# 12 – My Brian Vincent ‘Nancy’ Spinning Wheel

Yes, that’s right, I’m now the owner of 12 stunning spinning wheels and this wheel was made by a Brisbane spinning wheel maker during the late 70s, 80s and into the 90s: Brian Vincent. Whenever I come across an unusual wheel I instantly start researching it to find out as much as I can about the maker. In this case, I contacted the Queensland Spinners, Weavers and Fibre Artists requesting whether any of their members had any information about Mr Vincent. What a surprise to find out that Mr Vincent’s daughter, Helen is a member of that group!

I contacted Helen and she very kindly gave me lots of interesting information about her Dad. Mr Vincent passed away in 2007, aged 96. He’d been very active in his workshop until a couple of years prior to this. He made Helen one of his wheels, after teaching her to spin on his demo wheel. He usually sold them with three bobbins. Mr Vincent also made lazy kates and niddy noddies. He also made Helen a jumbo flier, with two bobbins, and she got him to modify a couple of her ordinary bobbins with a smaller whorl for lace weight spinning. Helen has been using her wheel since about 1981 and she has worn out three fliers and had them repaired.

Helen believes her Dad might have started to make stainless steel fittings, when he acquired a metal lathe and started metal turning. Originally the brass fittings were made by Selwyn McCullough, a good neighbour and friend. Sel’s wife Ina was a member of the Queensland Spinners, and it was his idea to make the wheels for the fledgling spinners group who mostly purchased the Ashford traditional from New Zealand in kit form (both have now passed on). Cecile Falvy, founder of the spinners group, gave Mr Vincent suggestions to modify the wheel. She called it the Rolls Royce. It is a well-balanced wheel and very fast, and Helen loves it. Cecile sent Helen a photo of a portrait painted of her with the wheel, called “The Spinster”. Mr Vincent said the wheel was Norwegian in design, and Helen believes he found the design in a Woodworker magazine. Mr Vincent was a member of the Queensland Spinners for a while and helped with maintenance of the hall.

At the time Mr Vincent started making wheels Helen was living in Adelaide, but she retired in 2001 and returned to Brisbane and moved in with her Dad. Helen joined the spinners in 2002, when her Dad took her along and introduced her. Helen has been spinning for 34 years or so. She also knits, crochets, weaves and felts and she loves to work with alpaca.

Helen kindly sent me a photo of her Dad taken on his 92^nd birthday, in 2003.

I am so grateful to Helen for answering all my questions via email. I am so proud to be an owner of this gorgeous Nancy spinning wheel made by Mr Brian Vincent.

It is made from Queensland maple with brass fittings.

Truly beautiful craftsmanship…

I love the built-in lazy Kate…

And the tension mechanism is so easy to use…

I cannot stop looking at the beauty of the woodwork…

My wheel also came with four large bobbins…

It even has the original Dymo tape labelling…

You could say I am one happy spinner to be the owner of this stunning wheel.

I now have two Brisbane-made wheels: this Vincent ‘Nancy’ wheel and my Roy McKnight Suitcase Wheel.

And don’t forget, there’s lots of information about Australian spinning wheels on this site.

And just to let you know, Helen, your Dad’s wheel is in good company.

Now, I wonder what my # 13 spinning wheel will be…..

I’m also a bit chuffed as one of my blog posts about knitting Christmas decorations has been linked to the multitaskingmummy.com blog. It’s the very last Christmas craft idea.

Until next time….

Melanie

 

William’s Knits

My son’s best mate has just become a father to a little baby boy born on 31 October; his name is William and you’ve guessed it, what better gift to give than knitted goodies. So I’ve made a start as William will be six months old next winter. I had already made this little hat as I wasn’t sure whether the baby would be a boy or a girl.

It’s one of my favourite baby hat patterns called Mock Cable Baby Hat and it’s a free Ravelry pattern.

I used Patons Big Baby 8ply, a lovely soft baby yarn. I’m pretty sure little William likes his hat don’t you?

These little goodies will be winging their way to William before winter next year. A gorgeous little vest called the Chris Woven Yoke Vest. I found the pattern in my Knitting Pattern a Day Calendar 2012. There are some lovely knitting patterns in these calendars.

This little vest is knitted using Ice Yarns Dancing Baby which is a 100% acrylic yarn. I have quite a few colourways of this yarn and they are quite stunning.

There’s a little bit of stretch in this vest so I hope it fits little William next winter.

And a matching hat too!

It’s from the free pattern Easy Rolled Brim Hat although I have modified it slightly. I kept decreasing until there were four stitches left, K2tog: three stitches left. I then proceeded to knit an I-cord for an inch or so and tied a small knot in it. Looks so much cuter I think.

