I have been experimenting this afternoon with my "new" spinning wheel - it's a great wheel, or walking wheel, that I brought out of storage at my parents' house. My best guess is that it dates to the late 1700's or early 1800's. After replacing some missing parts, it is now up and running, er, walking, whatever. At least the wheel is; the operator has a bit of learning to do yet! I managed to spin about 10 yards of what is essentially super fine thread this afternoon. Not sure how that will work out for knitting eventually, but it's wool that's been twisted, so I call it a success. I'm finding out that the wheel is as tempermental as its spinner can be, which isn't necessarily a good combination.
Here's an idea of what a walking wheel looks like:
My biggest problem is the main drive band doesn't grab at the large wheel and occaisionally falls off. It's very frustrating to hold tension on 2 yards of spun wool with one hand and try to put the drive band around the 45" diameter wheel with the other! My other issues center around a spindle that slides around and basic operator error.
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