Tah Dah!!!
Finally got this wheel working.
I posted about it here,
and since then my husband has cleaned, oiled and glued it back into working order.
So it was up to me to get it spinning again.
But first I did a bit of research about the origins of this wheel.
I had lots of help from Karen MacEwan
who heads the Antique Wheel Forum on ravelry.com,
a wonderful resource for all kinds of fibery information.
The wheel dates back to the 1840's and is Scandinavian in origin,
probably having been brought over to the U.S. from Sweden.
A lot of these wheels are turning up in the Northern U.S.
where many of the Scandinavian peoples settled when coming to the New World.
Over this Thanksgiving Holiday,
I was able to take some time and mess with it.
Karen told me to string my wheel in a figure eight around the double drive band,
and also how to set the tension.
It worked like a charm.
Can't wait to bring it to school and have my students try it out.
I love that your wheel has been rehabbed ... I still have part of a walking wheel that was old when my mom was growing up in the 1930s. It was kept on the porch of their summer house in the Catskills. By the time it got to me, only the legs, base and wheel were left (all extremely weathered). I have it still and the wheel once again sits on a front porch.
ReplyDeleteI would love to see a picture of your wheel Liz, what a wonderful story it has.
ReplyDeleteI would love to see a picture of your wheel Liz, what a wonderful story it has.
ReplyDeleteI love that your husband rehabbed this historic wheel and that you're spinning on a piece of history.
ReplyDeleteI know, it's really exciting! And I just love how it looks in the cabin, fits right in :)
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