I fixed my bobbin problems and began spinning today to kick off le Tour de Fleece challenge.

I bought my wheel in October at Rhinebeck, and I spun one bobbin full of yarn, and then abandoned the wheel for months. The main problem was that I couldn’t remove the bobbin. I know. Lame. But in my defense, I didn’t know upon which bit to apply the brute force necessary to remove the bobbin from the flyer assembly, and I didn’t want to break the thing. I could take the flyer/bobbin thing off, but couldn’t figure out how to free the full bobbin and replace it with an empty one.

A few posts back and forth on the Ravelry spinning forum and I had the necessary information to get the bobbin off. It took me months to ask for help, while the wheel lay dormant, and then another few months before I actually put their advice into practice. I just have had so much going on this year that I never got around to it. Well the Tour challenge lit a fire under my bum and I had to fix the bobbin situation in order to participate.

A few tugs here and there and the thing came apart and I was able to change the bobbin. But then the yarn wouldn’t wind onto the bobbin, argh. Another round of Q and A on the forum, and I was good to go. It was a lubrication problem this time.

So, after my newbie setbacks, I’m ready to spin. I did a little bit this morning and was reminded of how much I love spinning. I can tell this is going to be a big thing for me. And with an outlet for to sell all of the delicious yarn I’m going to make, I won’t even have a stash problem (theoretically).

Happy Spinning!