Mini Electric Eel Wheel and other spinning related things

A while back I helped fund a company which made electric spinning wheels.  They wanted to make mini electric spinning wheels, so cheap that most anyone could afford to buy one.  As a thank you for helping fund the company, I received a Mini Electric Eel Wheel.  The wheels are about $70.00 at this time.  The company also makes larger wheels. 

I placed the mini on the desk to try it out.  The motor was a little loud so I placed it on top of a notebook.  The motor was not silent, but the book did help lower the volume or vibrations.

To purchase the wheel go to:

www.dreamingrobots.com

My first impression was this motor doesn't sound like it has much power, but it does fine.  The first spinning I attempted was much thicker than I usually do, but I was able to spin pretty thin once I adjusted the tension.   

Wet fiber in the pot with stripes of colored dye powder placed on the top.  Once I put the lid on and allow the pot to heat up, the powder will get wet and disperse more.  Many times I have been known to add more fiber on top of the dye.  If the powder does not disperse. I may place a small plate or bowl on the fiber and weight it down with a jar of water.  I want to keep the stripes separate from the other stripes as much as possible and only the edges of the stripes mix with another color.  Wights keeping the fiber into the water may make the water mix and mingle the colors more than I want.

Fall Colors

Pulling Locks

4 Ounces Pinky---store bought fiber

Thank you for viewing!  Dawnie

Some of my favorite old family photos:

My grandmother.

My great-uncle.

My sister and me.  I am on the right.

My father and my little brother.

My sister and I at my grandparent's farm.

Me again Margaret

New -To - Me Spinning Wheel and New Shawl

I ordered myself an early birthday present.  For a long time I have desired to own an old-fashioned looking spinning wheel, with dark wood, in the castle style, with a Lazy Kate, and with a yarn winder, all combined in one spinning wheel. The castle style takes up less floor space and it usually taller with the flier above the wheel. The Lazy Kate holds bobbins and when yarns are plied together, it holds the yarns on the bobbins.  Most of the yarn I make is two ply, so 2 bobbins on the a Lazy Kate is sufficient for me.

Well, here is the wheel with me spinning.  Little Yang is peeking out of the glass door.  This wheel was made in the mid seventies.

When I get a new wheel, one of the first things I do, after putting it together, is to place a  Velcro dot  on the front.  I use the rough end of the Velcro. It holds the yarn I am spinning so the yarn does not go back into the orifice and/or partially untwist.

I also completed another shawl.  This one is made with Merino lace weight yarn, but I used two strands together; one from each end of the skein.  The color changes a tiny bit, but you do not notice it in this light.  I increased stitches at the beginning, down the middle, and at the end on every other row.  When the piece was about 15 inches long, I knitted a pattern which increased the stitches over 8 rows and I also increased the needle size at this same time.  I increased the needle size one more time about an inch and one half before the end of the shawl.  I crocheted around the end twice, but I think I in the next shawl I make, I will knit 5 or more rows at the end to keep the ruffle from curling on the end.  I really like how the ruffle drapes in this shawl.  The tulips showing through the shawl are part of my porch rail.

Thank you for sharing with me.  Dawnie