Musings about spinning wheels -- rehabbing older wheels (CPW)

In my first post in this series, I wrote how I'd spun on a wheel borrowed from a friend, but it had been sold when I inquired about purchasing it.

So...  back then, I thought it was a 1970s-ish era Ashford Traditional.  It had tilt tension and a split table, so that seemed like a reasonable conclusion.  It thus occurred to me that perhaps I should go find a nice vintage Ashford Traddy on the used market and buy my own!

And thus started a new habit.  I didn't see any Ashfords for sale when I looked.  But I did see other wheels!  Oooh....

The first wheel I went to see confused me.  Beautiful, yes.  But where was the tension control?  Why did the flyer/bobbin arrangement have nowhere for the yarn to go through the orifice?

I'm glad I already knew how to spin and could figure out these kinds of details.  Because yes, this was the wheel for which the term SWSO was invented.  This Spinning Wheel Shaped Object was designed as decor, not as a spinning wheel.  It was a lovely Made in Canada Roxton spinning wheel.

I smiled politely and walked away, though I earnestly informed them that this wheel was ornamental only and could not possibly spin.  I have no idea if they knew that, though in retrospect I don't think they cared either way.

I don't remember if there was another non-functional wheel during that first search.  Or maybe there was a bait-and-switch where they said one price but then either increased the price or suggested I offer a higher bid.  (That's happened a few times.)  But then I saw an ad for a rather battered CPW.  I'd never seen one in person even though I knew of their existence.  So down I toddled.  And it followed me home.

So much to learn!  First, a solid cleaning to remove the dust of ages.  And then a few tweaks and what-not.

The whorl was stuck on the flyer, not uncommon in an older wheel.  The screw was left-handed but I knew enough to be aware of the possibility so I didn't break anything.  The bobbin and whorl and flywheel had a few chips here and there, but nothing too awful.

The footman was missing.  No big deal -- A long piece of wire worked perfectly well.  Any drivebands were long gone, but a nice piece of crochet cotton took care of that.

The hub had a crack.  But it seemed very stable so I left it alone.  And the tension device was deeply kludged -- it had been semi-modernized previously.  So although it wasn't original, it did work.  I could adjust the tension and that tension would hold.  I could have purchased a replacement if and when I was ready to do so but I ended up not doing that.

The first time I sat down to spin, the whorl immediately tightened itself all the way until it mashed against the bobbin.  I guess the screw (either the whorl or the flyer shaft) was slightly stripped.  Wrapping a piece of plumber's teflon tape around the area on the flyer shaft took care of that problem.

Then she spun!!!

I was thrilled.  Wow, this old spinning wheel, neglected for decades, was now a working wheel, because of my actions!

CPWs are delightful wheels.  They're so industrial-looking, with the large flywheel and the beautiful metal treadle.  They look and feel very steampunk.

People say they are really fast wheels.  I'm not so sure about that.  A whorl-to-flywheel ratio is what matters, I believe, no matter how big or small the flywheel is.  But the large wheel whooshing around is very impressive, for sure.  And it was a nicely efficient spinner.

I enjoyed using the wheel.  When I did a long-distance move several years later, I sold it locally since I thought it should stay in the area.  The person who bought it finished fixing it up and then re-sold it.  I am happy that someone could put in the time and money and know-how to bring out the wheel's full former glory.  I hope its current owner loves it as much as I did.  Maybe someday I'll get another.

For those who care, CPW stands for Canadian Production Wheel.  It refers to a style of spinning wheel that was made in the late 19th through mid 20th century by a group of wheel makers who were based in Quebec.  The wheels were sold locally and also by the Dupuis Freres department store (under the brand name of Duprex).  They mostly feature large flywheels, metal treadles (and footmen), tilt tensioning, and a double-drive setup.  People who love and collect them have identified distinguishing characteristics of most of the major manufacturers, though there was a certain amount of mix-and-match and also a bit of individuality between wheels even by the same family or person rather than everything being cookie-cutter alike.  Mine was probably a Bordua, probably from one of the later/younger family members of the Bordua CPW Dynasty.

Here's some yarn I spun on my CPW.  It's llama that I had dyed with kermes.

I don't seem to have a lot of other clear photos of yarn I've spun on this wheel, darn it.  But there was more, really and truly!

After that experience, I was hooked.  Getting an inexpensive and possibly neglected old wheel, and restoring it to spinning functionality - it was addictive.  And I still wanted that vintage Ashford Traditional.  Even after I figured out that the initial loaner wheel was something else entirely.

