My newest love

I've been keeping one eye open the past month or so for a big saxony.

I've known I wanted one, but I live in reality (sometimes) and reality says I'm not buying the Jenson out at Yarnorama not matter how lovely it is. Still, I want a big saxony and I figured I was willing to do some rehab if one came up.

So when a lady out in Georgetown posted a Borduas - style CPW on craigslist for a steal I saw the posting the same day and called to ask to come check it out. I was trying really hard not to hold my breath on this one, because honestly wheels this age aren't always spinable anymore. But I asked around for what to look for and figured if it seemed at all repairable then it was worth a shot. When I went to have a look I knew this was a find... the wheel's in very good repair and in spinning condition straight after a good cleaning and oiling.

I managed to get the drive band sorted (for today its cotton rug warp - I'd very much like to spin a hemp band for it soon) and put her through her paces. She's a very solid wheel.

There's a small wobble to the drive wheel, though not enough to affect the spinning any, and she needs a real footman (I'm using a nylon cord at the moment). There is also a crack in the flyer that will need to be dealt with eventually. Someone patched it with wire but I'm not sure I trust that long term.

She has two ratios and my math puts them at about 18.5 to 1 and 20 to 1. I'm going off how Alden Amos says to calculate that, but I'm not 100% sure I follow it. Regardless she is at least as fast as my Sonata's top speed, and I'd say a bit faster. The feel of the double drive draw in is going to take some getting used to, but it liked the ounce or two of corriedale I spun up to test it and seemed to accommodate my longdraw pretty darn well.

She has no maker's marks that I can find and a sketchy history so its hard to tell much about her beyond the obvious. Whatever her past I'm happy to give her a good home and get her back to spinning.

Less dramatic in this weeks spinning is the BFL/Silk/Seacell blend that I plyed over the weekend. I tried something new with this - winding off the bobbin onto two TP rolls and then plying from those.

It took me a bit to find a good way to get the yarn wound back off the balls, but it eventually occured to me that I have a paper towel holder that would work. Its a handy magnetic thing that it turns out clamps just great to the underside of my desk and holds the rolls sufficiently level.

Its a good makeshift system though I think before I do it again I'd prefer to see if I can find some cardboard weaver's spools and a winder for them instead. Using the ball winder worked OK, but the feed off the balls just wasn't what it could be.

Still, the finished yarn is lovely:


It came out to be about 400yds to 2 oz. Not sure yet what to do with it, but its soft and squishy to pet in the mean time.