Oct 5, 2009

Spinning Again

As if to make up for the previous weekend that I spent being sick, this past weekend was a whirlwind of activity. I caught up on my laundry, did the shopping, attended another of Stinkette's games (she pitched!) and volunteered at the fall fair with DQ who needed public service hours. All that and so much more. By Sunday afternoon it was nice to have a little quiet time and I spent it out on the deck enjoying the gorgeous weather.

I knit on a few projects, read a book, and gave a little long overdue attention to my spinning. Bother the girls and Bruce had commented recently on how sad an neglected my wheels had been of late.
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About a week ago I pulled out my Sonata and started spinning again and I quickly realized that it just felt off. I tried changing the chair I was sitting in and I adjusted everything that could be adjusted. Somewhere along the line we decided that the nameless Sonata seemed uncooperative and difficult. Stubborn maybe. For some strange reason it reminded me of Nellie Oleson and we began to refer to her as Nellie.

DSC_0528After a lot of consideration it occurred to me that the treadle was the source of the problem. It was oddly bouncy and it was ruining the spinning experience. It seemed like the treadle connectors might be a bit long - the treadles were nearly hitting the floor. So I loosened the appropriate screw, shortened the distance between the footman and the treadle and poof - it's all good now.

I haven't trimmed the excess connector yet because I wanted to be certain that the fix was working. After spending at least an hour spinning on the deck on Sunday I feel fairly certain that it's safe to trim the excess now.

So what was I spinning - MamaE's C-eyeber Fiber in a nameless color that screams fall. Those reds and oranges are so hard to capture but believe me - this stuff sings out in the sunlight.

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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love the fall colors! I bought a Minstrel that should arrive tomorrow or Wednesday and I can't wait to get spinning on my own wheel.

Carole Knits said...

How clever are you to fix the wheel yourself! Gorgeous colors in that spinning.

margene said...

I've been looking at my wheels each time I pass the room and hope to get back to spinning again soon...just like you.

JessaLu said...

Lovely Sonata! I've noticed that mine is unhappy when I first unfold it - I get really loud clicks from the footmen - but after a while it settles in and is fine. There's something about the tubing they use to connect the treadles that just isn't happy if it sits unused for too long...

Lovely spinning!