So I kept looking.  And when the stars aligned, kept doing wheel rescue.

This is the second in what seems to be turning into a series of spinning wheel posts.

Musings about spinning wheels -- my first wheel (Fricke)

I've written a bit about spinning on this blog.  It's usually oblique -- a view of some yarn plus or minus discussion of a knitting project, with a brief mention that it's handspun.  There's a post about CD spindles (still my favorite type of production drop spindle) but only a little bit about wheels.  Hmmm.

I acquired my first wheel about 5 years after I started spinning.   I was exclusively a spindle-spinner before that.  A friend loaned me one of her wheels for a few months and after I returned it, I decided to get my own.  I've written about that loaner wheel -- I spun a few pounds of Romney on it that winter and eventually knit a sweater from the yarn.  Many years later I asked if I could buy the wheel from my friend, but alas, it had already been sold to someone else.  I don't know what it was.  I saw it once, maybe in the New Zealand spinning wheel site, but I can't remember what it was.  It was similar to an Ashford but it wasn't an Ashford.

The first wheel I bought was a Fricke S-160.  It's one of the very few wheels I purchased as a new wheel (as opposed to a used wheel).  I absolutely hated the delta orifice but luckily was able to get a more traditional flyer where the yarn goes through an orifice.  I've spun so much on it that the edge of the orifice hole is shiny and thin where the yarn rubs against it.

I still have and use that wheel, many many miles of spun yarn later.  It's my main travel wheel when I do demos or hang out with spinners and knitters.  It's not really designed to be a good travel wheel since it doesn't fold up and it's not particularly streamlined nor lightweight.  However, it is sturdy and utilitarian and doesn't have a lot of little things that can get scratched or broken or knocked out of alignment.  It's also one of my main plying wheels since the bobbins are a pretty decent size.

Some of the original plastic bits have needed replacing, namely the driveband (a stretchy band) and the footman connectors (plastic tubing of some sort).  I was able to get a new driveband from the Frickes.  When it was time to replace the footman connectors, I found out that the Frickes had retired!  Oh, sad day...  But it turned out that Ashford makes a 6mm cord that works well as a substitute, yay!

That's the downside of modern materials, and in particular, polymers.  They get brittle with age.  Maybe someday I'll have to replace these with a string for the driveband and leather for the footman connectors.  But hopefully I'll be able to find proper polymer replacement parts for a good long time.

The Fricke wheel has a nice range of ratios.  I almost always use the faster ones.  The bobbins are Majacraft plastic bobbins that hold roughly 4 oz.  The wheel is a simple upright style, single treadle, scotch tension.  The treadle is large enough to treadle with either foot or both feet.  It has a heel-toe action that means I need to find the sweet spot.

I've seen some weird Franken-wheels over the years that use bits from the Fricke wheel as one of the component wheels.  I have no idea why people do that -- did something on the Fricke break so they re-used its pieces?  Did they not like the Fricke for some reason?  I have no idea how well the Franken-wheels spun.  I hope for the sake of their owners that they spun reasonably well.

I know the Frickes came out with a double-treadle version as well as folding versions.  But I have the simple, bottom-line, old-school plain wheel.

Hmm, I don't know if I have a picture of my Fricke.  Maybe I'll add a pic to this post later.  There are plenty online if anyone cares.  But I can share a few photos of yarn I've spun.

The above pic is some 2-ply alpaca that I spun at a demo.

Some BFL handpaint, left as singles yarn.  I dyed it myself (or a family member dyed it) rather than buying the roving already dyed.

Some white 2-ply merino/dorset that was plied on the Fricke.

A cowl that I knit with Fricke-spun handspun yarn.  I later ended up unraveling it because the proportions ended up not quite right for my needs.  I'm glad I took a photo, though, since the fabric is very cute and I like how the pattern stitch interacts with the yarn.

And here's the yarn that made the cowl.  I'm pretty sure I dyed the roving.  I'm not 100% sure what the fiber was -- my original notes said BFL but when I spun it up it behaved more like some Romney roving I had at the time.

And so on.

This post started as some general musings on wheels.  But it ended up being about just one wheel, really, with only a little bit about the loaner wheel that preceded it.  I guess I've started a new series...  I have many musings to go.

Not that it's relevant, but I'm still making progress on my doily and I'm nearly done with my travel shawl/scarf.  I don't think there's enough yarn to finish the last sets of eyelets as the pattern calls for, but it'll be fine either way.

