to see the progression up to this point.

On the right in this shot, you get a portion of the wheel/pulley thingamabob that came with the wheel. I'm not sure if it's an original part of the wheel or not. I'm not even sure how it would have worked if it were. All I know is it served our purposes just fine. This is actually the only part of the miscellaneous pieces that were on the top portion of the wheel that we kept (Colonel Mustard's lead pipe had to go). So, it became our whorl.

What you can't see under the yarn is another PVC pipe. It's approximately the correctly size to slip over this nob that juts out of the pulley device. The black electrical tape was thrown on in another desperate moment last night. I'm not even sure how to remedy this problem another way. I'll have to think it over (or just buy a few real bobbins).

Down on the other end, you see a plastic yogurt lid. They don't make yogurt containers like that here in France. So, this lid is an import. It snuck in with the kitchen stuff we brought from the US. I've yet to find the cup portion, but I guess it pays to not throw things that appear to be junk in the trash.

What you don't see on the other side of the yogurt lid (Brown Cow or Stoneyhill Farms brand, by the way - miss that stuff) is another little pulley device that my husband found at the hardware store. It's the only wheel-like object he could find with the perfect hole to fit the flyer's spindle. It also lends a bit of rigidity to the yogurt lid end.

Once again, you see some of that famous black electrical tape. This time it wasn't really out of desperation, I'm a little embarrassed to admit. I first tried super glue. That didn't hold, though. Guess what does. Yep, electrical tape. Who knew?

A few other uses for electrical tape we've found:

It comes in several colors. I've got green, black, red, and white, I think.

If you remember back to Halloween, the red tape made a nice little Red Cross to put on a white doctor's jacket for Lambchop #2. The white was perfect for a name label on the same costume.

Another wonderful use for the white tape is labeling electrical cords. All of our entertainment system cables are now labeled. It saves a great deal of time when you're trying to unplug a specific machine.


Anyway, as you can see the rehab ain't pretty, but it worked. I've actually spun up some yarn with it. I'm pretty happy with the results, too. I'm sure that an experienced spinner could pick it apart for flaws, but for my first try, it can't be that bad.