What to look for when shopping for a spinning wheel to spin bulky or art yarns
64 oz flyer head shown on a Spinolution Firefly
Spinolution Bullfrog shown with the built in lazy kate.
While the Art of spinning your own yarn has been around for many years traditionally yarns were spun very thin. This way partially due to the need for thinner yarns for fabric, etc but also because many wheel designs worked better for thinner yarns. Spinolution Spinning wheels have always had a strong focus on innovation and design and quickly became popular with fiber artist who wanted a more enjoyable way to spin larger yarns or art yarns with embellishments.
The features that make our wheels so attractive to spinners who dream of chunky yarn is the open faced pegs on the sides of the flyer and the open hook orifice. Both of these features allow larger yarns to easily pass through and be wrapped on the bobbin with a steady tension. Our wide rage of wheel designs and gear options also makes it much easier with some practice to find the perfect tension and speed for your particular spinning comfort.
Many of our wheel models are well suited for larger yarns. The Firefly, Monarch , Echo and Hopper are all modular style wheels that can all be purchased with different flyer head options in larger sizes like our 16oz or 32 oz bobbins. You can either purchase these wheels with just one flyer head size or they are also available in “ Art Yarn Packages” which come with the two largerst flyer head options , and all of the accessories. Many spinners enjoy having the different flyer head size options to have the greatest amount of flexibility and comfort for many different spinning projects.
Our most popular wheels for spinners looking to specialize in chunky or art yarn are the Monarch or the electric Firefly. These wheels are both powerful production wheels and can easily handle the extra weight and momentum of our larger bobbins. These two models also can accommodate our largest bobbin with the Spinolution 64 oz flyer head. This size is exclusive to SpinOlution, and is the biggest bobbin size in the industry. Expert production spinners find this size ideal for spinning single-ply bulky weight yarns. This Flyer size was engineered specifically for the Firefly and is recommended for use on the Firefly. It can fit and be used on the Monarch; however, is very heavy to treadle and is not as ergonomic on the Monarch as on the Firefly.
The Hopper and the Echo are also popular options that are also modular wheels. While these two wheels are very different in appearance, the echo being a traditional studio wheel and the hopper being an unusual yet highly portable wheel, they both easily work with our 16oz or 32 oz flyer heads. So no matter your wheel style preference there is a Spinolution wheel that is perfect for your chunky yarn needs.
It is also worth noting that our newest wheel the Spinolution Bullfrog comes standard with 16 oz bobbins. This is our most popular bobbin size and is great for larger yarns or extended yardage. The bullfrog is a great hybrid wheel because it folds and is portable while also having a built in lazy kate and a more traditional studio wheel style.
Troubleshooting Bulky Spinning
Too much twist? Getting the right amount of twist for bulky weight yarn can be a challenge if you are used to spinning thinner yarns. You are probably used to not letting the twist travel into a larger amount of fiber so it may seem awkward at first. Pre-drafting your fiber into roughly the size you would like it to turn out makes for an easier transition and then slow down your treadling speed so that the twist is easier to control.
Too little twist? Not as common but if you are getting too little twist in your bulky yarn and it starts coming apart you may need to go down to a smaller spinning gear or speed up your feet slightly. Even just holding on your bulky single for a bit longer before it’s pulled onto the bobbin may quickly solve this problem.
Too much uptake? If your bulky yarn is being pulled to strongly from you it may be hard to have the amount of twist desired. This can be fixed by turning your tension block so that there is less tension.
Too little uptake? A more common problem with bulky weight yarn. If you have too little of uptake then your bulky single my get twisty and get stuck around the orifice hook, this will then cause even more twist to build up which then makes the uptake worse. To fix this problem stop treadling and untwist the yarn and fiber between the hook and your hands as best you can and get it twisting onto the bobbin past the hook and then add more tension slowly to the tension block so that the yarn is being fed onto the bobbin more easily. Either slowing down your feet or moving to a larger gear will also help with this problem.