How I got the Merlin Tree Quebec Wheel

I first spotted this wheel at Black Sheep Gathering some years back.  Being as they are made in Vermont, I had never expected to cross paths with one of them out here on the west coast.  It was for sale.  I was devastated because it was so unique and so beautiful and, since I had just purchased a Lennox Fiona, I had no money left to buy her. 

Well, just because I could not buy her didn’t mean that I could not take her for a test spin.  I watched for a time and the woman attempting to spin on her simply could not get her going - hmmm....either she could not handle the wheel (these CPW’s are FAST!)  or something was not set up right.  Word of mouth had it that these wheels were good spinners so long story short, I asked to try it, made a few adjustments, and had a great test spin.  Gave the seller some pointers in spinning on CPWs so she could hopefully find an interested buyer and left with regrets but then as my husband likes to tell me “You can’t have everything”.

Jump forward one year.  Black Sheep Gathering in fast approaching when an interesting e-mail pops up on one of the spinning lists.  The e-mail asks if there is anyone going to Black Sheep who is willing to repossess a Merlin Tree wheel and either buy it at a discount or ship it back to the maker.  Well now that was too good of an opportunity to pass up.  And the price was right.

What happened was that some folks from the west coast apparently made a trip back east to Vermont and saw the wheel which is painted with a very unique design of a shepherd and sheep and convinced the maker that the wheel, due to its paint job, looked like it belonged in the west.  They talked him into taking the wheel with them to sell and then never managed to sell it (because, as I found out they had jacked up the price).  Nor did they ever pay the maker for the wheel.

A little repo work resulted in my getting a nice repro CPW.

Far Waves and Fallout

The word”tsunami” is Japanese for “far wave”.  On March 11, 2011 the sirens warning of a far wave went off in our town.  Of course the part of town that is in danger of being hit by a tsunami is the part of town farthest away from the sirens so the people in danger from the event never heard the warning.  Fortunately the police were on the ball and went around knocking on doors to wake folks up.  It was only 4:00AM.  I heard the sirens and went back to sleep, assuming that it was caused by some mistake by a city employee.   Carel did not hear the siren but got up at his usual time of 5:00 AM and got the news about the disaster in Japan from CNN.

We had our day planned and that involved taking the dog to the kennel and driving up to Aurora, Oregon for the annual Antique Spinning Wheel Showcase.  Since the tsunami was not due to hit before 7:30-7:45 AM, we decided to wait until the kennel opened so we could check with them before taking the dog.  Called the kennel, they were open and accepting guests and had an evacuation plan in place if need be.  The fist wave was later than predicted finally arriving at 8:30 AM and proved to be pretty much of a non-event.  So we dropped off the dog and hit the road at about 9:00 AM..

Driving along the coast, we saw that the ocean was acting strangely.  We could not tell if it was high tide or low tide - whichever way one of us saw it, by the time the other had a chance to look, it appeared to be the opposite.  We both noticed the large waves offshore and saw whitecaps coming up the Rogue River at Gold Beach.  We heard nothing more of it until we checked into our motel for the night and turned on the news.

Brookings took pretty much of a direct hit by the tsunami.  Damage estimates to the port are at 7 Million Dollars.  Crescent City, CA got hit even worse with more damage to the port and one dead.

I, for one, am glad that this was a “Far Wave”.  Just seeing the damage that it did here, I can’t imagine the damage done in Japan even with all of  the extensive television coverage. Note to self:  Never get up close and personal with a tsunami.

Of course the tsunami and preceding earthquake damaged a Japanese nuclear power plant.    The last reports I heard were that they thought that the core of one of the reactors might be cracked.  Government officials have assured us that we are in no danger from radiation.  I sure hope not -we were in Wales on April 26, 1986 when there was this little disaster called “Chernobyl”.  Welsh sheep were still being checked for radiation in 2008.  Looking on the bright side, if we do get another good dose of radiation, then we shall glow in the dark and think of all that money we’ll save on electric bills. 

Duct tape does it again!

Since my stroke I’ve had nothing but problems with touchpads. Of course the stroke caused problems for me with typing - I can’t do some of the required finger stretching reaches  and sometimes my fingers tend to stick to the keys causing strings of repeated lettttttters.  But the touchpad has been a real problem.  It’s so sensitive that the mere touch of a sleeve causes it to do totally unwanted things - the cursor jumps, sometimes 2 or 3 t times within a single word or the whole program is lost along with all my input.  Since typing is now problematic in the first place, losing everything I’ve managed to write due to the damn touchpad being sensitive is.........well....upsetting, to say the least.

