Ta Da!

Yes, yes, yes!

I was successful last night. The wheel still works, very nicely in fact. And I'm still able to make yarn out of wool. I decided not to use that nice roving that I bought at SAFF until I was sure that I really could spin it into yarn that would end up being useable. So I dug out a bag of very old roving - stuff that I have had since the early 80's, the last time this wheel was used. I must say it wasn't nice roving at all - very short staple length and lots of tiny little nubs. But it spun and I spun it and it turned into a reasonable, if very fine, single that I might ply on itself when I finish spinning the rest of the bag.

I did have issues with the cotton drive band I made for the wheel tho - it wasn't plied and so shed bits of cotton and fluff all over everything. It won't hold up for any length of time. I went to the hardware store to find the 10 ply cotton string that I was supposed to use in the first place, but everything is polyester or nylon these days. I'm going to call the guy who makes the Clemes & Clemes wheels on Monday and ask him to make me some more spools and a lazy kate and ask where he gets his drive band material. But I'm a very happy girl!