With my work with Spinolution I am often asked about which wheel to get. Often people are looking to be able to spin laceweight yarn and larger chunkier yarn...
What to look for when shopping for a spinning wheel to spin fine yarns
With our new golden whorl technology our wheels currently have the quickest spinning speeds on the market. This is achieved due to the lack of drag and smooth flyer head design. If you desire to spin super thin, fine yarns or shorter staple length fiber such as alpaca or cotton then you’ll be in love with our golden whorl wheels with smaller ratio options.
Spinolution offers a wide range of wheels so picking your prefered wheel may feel a bit overwhelming at first.
If portability and multiple gear options with a quick small bobbin is what you’re looking for then the Queen Bee may be for you. The Queen is the smallest wheel of our Bee line, and can be folded completely into itself forming a perfect travel box complete with carry handles and can even fit in a carry on suitcase. The Queen Bee has the most gear options of any of our wheels so you are sure to find the perfect option for a range of fine or thin yarns. The Queen Bee is only compatible with our 4 oz bobbins but due to their lightweight, small design they are optimum for the quickest speeds without the added momentum of larger bobbins.
If a studio wheel is what you’re looking for then the echo, monarch or firefly with smaller bobbin size or our accelerator option may be a great fit. The echo is our smaller traditional studio wheel while the monarch is our largest production wheel. The firefly is our very popular electric table top wheel and all three are modular meaning you can switch the heads out from smaller sized options to larger sizes if you prefer.
You can select these wheels in either standard 4oz or with our newer “4A” option. Many of our fine-spinning customers requested higher ratios, so we designed a head upgrade with a built-in accelerator for short staple spinning.
Another fantastic option for spinning thinner yarns is the pollywog spinning wheel with or without the accelerator option. The pollywog is a very unique spinning wheel due to its small size and many options. The pollywog base model comes with 3, 4 oz bobbins which are light and perfect for thin yarns especially combined with the smooth golden whorl technology which comes standard on all of our wheels. The standard wheel has 4 different gear options and with the accelerator you would have a total of 12 gear options. The accelerator for the pollywog is a different piece of equipment than the 4A accelerator which fits our other larger wheels.
Tips for achieving a smooth and enjoyable spin on your spinolution spinning wheel.
Reducing the tension by turning your tension knob so that there is hardly any pressure will greatly reduce the uptake on the yarn which will give you more time for thin drafting and twist.
Cross-lacing is a technique which involves pulling your singles from the bobbin and wrapping it first over the opposite side of the flyer arm pegs before placing it on the side you would normally spin from before entering the orifice. Cross lacing helps to slow down the uptake of the yarn onto the bobbin which allows for more twist to build up and strengthen the fibers to help you spin fine yarns without breakage.
Spinolution wheels come standard with a hook orifice which is great for fine-super chunky but some people prefer the tube orifice for thinner yarns and we have an option where you can easily switch back and forth between the hook or tube orifice for your wheel.
An example of cross lacing a flyer head.