Another July progress post on Lavori 07/30 (with the latest errata, of course)

The pic I have looks like a proper wad of thread.

But you can see bits of leaves and the crossed stitches of the flower.

Two more chart errors:

Round 141:  There is a missing yarnover at the very beginning of the pattern repeat.

Round 153:  Ditto -- a missing yarnover at the very beginning of the pattern repeat.

Both of these are in a section of the pattern where every 4th round begins and ends with a yarnover.  It's pretty obvious that the yarnovers are missing in the above rounds.  I'm not at round 153 yet but listed the chart error already because it's so obvious.

I've finished another partial ball of thread (early in round 146) and am on to the next!  It was attached to a project already when I bought the thread, a pretty little piece of filet crochet.  I cut it off since it would have been a pain to unravel and re-block the thread while it was still attached to the unused thread wound on the cardboard tube.  Maybe I'll eventually unravel and re-block and use the thread, and maybe I'll leave the filet crochet project alone in honor of the person who crocheted it, wherever he/she may be these days.  I'm sorry their project never got finished and never got used.  I certainly won't be the one to do it.  Not only do I have no idea what the finished project was intended to be (and how many more motifs it might have contained), but I don't particularly enjoy doing filet crochet.

I am at around the midpoint of this doily, maybe a little bit beyond, with close to 3/4 of the rounds being done.  Soon I will move to the 60" long needle, which is the longest I currently own.

The rest of the doily doesn't have anything too wild and crazy, not like the earlier parts.  It'll be the leaf motifs, lots of hex mesh, and then the outer triple-fans with 12 pattern repeats per round.  Hopefully I'll be able to stay focused, especially when the stitch counts really start climbing.

My travel knitting project is close to done.  I'm starting the final block of yarnovers.  I don't know if I'll get through the remainder of the pattern as written or if I will run out of yarn and end the shawl a little bit earlier.  Either way, it'll be OK.  And either way, I really do need to figure out the next travel knitting project!

The first July progress report on Lavori 07/30

Another few weeks, another few rounds, another few chart errors.

Really, though, it's coming along; maybe not the fastest progress but still relatively steady.

I'm done with the flowers.  No more crossed stitches.  That feels kind of weird after so many hundreds of them in this pattern so far.  But nope, they're done.  Now it's time for the final set of leaves, which will soon match the other leaves that started a while back, as the pattern transitions from 6 to 12 pattern repeats per round.  After that, the outer fans will start and the number of stitches will climb quickly, but that's not for a while yet.

I'm probably close to half-done with the pattern, give or take a bit.  Wow.  I'm also just about done with the current partial ball of thread.  I have a few more partial balls left before I'd need to start one of the full balls of this stuff.  (I have three full balls or 350 yards each in addition to all the partial balls.)

A few more chart errors:

Round 127:  A missing yarnover between the left side of the flower and the hex mesh section.  It should be (yo, sk2p) after all of the crossed stitches.

Round 135:  2 errors in this row!  There's an extra yarnover to the left of the crossed-stitch section (the right side of the crossed-stitch section has the correct single yarnover), and also an extra yarnover in the center section of the leaves (there should be no double yarnovers in the leaf motif area, just single yarnovers).

So far, all of the chart errors have been more like typos than errors.  They're all fairly minor and all fairly obvious.  I hope that continues, should there be more errors up ahead.  I assume there will be more of these chart typos, because why wouldn't there be?

As part of my final posts on this doily, after it's completed, I'll have a list of all the chart errors in this pattern.  That might be in 2025, or maybe not until 2026 or beyond.  We'll see!  So far, I'm pleased with my knitting stamina.  But I often get the doldrums between half and two-thirds to three-quarters done.  I'm trying not to push myself too hard and also mixing this in with a lot of other fun things.

No photos for this post!

Probably the final June 2025 progress report on Lavori 07/30

I'm still making progress on Lavori 07/30.  I didn't get a chance to work on it every day, but progress is progress.  There are over 100 stitches per pattern repeat now, over 600 per round.

I'm in the final section of the flower motif, with lots of crossed stitches to define the upper floofy bits (petals?  pistil/stamens?  generalized floral impressions?).  I've also started the third set of leaf motifs, which is a different style of leaf motif than the inner leaf motifs.

For the moment, there aren't any pattern repeats that begin and end with a yarnover, since the growing leaves are at the end of the pattern repeats.  In the early rounds where the leaves started and ended with yarnovers, the hex mesh used a k2 where a yarnover was adjacent to the leaves to keep it texturally separate.

