Heavenly Handspinning

Please go to our website at - click on the Video links button. There you will find a section for “Fidelis Assembly part one/part two”. Click on that video link. Instructions for the treadle portion of the Navitas, are the same as for the Bellus. Also click on the video instructions for the Vespera. The Navitas is a combo of the Bellus and Vespera.

Below are the instructions for Vespera and Bellus. Including Tips and Instructions that apply to both spinner and treadle.

TIPS:

Learning to spin, has a steep but short learning curve. Once you have mastered tension, it is all downhill from there. Please, please remember, this is to be enjoyed, not to be stressful. The more you practice the better you will become. Give yourself a break and just enjoy the experience as a whole. Everything in life is an opportunity to learn and an opportunity to respond and not react negatively. Have fun!!!!

(1) I strongly suggest that you set up your spinner and play with the speed before ever sitting down to do any actual spinning. That way you will have an idea of what speed you are dealing with and also how slow/fast you can make the Vespera go to accommodate your particular need at that time.

Always practice spinning with cheap yarn and/or cheap roving that you do not care about. Save the good stuff for when you feel you are ready to move ahead.

(2) Begin with a fiber with a long staple length. This will make learning to spin much easier. Look for BFL, Shetland and Polwarth as examples. Any fiber with a long staple length is much much easier to begin with and I personally just really enjoy spinning them. You can also look at silk hankies. Those you can prep easily and they will make beginning spinning easy too.

(3) Make sure to predraft your roving, especially in the beginning while you are learning to spin and/or on fiber you haven’t spun before.

(4) Go to Youtube.com There are tons and tons of videos on learning how to spin. I have some basic how to spin videos on my website and the tips can be used on all spinning instruments. Park and Draft is not only for drop spindles and/or Meggies. You can easily Park n Draft on a wheel or spinner. There are no hard and fast rules to spinning, despite what “professional” spinners might tell you. These instructions are meant to aid you in setting up your spinner/wheel. These instructions are not meant to teach you how to spin. You must learn that on your own.

(5) Yarn winding onto the bobbin, is ALL about tension. If the yarn is not winding onto the bobbin, then there is not enough tension on the flyer. This is what I get THE most questions and/or desire for help with in regard to my customers, especially folks that are brand new to spinning. Finding the right tension for you and/or your yarn is the biggest hurdle for all new spinners. This is true no matter what you are spinning on. Please begin with having some patience. Please do not try to learn or to begin spinning on your new product, while you are tired or frustrated or whatever negative thing you might have in your life at that moment. Do not try to learn while trying to do other things like watching/parenting children, listening to your spouse’s conversation, etc :o) You need to be able to relax and focus on what you are doing with learning/trying to spin on your new spinner. Spinning is to be enjoyable, it is not to make your life stressful :o) To start off, use a good bit of tension on your flyer. Again, not so much that you stretch out the band tight and not so loose that the flyer can flop around. Start with a little and go up from there. Its much easier to add tension and go up, instead of the other way around. So start with a little tension. Begin spinning (treadling or using your electric spinner) and let twist build in your leader. Is this machine wanting to pull the leader in, or is it just sort of dangling with twist building up and it is becoming twisty? If it is the latter, then stop treadling/electric. If the machine wants to pull in the leader/yarn, then you are hitting your sweet spot. From there add or take away tension depending on what yarn you want to spin. You are done with this portion of the tips lecture, move on :o) For the latter group, take what twist has built up in the leader/yarn and let it climb into more of the leader or yarn. Now you know there is not enough tension, so you tighten the tensioner a little bit, pull the leader/yarn that you have just spun an added twist to, by hand through the orifice towards the bobbin and turn the bobbin with your hand in the direction you are spinning, to wind it onto the bobbin. Now begin the process again. It really shouldn’t take you more than twice maybe three times of doing the above, to start finding your sweet spot. If it is, then you may possibly have not threaded the machine correctly and I strongly suggest you watch the videos.

Instructions for Vespera:

If you prefer the old school way :o) Below are some simple instructions and tips for getting your Vespera ready for spinning.

