Spindlicity

Stashdown 2011 - January Report

The first month of the Spindlicity Stashdown is coming to a close and I am happy to report that I met my goal and finished spinning up one of my packets - a beautiful pygora and silk packet.  I started off with a packet of silk and yak this month, but switched to a different one early on because I wanted to try a particular experiment. I'll be reporting on that experiment in a few days once I get swatches done.

In the meantime, if you're playing along, here is the badge for January.  If you've met your stashdown goal for January, feel free to display this badge with pride wherever you like - on your blog, on ravelry, or wherever.

And, to sign up on the list go to this link and sign in.  On Feb 5th, a winner will be chosen by random number generator to win a copy of The Intentional Spinner by Judith MacKenzie!

The rules are, you must have spun your goal for January within the month of January, and reported it somewhere like your blog, Ravelry, your Flickr account etc.

If you didn't meet your goal this month, no worries!  You can try again next month.  Just set a new goal (or use the old goal if you want) and spin, spin, spin! 

 

 

at long last, the schacht sidekick folding wheel!

Hot off the press!  Here's my report from the TNNA tradeshow where I was delighted to find out that Schacht had their spanky new folding wheel, the Sidekick, in their booth for demonstration.  The lovely Jane Patrick and Liz Gipson sat down with me and explained all the finer points of this new wheel

I love the way Barry Schacht's mind works (and if you ever get a chance to have a conversation with him you'll see it extends to many things beyond spinning and weaving!).  To make this wheel fold up better, he engineered the flywheel perpendicular to the flyer, so the flywheel fits right between your feet as you treadle.

How does that work?  Well, here you can see the inner workings of the clever drive and scotch tensioning system. 

• A: shows the bike technology "quick releases" that help the wheel fold and unfold without a lot of extra fiddling.  Shacht also makes bicycle products, so this was a naturally brilliant use of cross-platform technology.
• B: Wonderful impregnated synthetic material bearings that are smooth as buttah and silent as snow.  I really, really love these bearings, there's one at the back of the flyer too, but you can't see it when the flyer is assembled.
• C: The scotch tensioning system that feeds through to a conveniently located tuning peg knob on the outside.  Another brilliant cross-platform idea.  I suspect either Barry or Jane are musicians.
• D: The scotch tension system feeds through a single point, so there's never a need to reverse direction with the tensioning.  Elegant.  I like your style Barry Schacht.

The wheel also has a springloaded tensioner to change the tension of the drive band.

Like its sister, the Ladybug wheel, the new sidekick uses the same flyer and bobbins as the Schacht Matchless, and can be ordered with, or without the flyer assembly, so if you already own a Matchless and are mostly buying this one for traveling, you can save a bit of money by just using the flyer assembly from your Matchless.

The wheel folds quickly and easily by releasing the footmen and folding up the treadles.

When folded, the wheel compacts both in height and width to make a nice small package.

And how does it spin?  Really nicely.  I am not usually a double treadle kind of girl, but the treadles on this wheel are smooth, perfectly balanced and a joy to treadle, meaning this single treadle girl loves these double treadles.  I'm sure double treadle folks will love them just as much.  The wheel is substantial enough that it doesn't "walk" across the floor as I've seen with other traveling wheels, and it feels nice and solid like its sister wheels, the Matchless and the Ladybug.  The flywheel is smaller, so you have less ratio span, but you always sacrifice something in favor of portability with a traveling wheel.  This is a perfect addition to the Schacht wheel family and one I've been waiting for a long time to see.  As usual, Schacht took their time to come up with a thoughtfully designed, quality product that integrates perfectly with the rest of their product line.  I think Schacht is planning to release this wheel sometime in spring of this year, so keep your eyes out for news that it's hit the market.  I know several shops have already pre-ordered and pre-sold a lot of these wheels and I predict it will be a hot ticket when it arrives in stores.

While I was there I also got a chance to admire the new Schacht logo.  A nice update from their old logo and one to carry them well into the future.  Bravo Schacht!

Ready? Set.... Spin!

Yesterday, January 1st, marked the beginning of my 2011 stashdown.  Inspired by Stephanie Pearl McPhee's self imposed sock club, I'm doing the same for my spinning stash.  I want to clear out some of the fiber I've had hanging around here to make room for new fiber one of these days.  I can't keep collecting all this beautiful stuff unless I spin it up once in a while!

So, here goes - the great stashdown of 2011.  I've made up 14 packets of fiber (because I believe in choice) and each month I commit to spinning one of those packets.  I've already chosen my first packet for January and it's a combination of this merino/silk in a colorway called McKenzie from Ashland Bay and a beautiful merino/yak roving in a called "black and blue" from Wolf Creek Wools.

I'm thinking that these two plied together will make a beautiful, lofty, warm laceweight yarn.  So I'm oiling up the pretty, new, wheel and getting ready to make beautiful music with her.

If you want to play along, I'd love to have you join me on the trail of the great stashdown!  Here are the rules:

• Each month you make a goal to spin a certain amount from your stash.  You can make packets like I did, or you can decide when the month gets here.  Somewhere* you state your goal and post a picture of the beginning fiber and updates.
• If you achieve your goal, somewhere* you post a picture of your finished yarn! 
• Each month I'll have a different badge on the blog for you to take for your own blog (or not - you're not required to post it if you don't want or don't have room), and you sign in to the database (I'll post the form here on the blog each month) saying you've met your goal.  This is an honor system.  I don't come to your house and check your spinning - it's up to you to make the goal, and report it accurately.
• Each month, all of those who have met their goal and signed in are entered into a random drawing to win a prize.
• At the end of the year, if you've met all 12 goals, you get entered into the super duper prize.
• Have fun, spin some stash.

And that's it.  I'll post the first month's badge and the sign in form in the sidebar in a few days.

Happy spinning in 2011!

*somewhere could be your blog, your ravelry page, your flickr account or wherever you update people online about your fibery pursuits