[The Apprentice]

A Yarn to Spin



I have yet another yarn to spin, on this old spinning wheel that is, I made this traditional machine during one of my former energetic periods, I made it several years ago now from a few old 1970's two inch thick wooden shelves that were scalloped on their edges.



I was walking in our local area on a three mile dog and spotted these old boards poking out of a large pile of rubbish that  the new home owner was throwing out,  but what caught my eye was a tiny edge of dark brown timber where the board had been chipped off when they were being torn out to update the outdated 70's fashion within, I knew instantly what type of wood it was, and that is the finest dark brown Brazillian Mahogany that is no longer available in this kind of quality today.



20160925_155914 by apprentice 01, on Flickr



On my way back along the avenue the owner was coming out of the house with another arm full on chintz, so as quick as a flash I asked them if I could take the old boards over there to recycle, and without any thought the lady said help yourself, and then dissapeared again as quick as she came into view.



After about a hundred hours what came into view was this funtional spinning wheel, designed around an old Canadian style cottage spinner I saw in a picture, its a little bit over the top with many complicated turnings but seen as one of our items of furniture and has on many occasions been the center of conversation.





Over the years we have spun many a mile of yarn on this, which we then converted into many hand knitted items and woolens, many of which we are still using,



The lighter coloured timber and fittings are made from a fallen branch of Cox's applewood from a local orrchard where we get the fallen apples to make our own cider.



Below are two other wheel I made, the larger item has a full 30" wheel and made from recycled English ash and the other from off cuts of English walnut from a previous project, both are good working models and ornamental in many ways.



DSCN1469 by apprentice 01, on Flickr

DSCN1471 by apprentice 01, on Flickr













Thanks for looking and listening.