  • After you have taken your Vespera, bobbins, flyer, controller (hand or foot) and plastic bag (inside the plastic bag you will find, an orifice/thread hook, extra set of motor springs and your Vespera drive band), out of the box/packaging, place your Vespera on a stable surface/piece of furniture, such as a coffee table or end table. If you are using a foot control, height will be a concern, simply because one must connect the controller to the Vespera and also place the foot pedal on the floor to use it properly.
  • Take the flyer and a bobbin, slide the bobbin onto the flyer, either end of the bobbin is fine, it makes no difference. And place the flyer, in its place, resting on the front and rear maidens of the spinner, sliding the front end of the flyer under the leather tensioner.
  • Now set your tension, by tightening or loosening the leather strap/tensioner with the barrel nut on the side of the front maiden. Begin with a little bit more tension than you think you will ultimately need, but not so much that it stretches out your band and/or the motor of the Vespera has trouble running. Let the leather band sit firmly touching the flyer, but not so stiff, that it would have trouble allowing the flyer any freedom of movement but in the same, not so loose as the flyer can just flop around easily. It will take some playing around with to find the right tension for you and for the yarn you want to spin at that time. Finer yarns, require more twist, therefore require less tension. Thicker yarns require less twist and therefore more tension so that the flyer will grab the yarn and pull it in onto the bobbin more quickly.
  • Take the drive band from its package. Place the drive band around the end of the bobbin, in the groove cut for this purpose, and then place the other end around the black knob protruding from the side of the Vespera, next to the motor.
  • Now there is a complete circle, in which your bobbin and motor are connected, so that the bobbin and flyer will move along with the motor in the speed you decide with your hand control or with pressure from your foot on the foot pedal.
  • There is a cord attached to the bobbin. You may use this to tie off a leader for spinning or make your own entirely new leader and attach it to the bobbin as you see fit. If you prefer to use what is already attached, then make your own additional leader to attach to the cord on the bobbin so that you may begin spinning. I prefer to make a fairly long one, so that I can use it to prep for spinning and then slip my roving onto it and let the twist build in the leader, and then let the leader wind onto the bobbin, so that I may know if I have the twist I want, according to the yarn I am wanting to spin and/or that my yarn will be winding onto the bobbin correctly and not just spinning and twisting.
  • Now you have made your leader and attached it with a knot or however you prefer to the cord on the bobbin, so now you may thread the Vespera. Take your leader (now joined into a long one piece item) thread it through the spring clip on whichever flyer arm you prefer to use, wherever you want your yarn to begin winding onto the bobbin. If you have a hooked flyer, thread it around the hook where you would like your yarn to begin winding onto the bobbin.
  • Now take the leader around the hook on the end of the flyer (there are two hooks here, you will thread it around the one closest to your leader), then down into the hole on the center of the flyer, and out the end of the opening tube on the front side of the flyer. You will more than likely want to use your orifice/threading hook here, or if you have tiny fingers, or if you want to use a crochet hook, a pencil, a knitting needle, it doesn’t matter what. There are no rules here :o)
  • Now take your controller (hand or foot) and the special plug in that goes into the motor, and press that plug firmly into the plug receiver next to the motor on your Vespera. Make certain it is plugged in firmly. If by chance the connection is loose, take something heavy, like a hammer, hold the plug upright on a table, and tap each end of the special plug end on the controller. This will help to tighten the connection, make your spinner have little chance of the controller coming loose from its plug while you are spinning.
  • Take the outlet plug end and plug it into your home’s outlet.
  • You are now ready to try and begin spinning.
  • If you have a foot controller, give it a good press down so that you can see what kind of pressure it takes to cause the motor to work. If you have a hand controller, press the knob on the hand controller down, and turn the knob way up to see what it takes to get the motor moving. If you turn the knob all the way up and the motor does not begin, that means you have actually turned the motor off by pressing the knob down. Press it down again, and turn the knob all the way up again and it should start.
  • You are now off to the races. Enjoy your new hobby and I mean enjoy it. Do not get all stressed out :o) It takes practice like anything else in life. The more you practice the better you will become :o)
  • To ply, place a twist in the drive band, so that it resembles a figure-8, and the motor will run backwards for plying.

Bellus Instructions:

  • After you have taken your Spinning wheel, bobbins, flyer, controller (hand or foot) and plastic bag (inside the plastic bag you will find, an orifice/thread hook, and oil), out of the box/packaging, place your Spinning wheel on the floor.
  • Take the flyer and bobbin, slide the bobbin, slower end (larger whorl), onto the flyer. Now place the flyer, in its place, resting on the front and rear maidens of the spinning wheel, sliding the front end of the flyer under the leather tensioner.
  • Now set your tension, by tightening or loosening the leather strap/tensioner with the barrel nut on the side of the front maiden. Begin with a little bit more tension than you think you will ultimately need, but not so much that it stretches out your band and you have trouble treadling the spinning wheel. Let the leather band sit firmly touching the flyer, but not so stiff, that it would have trouble allowing the flyer any freedom of movement but in the same, not so loose as the flyer can just flop around easily. It will take some playing around with the tension, to find the right tension for you and for the yarn you want to spin at that time. Finer yarns, require more twist, therefore require less tension. Thicker yarns require less twist and therefore more tension so that the flyer will grab the yarn and pull it in onto the bobbin more quickly.
  • Place the drive band around the large end of the bobbin, in the groove cut for this purpose, and then place the other end around the wheel.
  • Now there is a complete circle, in which your bobbin and wheel are connected, so that the bobbin and flyer will move along with the treadling of the spinning wheel.
  • There is a cord attached to the bobbin. You may use this to tie off a leader for spinning or make your own entirely new leader and attach it to the bobbin as you see fit. If you prefer to use what is already attached, then make your own additional leader to attach to the cord on the bobbin so that you may begin spinning. I prefer to make a fairly long one, so that I can use it to prep for spinning and then slip my roving onto it and let the twist build in the leader, and then let the leader wind onto the bobbin, so that I may know if I have the twist I want, according to the yarn I am wanting to spin and/or that my yarn will be winding onto the bobbin correctly and not just spinning and twisting.
  • Now you have made your leader and attached it with a knot or however you prefer to the cord on the bobbin, so now you may thread the Spinning wheel. Take your leader (now joined into a long one piece item) thread it through the spring clip on whichever flyer arm you prefer to use, wherever you want your yarn to begin winding onto the bobbin. If you have a hooked flyer, thread it around the hook where you would like your yarn to begin winding onto the bobbin.
  • Now take the leader around the hook on the end of the flyer (there are two hooks here, you will thread it around the one closest to your leader), then down into the hole on the center of the flyer, and out the end of the opening tube on the front side of the flyer. You will more than likely want to use your orifice/threading hook here, or if you have tiny fingers, or if you want to use a crochet hook, a pencil, a knitting needle, it doesn’t matter what. There are no rules here :o)
  • Now begin to treadle your wheel.
  • You are now off to the races. Enjoy your new hobby and I mean enjoy it. Do not get all stressed out :o) It takes practice like anything else in life. The more you practice the better you will become :o)
  • To ply, spin the wheel in the opposite direction that you have spun your single ply yarn in.