A Whole Mess of Wheels

Its good to be back in Germany again! The family home is a very peaceful place to be. That's not to say that the weather is always cooperative--we've had drizzle 75% of the time we have been here. It is nonetheless so nice to be back, and I always think of it as my home across the pond. I do miss the Blue Bungalow of course, but I suppose absence makes the heart grow fonder.

The plane ride went as well as one can expect with 2 little kids in tow--much easier now that the kids are older and can occupy themselves a little. The Boy jabbered most of the trip, and only fell asleep as the plane was on its final descent. Man does that kid have energy. Of course we were all exhausted and jet lagged the first couple of days, but I think we have pretty much recovered aside from the occasional fit of tiredness and/or insomnia. It goes with the territory, I suppose.

One thing I would have like to have brought with me is a little variance in terrain. Its flippin flat here. Not many places to go adventuring unless you like rye fields. It makes walking quite tedious. I miss my mountains, my rock, my dramatic sunrise. There isn't much of that here. But the food, the house, the pool, the garden, the wickedly old buildings all make up for that. Oh, and of course the yummy beer.

Here are some photos I snapped. I realize I tend to get a little crazy with the pics when I blog (and have tons more to show you for this entry!) so I put these in a slide show. They are all plucked from my flickr account and if you scroll over "notes" (located under each on-deck picture)you will see a more detailed description. And apologies, it takes a sec to load:




In Spinning News

Its been raining all day today, so I thought it might be a good time to go to the attic and drag out the spinning wheels I discovered the last time we were here, 2 years ago. Even though I knew what to expect, my jaw still dropped upon seeing them:



Any spinner will tell you the the above picture is a sight to behold. Spinners--whether they like it or not--are connected to the past. When I see something like this--a whole array of spinning wheels tucked into a corner of the attic--I can't help but feel that the art of spinning is in my blood. I instinctually want to grab some wool, yank a wheel out of the corner and just start spinning. I want to gather some women, sit them down and give them some wool while chatting away and making yard after yard after yard of beautiful thread.

Unfortunately many of them are in various states of disrepair, and I am definitely the only spinner hanging around this (other) neck of the woods. So lets redirect ourselves and take a closer look at what is there.

Here are the traditional, saxony-style wheels. There are 3, two of which are missing a treadle:





This is my favorite wheel, and obviously the most loved. It is one of 2 double-flyer, double drive wheels. This is a wheel with vibe.



It has amazing details: hand-turned spokes, various woods, decorative ivory elements, and a very cool plaque made of copper(?) filigree and stamped leather. It has the name of my husband's great great grandmother (Marie Nienaber) and the date 1866.



Unfortunately this one is missing a treadle too. I am pretty sure I could rig it to work with a small plank of wood, but lets face it: it would ruin the beauty. I would love to know if any of you have tried to restore wheels, and if so, how. I know that the wheels are constructed using only wood pegs and leather. Some pegs are poking out and need to be somehow pushed back in--I hesitate to go hammering on them, but some of them are sticking out in the drive band grooves, which causes the band to "jump". This is a terrible photo, but it shows you what is happening:



And the leather joints need to be replaced, but I have no idea what kind of leather I need to use, at what thickness, etc. As you can see, I'm sort of going into this rather blindly. Any and all help is appreciated.

The wheel that I worked on the last time I was here is definitely the one that needs the least attention. Its a castle-style flax wheel and has pretty much all its parts. I can spin wool on it, but I can't quite figure out how to fiddle with the tension. Spinning on it is not the smoothest, at least just yet. Betzi is working on it.

The attic also contains a mountain-load of swifts. I like this one in particular. Check out those cool wooden gears:



There are also some interesting pieces of equipment I am totally unfamiliar with, probably having to do with the processing of flax. I'll be sure to get some pics of those too the next time I enter the attic. Hopefully some of you can help me identify them!

Well that's it for now! I'll post again soon and let you know what kind of progress I have been making. Remember you can always find out what I'm up to on plurk, twitter (from my plurk feed), and facebook. 'Til next time!