Catching Up
Hello Dear Friends: the long silence does not mean that I have floated away like so many unfortunate Canadians due to flooding. I am here, just busy being a crafty hermit. First off, I have a new wheel! Yes. And no, I do not need another wheel. That's not the point. It is a tool, and like most tools, there are specialty ones. And that's what this is. This is a Canadian Production Wheel, probably made by Mr. L.S. Laurence of St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, between 1830-1850. Isn't it lovely? This wheel has a grand 30.5" diameter wheel and is designed to spin a very thin wool, very fast, hence the "production" name. I cleaned and conditioned the wood, made two temporary pegs and put leather shims in at the axle, and it spins like a dream. My resulting singles are very fine indeed. The only fibre I have here in any quantity is a neppy Polwarth. It spins up nicely on this wheel but has lumps. There are way too many nepps to stop and remove them. This fibre was bou