And then I made this hat using the same pattern but casting on 128 stitches and using the Patons Big Baby 8ply yarn in three colours.

I’m not sure what age this hat will fit but hopefully William will find some use for it!

Knitting baby garments is so gratifying as they don’t take long at all. Remember all those hats I made a year or so ago for two friends who were having babies?

To finish off I want to show you the gorgeous colours of the poinciana trees which are in full bloom in the Redlands this spring. It’s one of the best displays I’ve seen in years.

Beautiful aren’t they?

One more pic of this little vest. I love it!

Whoops I nearly forgot…I was rather chuffed when the pattern writer (Dominique Trad from New South Wales, Australia) of the Frillilly scarf contacted me to ask whether my picture of her scarf could be featured on the pattern page as she loved the yarn I’d used. Of course I said yes; it’s the second photo on the pattern page, She also offered me a complimentary pattern of my choice from her selection so I picked the Autumn Rainbow top. Thank you Dominique!!

I’m off to Knit and Knatter this afternoon so I hope you all have a wonderful crafty weekend. Until next time.

Melanie

What is it about scarves and shawls?

I can’t believe how many scarves and shawls I’ve knitted over the last year or so. I mean, I only have one neck and I do live in Brisbane where it doesn’t get too cold for too long in winter. I can see my suitcase will be filled with my scarves when I cruise around New Zealand next year. I’ll be spoilt for choice!!

This is my Frillyilly Scarf made from a pattern I found on Ravelry. The reason why I purchased this pattern is because it reminds me of the Minnie Scarf except it has the frill on both sides which I rather like.

It’s a great length and I’m really happy with the finished product.

And another way to wear it…

The yarn I used is the gorgeous Shorn Fibers MCN Sock 435 which is an 80% merino / 10% nylon / 10% cashmere 4ply / fingering yarn. The colourway is ‘Wood Elf’. This yarn is incredibly soft and makes a perfect scarf.

This is my Fete Shawl and the pattern is available free on Ravelry.

There’s an awful lot of stockinette stitch in this shawl which is great if you don’t feel like concentrating too much!!

The edging really makes the shawl ‘pop’…

I’m a bit ‘ho hum’ about this shawl. I think it’s because I used the wrong yarn; Moda Vera Noir which is a 75% wool / 20% nylon 4ply / fingering sock yarn. Ideally, it should be used on socks as it gives a great fair isle look. I don’t know what possessed me to use it on this pattern. Must have been having a moment.

I rewrote the lace edge pattern portion which can be found on my Ravelry page link as it wasn’t clearly written. In hindsight, I should have finished with a garter stitch edge as it curls up a bit, even after blocking. Sometimes you end up with a project that you just don’t gel with and I think this is mine.

I’ll have to find the coolest places to knit this weekend as we’re headed for a scorcher in Brissie: high 30s (that’s celsius), however where I live on the coast it’ll be 2-3 degrees cooler.

Hope you all have a fantastic crafty weekend and keep warm and/or cool depending on where you live!

Until next time…

Melanie

 

 

 

My Roy McKnight Suitcase Spinning Wheel

It’s only quite recently that I discovered the existence of this rather quaint and quirky little spinning wheel. It’s quite unique as its contained within a lovely portable wooden suitcase; hence the name ‘the suitcase wheel’. I bet you wouldn’t think a spinning wheel was housed in this suitcase on first glance would you?

I am delighted to say that I am now the proud owner of this cute little wheel thanks to Karen on the Ravelry Australian Spinning Wheels online forum. Karen put me in contact with Jean who was selling it. The wheel arrived this week and now becomes my 12th spinning wheel!

As you can see by the measurements, it is extremely compact and hardly takes up any room at all!

The suitcase wheel was made by Roy McKnight from Birkdale (eastern suburbs of Brisbane). From information on the Australian Spinning Wheels site (administered by Mary K from New Zealand), the suitcase wheels only weigh about 4kg (9lbs). Mr McKnight also made wool winders and other spinning accessories; as so often, he was encouraged by a wife who was a spinner. The picture on Mary’s website is of a wheel from 1992 so I am assuming Mr McKnight made these wheels in the early 1990s and possibly the late 1980s. Is there anyone else out there who either has one of these wheels or knows anything about Roy McKnight? I would really love to hear from you via the Contact Me section of my blog (along the top banner).

This is the angle (see below) the left  hand part of the suitcase needs to be positioned to enable you to spin. You also need to have a small mat under the wheel to stabilise it.

I am assuming the name on the lower left hand inside of the wheel could be the original owner.