Yes, I know - the solution to the problem is to turn the touchpad off.  And I would do this if only I could find the place to do so.  I’ve looked in every single place that I can think of in an attempt to locate this function.  Not only can I not find a “turn off touchpad” functon, I can find nothing about the touchpad in the “help & support”menu. I have been searching for a way to disable this touchpad for....hmmmm.......something like 3 or 4 years now ever since I got this laptop.

Anyway, I was reading one of my e-mail list and someone posted about their new laptop and its sensitive touchpad and the problems they were having with the cursor jumping all over the place making typing pretty much impossible.  And because this was on Sheepthrills, of course someone had the answer.  The answer to ultrasensitive touchpads is (and this is very hi-tech): tape a piece of hard plastic or heavy cardboard over it. 

Duct Tape.  You can fix anything with duct tape.

Wheel Love

Black Sheep Gathering 1998.  I arrived mid-afternoon on the Thrusday before the Gathering opened.  Having found a good camping spot and gotten set up, I decided to head to the vendor halls and barns to see if anyone needed a hand setting up their stuff.  Someone did, and I spent the next hour or so helping one of the vendors haul stuff in.  

I was leaving the vendor area when I saw her.  She was standing alone in the middle of a booth, surrounded by lovely dyed silk blends.  An empty folding chair sat at her side, her cherry wood turnings seemed to glow  and piece of wool dangled enticingly from her flyer. "Take me for a spin" she whispered.  I resisted.   After all, the Gathering was not open for business until the following day.  "But you have a workshop in the morning and she'll be gone by the time you get here" whispered a voice in my ear.  I caved and took her for a trial spin.

She was good, she was great!  Smooth treadling with her double treadles though I only needed to use one.  Great take up, Scotch  tension and easy to adjust.  She had finials and turnings and a drive wheel mounted above the flyer.  Then there was that gorgeous factory finish on her cherry wood plus she came with extra pullies and bobbins.  I took a peak at her price tag.

Hmmmm....not too bad though obviously well used, she did come with extras....hey wait....I ran out of practice fiber!  Well, since I had spun up the vendor's entire supply of practice fibers before the Gathering even opened, I figured that I had to buy the wheel. 

There being no one around, I left a bit "SOLD" sign on the wheel along with my name, contact information, and when I would be by to pay the bill.  As things turned out, this is one of the best wheel buys I ever made because the wheel is so smooth that it went to the rehab hospital with me after my stroke.  She's a Jensen Tall Castle wheel and is made of cherry wood. 

Sick and Tired

2010 brought three more trips to the hospital for carotid stenting, pancreatitis, and breathing problems.  By the end of the year I decided that I was sick and tired of being sick and tired and I simply was not going to put up with it any longer.  So I made a New Years Resolution to put health problems behind me.  And so I have.  Because I have some physical limitations, I've had to find new ways of doing things but since the alternative is not doing things that I enjoy, finding ways to work around limitations seems the best option.

And that is enough blather about health problems.

A Recap of Ancient History

Back in October of 2009, I had a major heart attack while attending SOAR.  Much to my chagrin this caused me to miss all of the Retreat sessions due to being stuck in the hospital.  Three days after arriving home from the hospital, I had a stroke and - gee, guess what?  Yup, right back in the hospital again but this time it was followed by a month of physical therapy in a rehab hospital.  Rehab was necessary because the stroke left me paralyzed on the right side.  That meant I could not spin!  Or knit!  Or do most anything else for that matter. 

Taking matters into my own hands, I asked my husband to bring one of my wheels to the rehab hospital.  I chose the Jensen because of the ease of treading and the fact that it is a double treadle.  My right foot could ride along while the left did the work and with the PT and the treadling, I learned to walk again.  The Jensen had one other advantage and that is that I fitted it with a WooLee Winder back in '07 and had just gotten two extra bobbins for that in '08.  Because I control the fiber supply with my left hand, this meant that I could draft.  I could spin - sort of.  My attempts did not produce viable yarn and rethreading the orifice every time the yarn broke was a major challenge.  Hey, try threading your orifice with only one hand and the one you don't normally use at that and see how well you do.  :)

I finally got out of rehab and went right into yet another hospital for surgery.  One week, two illiac stents and two cardiac stents later and I finally got to go home.  But to a new house.  My husband moved us while I was in the hospital - well, we were in the process of slowly moving before I became ill but completing the move became a medical necessity for me.  The problem was heat - I simply could not have handled feeding the wood stove. Moving our stuff was the hard part as it all had to be packed and hauled and I was totally unable to be of any help since I was basically stuck in a wheelchair at the time.

2009 ended with a bang for us when I got to go back to the hospital because of a gall bladder attack.