Another few chart errors:

Round 113:  Another fairly obvious missing yarnover, just to the right of the flower motif section.

Round 113 also has a non-symmetric bit in the flower section -- all the knits turn into (yarnover, knit 1), which doubles the stitches for the flower.  That section does not end with an extra yarnover, which makes it slightly asymmetric.  This is correct as charted.

Round 121:  Yet another fairly obvious missing yarnover, in the middle of the hex mesh section after the flower.

Round 123:  Another missing yarnover directly above the missing yarnover symbol in round 121.

I see a few upcoming chart errors (more missing yarnovers) but I'll wait until I get there to confirm.

And here is a pic of my Touchstone shawl/scarf.  I'm over half done now, probably closer to 3/4 done.  I've finished the fourth set of eyelet bands and am close to the end of the next garter stitch band.  Then it's one more set of eyelet bands, a few more rows of garter stitch, and then it's done.  I'll adjust as necessary based on the amount of yarn I have left as I get close.

I need to start thinking about the next travel project, since this one won't last much longer.

I have no similar worries about the doily -- I've finished maybe 2/3 of the rounds, so I'm about 1/3 done with the doily.  I have lots and lots of knitting left to do.  Though if I want to sneak in a few smaller doilies in the meantime, I might do so.  Lavori 07/30 is on my 47" long circular needle now, so all the shorter ones are available for use.

Yet another June 2025 Lavori 07/30 progress report

Another week, another few rounds, another chart error.

Round 105:  there's a missing yarnover at the beginning of the pattern repeat.  I noticed this as an anomaly a while ago, and yup, it is indeed missing.

I'm done with the columns of twisted stitches, yay!  I had been twisting them on intermediate rounds, so it's kind of nice to go back to not needing to think or count on the non-pattern rounds.  Soon I will start the next set of leaf motifs, which will be part of this pattern all the way to the end.  Plus I'll soon increase a bunch more stitches and then start on a new set of crossed-stitch motifs as the flower fully poofs out.

The large number of stitches is somewhat tedious.  But there's enough variety that I'm still enjoying myself quite a lot.

My travel shawl is coming along nicely.  I've finished the section with four sets of eyelet rounds.  Now I do another section of garter, then a section with five sets of eyelets, then a few more rounds of garter stitch and then cast off.  It's more than it sounds like since the rows have an ever-increasing number of stitches.  But it feels like I'm getting a lot closer to the end than the beginning.  The ball of yarn is quite noticeably smaller.  All of this is subject to how much yarn I have, of course!  If I run out sooner than expected, I'll cast off sooner, too.

It also means I need to give more thought to the next travel project(s).  And, as I keep writing, I don't have enough projects on my needles and I really should cast on a few more -- a hat, a sweater, mitts or socks, etc., plus start planning the next semi-mindless shawl.

No pics today!

Lavori 07/30 progress report -- triple digits and another chart error

Yay!  I'm halfway through the rounds, and thus roughly 25% done with the knitting, give or take a bit.

There's another chart error on round 97 -- there is an asymmetry on the outside of the 5-X-5 sequences.  The right side has a yarnover while the left side has a double yarnover.  The single yarnover is correct for both spots.

I've finished the first part of the flower base, where there are a couple of rounds of garter stitch.  I've done the last crossed stitches of the lower leaves (well, second set of leaves; the first set is long finished).  The leaves have another few rounds before they finish merging into the background mesh.  There are still a LOT of stitches for barely being in the 100s, but so far it's reasonably pleasant knitting.

Things to look forward to -- more development of the flower, yay!  And I can see where the next set of leaves gets started.  Those will be around until the end of the doily, I believe.

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I can't remember if I've shared a pic of this doily before.

It's Burda 554/15.  It's really a square pattern, but I decided to experiment and see what happened if I did 5 pattern repeats instead of 4.  It was not fully successful -- I wasn't able to block it flat.  I still like how it looks.

This is what it's supposed to look like if one does 4 pattern repeats per round.

This was done early in my doily-knitting career, and it taught me some useful things about stitch counts and increase/decrease locations and the effect of relatively simple changes on the appearance of the doily.  I still am interested in those topics!

This might have been one I did simply because (a) it was small, and (b) I could read the chart without having to disassemble the chart pages from the magazine's staples.  That was definitely how I chose my first doilies from Burda 554!