Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Alden's Fliers

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There was a question about Alden's Fliers that I seem to have lost. The flier sets I got from Alden had whorls with a DRS of  1.2 - w...
2 comments:
Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Fine Hanks

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I said that with DRS/DD. one could spin fines as fast as one could draft. This is done by increasing the ratio between the drive wheel an...
Thursday, December 12, 2013

Spinning more Hanks

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I am in this for the yarn.  I want better yarn.  That means hand spun. From the start, I wanted my yarn fast.  I was in this for the yarn...
8 comments:
Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Hanks

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I started spinning because I wanted better gansey yarn.  So, I spun worsted, and I spun as fast as I could.  i wondered how fast other spin...
Saturday, December 07, 2013

the literature

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In 2002, I made some predictions about moulins on Greenland, and many, including RS said something to the effect of: Nonsense, we have n...
9 comments:
Wednesday, December 04, 2013

Peck - Interwoven Globe

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I never actually watched  Bueller.  I could not identify with it. With a few notable exceptions,  I did not go to class in high school.  I ...
6 comments:
Sunday, December 01, 2013

Spinning

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Spinning and the textiles it produced was essential to civilization. The modern spinning community has divided into various fractions.  M...
2 comments:

The Berkeley Potter's Guild

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We go to their show every fall.  We might miss a "sit-down Thanksgiving", but we do not miss the Guild opening the Saturday after...
4 comments:
Saturday, November 30, 2013

The loom web

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Freed from the tyranny of bobbins and prins, the woolen weft soars past the 2 kilo mark     Then, there is a kilo++ of worsted warp at abou...
Friday, November 29, 2013

Plying steam stabilized singles

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I like working with steam stabilized singles.  I made a lot of them by passing singles through a steam chamber as I wound off the spinning ...

Pig tails to skeins

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I have bins full of skeins that never got properly blocked for one reason or another.  I call them, "My little shits." Now, the...
Wednesday, November 27, 2013

A better edge

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A good number of spinners turn their own wooden spindles with wood turning tools.  And in wood turning, very sharp tools are essential. A...
10 comments:
Sunday, November 24, 2013

The return of niddy-noddy

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Look at the traditional and old designs for niddy-noddys.  They are STRONG, heavy, and clunky. Why? Modern designs of light weight PVC ...
2 comments:

Finishing Yarn

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Many modern spinning "teachers" say that yarn can be finished by winding a skein, wetting it,  and letting the skein dry under va...
8 comments:
Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Center pull balls

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I love center pull balls. One of my favorite knitting yarns comes in skeins, so I bought a jumbo cake winder. I love it for knitting yarn, ...
4 comments:
Saturday, November 16, 2013

Stone Whorls

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My sister is a world class goldsmith.  Since he retired in 1980, my father has been doing lapidary work for my sister.  He does fine, one o...
2 comments:
Friday, November 15, 2013

More on Twisty Sticks

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A twisty stick is a piece of wire 8-12" long with a hook at one end.  The Scandinavians make, big, tapered, wooden ones, but I am inte...
6 comments:
Wednesday, November 13, 2013

2 Rules of Thumb

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1.) One can expect a talented, careful production worker to make a serious mistake at least once in every million operations.  Thsi me...
11 comments:
Monday, November 11, 2013

Clean Wool

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Good spinning requires clean wool. This is notice that I change my story, whenever, I find a better way. I am back to something like what...
Sunday, November 10, 2013

The little python

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Alden's #1 flier opens its jaws and swallows rolags, batts,  and then full bins of Rambouillet.  It is like a great snake unhinging its...