Guest Author - Llyn Payne
Long before anyone ever dreamed of bobbin and flyer arrangements, let alone treadles, people used wheel driven spindles for creating yarn. A wheel driven spindle is just what the name implies, a spindle that is driven by turning a wheel. Today, we call these types of wheels Great Wheels, Walking Wheels, Quill Wheels, or Charkha wheels.
Whatever they are called and whatever the size of these wheels, from the largest of the Great Wheels to the smallest book Charkha wheels, the traditional spinning technique is the same. The spinner stands (or sits) next to the wheel in a position allowing him or her to turn the drive wheel with one hand while drafting the fibers with the other hand.
Of course, there are variations. One notable variation is the pendulum wheel. This type of great wheel featured a pendulum arm which was controlled by a foot pedal. Pressing the pedal down swung the arm back, giving a nice long draft. This arrangement allowed the spinner to sit at the wheel rather than stand and walk back and forth to get a long drafting length.
Today, some wheel makers are offering quill heads to fit the wheels in their product lines. These attachments replace the bobbin and flyer unit and allow the spinner to sit and treadle the wheel basically leaving both hands free for drafting.
Spinning on a wheel driven spindle requires a different technique than spinning on a bobbin & flyer wheel. Traditionally, drafting is done one using only one hand while the other hand is occupied with turning the drive wheel.
The way almost all wheel driven spindles are set up, the spinner must hold the fiber in and draft with the left hand. The right hand will control the drive wheel.
Start with well prepared fibers that will draft smoothly. Hold the fiber supply with a very, very gentle grip so the fibers being drafted will feed freely from the fiber package. Note that there is NO take up tension from a spindle wheel as there is with a bobbin & flyer wheel so the fibers will not be pulled from your hand by the wheel. Putting tension on the spindle for drafting will only pull the spindle out of alignment and then the wheel will not spin. Too much out of alignment and it will throw the drive band.
To spin, spit stick the fibers to the spindle and do a short make (a make is a draft). Slide the beginning point down to the spindle whorl, then turn the drive wheel to spiral the yarn up to the tip of the spindle. Position the yarn so it comes off the tip of the spindle at a 45 degree angle. Now, draft back a bit while turning the drive wheel a bit - twist goes into the yarn. Draft back a bit more, turning the wheel a bit more....you want enough twist to hold the yarn together but not so much that yu can not draft back easily. Once you have drafted out a make, usually this is about as long as you can reach out and still control the drive wheel, look at the yarn and see if it
has the desired amount of twist. If not, turn the drive wheel until you are satisfied with the amount of twist in your yarn.
Once you're happy with the twist, it's time to wind on. Reverse the drive wheel just a bit to bring the yarn off the tip of the spindle and while doing this lift your drafting arm up and move it towards the drive wheel. This motion positions the yarn for winding a traditional yarn package called a cop. Turn the drive wheel forward again to wind on and once the wind on is almost
complete, spiral the yarn out towards the tip of the spindle and you're ready for the next make.