The bobbins are quite small; as you can see from the number of hooks

Three bobbins are held on the ‘lazy kate’. I have five bobbins in total which is a bonus!

The wheel is lacquered so there is no need to oil the wood at all.

It is a most ingenious spinning wheel.

Everything folds in neatly.

The flyer (without the bobbin) slips in at the bottom of the suitcase.

It reminds me of a dolls house for grown ups!

The previous owner had started spinning this orange wool and packed the rest of the wool top in the parcel so I finished spinning it.

I am really happy to be the owner of this wheel as it is a part of the history of where I live. It will be perfect to take on my cruise next year. It’s not a wheel I would use for all my spinning as the bobbins are quite small and will only hold a small amount of spinning but for its compactness and portability, it’s the ideal wheel to take away when you want to do a bit of spinning. And, of course, I am sure it will invite lots of interest and comments from spinners and non-spinners alike!

If you have a suitcase wheel, I’d love to hear your thoughts about how often you use it and what you think of it.

My wheel has # 56 stencilled in the inside of the suitcase.

Until next time…

Melanie

 

Yarning about yarn stuff

In September whilst surfing through Ravelry, I spotted a request by Rebecca from Augustbird who was looking for some test yarn knitters so I put my hand up to knit a pair of women’s socks and test their White Gum sock yarn.

I used the Simple Skyp Socks pattern so I also received a complimentary copy of the gorgeous Cloudfall Cowl. For my efforts, Rebecca provided me with a $40 voucher to spend on her yarn.  I used the Simple Skyp pattern as I had previously knitted a pair of socks using this pattern and they turned out particularly comfortable. I was also asked to start a Ravelry project page which I did. These are the Skyp socks made using Augustbird’s yarn in the colourway ‘Ink’.

This is an easy pattern to memorise and adds just a bit of interest rather than plain stockinette stitch.

I sent off the completed socks to Rebecca and received my $40 voucher so I checked out Augustbird’s website but was disappointed as the October colourway called ‘Songbird’ had sold out. It was such a gorgeous display of colours. My luck changed, however, when I spotted a  FB post declaring there were a couple more skeins of Songbird to be had! I was as fast as a sprinter off the blocks to get those two skeins and here they are!

This skein is White Gum Wool Sock which is an 80% ethical superfine merino / 20% nylon yarn and the colourway is Songbird More Blue.

And this skein is White Gum Wool 4ply which is a 100% ethical superfine merino wool and the colourway is Songbird.

I got a bit carried away taking photos as the wool is just so incredibly gorgeous!

Each skein was $28 so I only had to pay the $16 difference plus postage. It was worth it as I now have two gorgeous skeins of yarn to stash until I find the right pattern. I really enjoyed the test knit as I was in the mood to knit another pair of socks.

A couple of weeks ago as I was looking through Ebay at spinning wheels for sale (something I do quite often and shouldn’t!), I found this rather unusual Australian wooden carving of a woman at a spinning wheel for sale. Well, I just had to have it so I clicked on ‘Add to Cart’ and voila! it was mine.

It really is quite exquisite and is one more knick knack to add to my ever burgeoning collection of all things yarn, spinning and sheep!

I also seem to spend a bit of time on Facebook catching up with friends and posting photos of my spinning wheel purchases and yarn projects. One page I have ‘liked’ is the Australian Lincraft page and last month they ran a competition for their I Love Yarn Day 2014 asking what was your favourite Lincraft yarn and why.

Last year I crocheted Mum a lovely throw using Lincraft Cosy wool and gave it her for Mother’s Day. She loves it!

The colours were quite unusual and really matched Mum’s lounge room so I used this photo and similar words and posted them on the Lincraft competition page – see bottom right of the picture below.

What a lovely surprise to receive a comment under my photo letting me know that I’d won one of the yarn packs which arrived this week. The pack contains five balls of Lincraft Air which is a super bulky yarn made with 78% acrylic / 17% nylon (polyamide) / 5% wool. The yarn uses size 10mm needles.

I’ve decided I’ll knit the scarf and hat from the pattern I also won. Hopefully, I’ll have them made by next winter! Or maybe I should aim for March next year as I’m cruising around New Zealand in April and I’m sure it’ll be a bit nippy on board as well as on land where I aim to try and visit some yarn shops (surprise, surprise!).

And lastly, I found this cute little terracotta sheep near my Mum’s front door. She’d been doing a bit of re-arranging of her garden ornaments which is why I’ve never seen it before. “Is that a sheep Mum?” I asked. “Yes it is, would you like it?” she replied. Of course, you know what my answer was don’t you? It now resides near my back sliding door.

That’s enough yarning for now!

Until next time…

 

Melanie