Buying a new spinning wheel!

I'm taking the plunge and getting a new spinning wheel as the old one I'm using is possessed and it does weird things. I've narrowed it down to the Majacraft Aura or Suzie Pro and tipping towards the Aura because it does everything.

Keep us posted I'd be interested to hear which you get. I just got a ' new' wheel, was sent up into the loft on a rat hunt in the house of an elderly man. Spotted a nice spinning wheel up there and asked about it, he had no idea it was there and said take it, wouldn't accept payment. It has no name but nice to use, better than the light up right one I have,I have to chase that about the room, needless to say I don't use that one much.

It depends on what you are planning to spin.

If you want a general purpose wheel then the Suzie Pro is great. It can fit most of the different whorls, flyers etc. If you want to do large quantities or art yarns, or yarns that require a lot of tension then the Aura is the better choice.

So, if you see yourself branching out or would just like the choice to do so in the future then go with the Aura. If not, then I'd go with the Suzie Pro.

Let us know which you choose and why!

Its a bit 50:50 as I want to produce homespun to use on my looms as well as for knitting up etc.

I now have [cough!] 3 floor looms after being given a couple of whopper sized kauri floor looms! One looks to be a very large countermarche Janes loom and the other could be a Bartlett jack loom looking at the side frames.

At the moment they are disguised in my shed as a pile of horse covers and stacked behind some other stuff so hubby won't see them and make complaining noises, but I plan to get at least one of them in the house and upstairs in the 2nd lounge so I can start using it.

Unfortunately I have no photos of what they look like when assembled and will have to make educated guesses as to which bits go with which loom so I can put them back together as they have apparently been in bits for about 20 years. Should be an interesting job!

At least I will be able to get them upstairs, my other floor loom is in the downstairs lounge as it is too big to fit through the doorways and it doesn't come to bits!

Photo of the world's largest jigsaw puzzle! There is about twice as much stuff already in my shed as what's shown here with all the loom internals and beams etc.

That should be a fun puzzle! I recon you could post pictures if you get stuck and have a communal loom assembly mission!

I have the instructions for my Bartlett countermarch loom, can copy and send to you if they would be any help, not sure how different the jack loom is.

oooh thank you!

I am only guessing it is a jack loom because there is a loose bit which looks like the top of a castle, I haven't unpacked the 2 giant tarpaulins full of bits to see what is in there yet as I do not want to bring it out into the rain.

The problem with all the bits are that I do not know which set goes with which frames, all the beams and struts are loose and they all appear to be very similar in their end dimensions where they go into the frames, hence my worry about getting the right ones with each loom.

I see the attachment didn't make it, so here it is... there is about twice as much stuff [all the lams, frames, internals etc] which are packed into 2 huge bundles tied up in tarps, plus there are all the beams and struts etc and a couple of weavers benches, one of which is in this photo.

It all took up the entire back of my horse truck up to the level of the dividers - and my truck isn't what you'd call a small one either! [:0]

The Bartlett is the set of frames at the far end of the photo, the closer set to the camera appears to be a countermarche loom frame is for the Janes loom. The lady I got them off told me they were both similar to the Glimkara countermarche looms and that one was bigger than the other. Both were used for weaving carpets and blankets and other stuff. I haven't seen the reeds but will probably get some stainless steel replacements for them if they are rusty as this has all been stored in sheds for about 20 yrs!

Edenview;518831 wrote: I have the instructions for my Bartlett countermarch loom, can copy and send to you if they would be any help, not sure how different the jack loom is.

Attached files

Have found I have 2 copies so pm me your address and I'll post it up.

The Bartlett has numbers on every piece to make it easier. The frame looks the same, I'll see if I can attach a pic.

You'll have fun working that lot out!

Just as an aside, I have now determined that my other floor loom has had the beater put in back to front at some stage when the previous owner assembled it :confused:

I only noticed it when I'd started weaving my current piece of very fine woolen cloth and wanted to use a boat shuttle. [!]

Oh dear, is that fixable? I imagine you'll have to undo a lot of the preparation you've done.

Yes I will just remove the beater and flip it over once the latest project is completed. I am NOT doing it mid-project!

The ski shuttles work well on the very fine wool so I am happy with it so far.

tonic;518886 wrote: Oh dear, is that fixable? I imagine you'll have to undo a lot of the preparation you've done.