The Heathen Housewife

I know I’ve hinted around several times about a large upcoming fiber-related purchase, and I was expecting to get my new toy at Shepherd’s Harvest, which is this coming weekend. It worked out a little differently, and instead my new friend arrived in my living room this morning.

Meet my new spinning wheel, which I’m going to call Earl after its maker, Earl Oman.

I had never heard of Earl Oman wheels until I saw one being demonstrated by Rebecca of Yarnworks at the Mall of America Knit-Out a few months ago. Yarnworks had the booth next to the Yarnery’s that day, and I kept looking at her wheel and trying to figure out what brand it was. Finally, I asked about it, and she told me the story of an elderly (late 80s or early 90s) gentleman who lives in Proctor, MN and who has been making spinning wheels by hand for practically forever.

I hardly dared to ask how much they cost, but when I did, I was shocked at the answer of only $350! As savvy spinners are aware, most individually-crafted wheels out there run at a much higher price, and often are available only after years on a waiting list. Well, Rebecca had one available for sale at her Grand Rapids, MN shop and I had her put my name on it that day. I knew I had to have one of these one-of-a-kind pieces of art.

The only trouble was that Grand Rapids is a good three hours away, and I knew it would be rough to swing a full day away in the car to pick the wheel up. Rebecca was planning to have a booth at the Shepherd’s Harvest festival, and agreed to drive my wheel down if I would let her use it as the demo wheel for her booth during the festival. No problem! Unfortunately, Rebecca’s family had a funeral to attend here in the Cities this week, which meant they weren’t going to be able to attend Shepherd’s Harvest, and instead they agreed to drop off my wheel on the way to see their family.

So I have it (him?) I know most people refer to wheels as “she” sort of like with ships, but this weel feels like a he to me, and I think Earl is a perfect name for it. Let’s look at some more pictures…

Unlike my Majacraft Rose, this is a double-drive wheel with hooks (versus scotch tension and sliders). There is only one ratio, 11:1 according to my count just now, but somehow it feels much faster.

The bobbin is held in place with two leather tabs, and unlike my Rose, it has a normal round orifice, requiring an orifice hook. The Rose has a delta orifice, and even when I use the lace orifice on the Rose, it’s short enough that I can usually just poke the thread through without the aid of a hook.

This wheel came with four bobbins, and a built-in Kate that holds two of them.

Only one treadle, which is also new to me – it takes a little more concentration to get the thing going, but once started the momentum is huge.

The wheel itself is held in place with wooden pegs, and there is the wire orifice hook hanging from one of the pegs within easy reach when I need it.

Here’s a top view of the wheel, with the two belts in the wide groove. The wheel is 22″, and the various parts are made of several different hard woods – probably some oak and maple in mine. Rebecca says that Mr. Oman gets his wood from his son, who works for either a lumber mill or yard, and gets it for either free or low cost. That’s partly how he keeps the price so low.

Rosie and Earl meet for the first time, and Daisy cat checks him out.

Oh, and of course no photo shoot is complete without a posed-toy scene thanks to Julie! The ponies apparently approve of the new addition to our household.

Here’s the back side of the wheel, and Daisy was quite interested in the fourth bobbin, which for the moment is hanging from its leader on the wheel’s handle.

Proof of where the wheel came from…

I am very excited and pleased with this purchase! I never would have thought a year ago that I’d be buying a second wheel any time in the forseeable future, but this was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Apparently, Mr. Oman himself doesn’t know how many more wheels he’ll be making, and I am glad just to have one for its looks alone, and knowing that it will likely only increase in value with age.

I wouldn’t necessarily choose this as a first wheel, as the treadling is a bit trickier than my Rose and the other double-treadle models that I’ve tried. Also, it’s not as versatile as many production wheels out there (and Rosie is quite versatile, with parts available to make her even more so). It certainly is lovely to spin on, though, and I feel somehow more authentic? or something? spinning on the kind of wheel that one sees in all the fairy-tale illustrations and that I had always visualized as a traditional spinning wheel before I actually got involved in spinning. I love that I’ll be getting experience with a totally different style of wheel than I’m used to as well.

More later, I’ve got to go play with my new toy.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 5th, 2009 at 5:51 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.