Spinning Wheel in Action
       I asked Pat Lees to take action shots of her spinning at Wildflower Farm and to explain what the pictures show.  I received these outstanding pictures and am very pleased to present them in this publication.
       In Pat's words, "Both are actually demonstrating pretty much the same thing, one in motion and one still. My feet are treadling (you can see in the motion picture) to turn the wheel, which turns the flyer by the drive band. This is what puts the twist in the fiber to make it into yarn. My right hand is pinching the twist to keep it from traveling into the undrafted fiber. My left hand is drafting the fiber. I pull back on the fiber to draft it and slide the right hand (still pinching it so the twist doesn't get away) toward the left to allow the twist to spin the fiber into yarn. Then I move both hands forward to allow the yarn to enter the

       The picture on the front page and above were taken while the wheel was turning. Notice the blur of the spokes and a slight shadow of the flyer. Also, notice that Pat wears gray socks of the same yarn on the cone in the background. The cone is at the base of a Gearhart Knitting Machine. In the picture below, her husband is wearing white socks, visible at the very bottom of the picture.

orifice and wind onto the bobbin.
       It sounds a little confusing, but after some practice it becomes a nice relaxing rhythm. I love to spin, and love having all the fiber I can use and more from the animals here at the farm."

Pat Lees
Wildflower Farm
3013 Deer Road
Rosholt, WI 54473
sheeplady@voyager.net
http://my.voyager.net/~sheeplady

       This picture was taken with the wheel stationary to show the construction of the flyer and the route of the yarn as it passes through the eye (or orifice) and on a guide hook before winding on the bobbin.
       If you have followed Pat's articles in issues 2 and 4 of Antique Knitters Circular, you will know that the yarn she has just spun came from her sheep in February this spring.