I have a bumblebee spinning wheel and I love it. I bought it a couple of years ago. I wanted a spinning wheel that was all wood but not ridiculously expensive. Mine is a slightly different style from what they are currently selling - the feet are connected to the wheel just with leather straps, not wood and leather.
I've found that the spinning wheel is ridiculously quicker than the hand spindle - what took me two hours with the hand spindle I can do in a few minutes with the wheel but I'm slow at spinning.
Today, I finished another skien of yarn. I overtwisted it, of course, but I'm pretty happy with it overall. It's just natural wool roving that is now spun and drying. However, once it was spun, I realized I had a slight problem - how to wrap it and wash it. I didn't have a knitty noddy anymore as what I was using broke.
So, I took a swimming noodle, cut it with a box cutter, and added two notches on either end. Yes, the noodle does bend while I'm wrapping the wool but it works for wrapping it, washing it, and letting it dry on the noodle. The noodle is also cheap. I bought this one at the dollar store over the summer for another project that never got finished. Once the wool is dry, I'll wrap it up into a ball.
I just bought a Bumblebee spinning wheel last year. While it's great to get most of my spinning done in one go, I still have trouble with the tension :/
ReplyDeleteHave you tried a different rubber band than the one they give you? Or a thicker cord? My cord kept breaking until I finally doubled it and that helped with the tension as well.
Delete