Finding Victoria

Article by Jessica Stephenson

 

Packing my bags for a year-long teaching position in Germany, I knew my Ashford Traditional would not make the trans-Atlantic journey with me.  It’s a wonderful wheel (especially since it was a rescue-wheel, given to me for free by someone cleaning out their barn), and I couldn’t have asked for anything better as a novice spinner.  But, it’s about as portable as an elephant-an elephant that can fit awkwardly in the trunk of my car.

 

As soon as I arrived in Germany (Dortmund, to be specific-in the Nordrhein-Westfalen state, close to the borders of Belgium and the Netherlands), I started to miss my wheel.  That’s when I had an epiphany-I could buy a portable travel wheel!  Here I am, sitting at my computer in Dortmund, a mere three hour train ride from the Netherlands, and Louet was going to release the Victoria this fall!  Perfect! 

 

I started one of many Google-searches on the subject of portable wheels.  I learned that Kromski was also offering a small travel wheel, and that Ashford’s traveling wheels were well established in the market, and loved by their owners.  But something about the Victoria resonated with me-maybe the nouveau-modern Ikea-like styling of the wheel, the miniscule weight,  the ability to fold into a backpack…  A backpack, which, under good circumstances would classify as an airline carry-on?

 

I was sold.  A Victoria it would be!  Finding a dealer was my next task.  With the world (wide web) at my fingertips, I only found one Louet dealer in Germany, far away from my town.  I should also mention that I don’t speak German-my teaching assignment was for English, and that’s exactly what my students got:  a native English-speaking teacher without the ability to communicate to her students in German. 

 

So I needed a dealer that could communicate in English.  I remembered one dealer from my constant eBay searches before finding my first wheel-Low Lands Legacy, based in the Netherlands.  I checked their website , found an email address, and crossed my fingers.  This was still early October, and the first production run had not been released.  Hans and Gerrie of Low Lands Legacy were incredibly helpful-and friendly as well!  They informed me that they would order the wheel for me, and would happily ship it, but if I would be interested in visiting the Netherlands, I could certainly pick it up there. 

 

I didn’t need to be asked twice.   If Hans and Gerrie were willing to meet me in the Netherlands, I didn’t need another excuse to travel!  In all of their dealings with spinners in the US, through eBay and their website, Hans informed me that they’d never met one of their American customers in person-a unique opportunity for them, too! 

 

And so the wait began.  October turned to November, the weather turned cold, and I was wishing for some warm hand-spun socks.  (It was summer when I learned to spin in the US, so warm woolies weren’t on my mind at the time.)  Finally, in early November, the email I’d been waiting for-my wheel arrived!  In the Netherlands!! 

 

Meanwhile, I had been having some difficulty with my visa application to stay in Germany.  My passport was with my paperwork at the embassy, waiting for a few other “official documents”, since early October. Vicki was just over the border in the Netherlands, and I couldn’t leave Germany without my passport!  Two more weeks crawled by, as I waited for my visa to be approved, or worse, denied… 

 

I finally decided that I couldn’t wait on the German government to get back to my spinning, so I asked Hans and Gerrie to ship the wheel to me in Dortmund.  It arrived three days later, just as I was getting ready to go to work.

 

I was amazed at the size of the box it had been shipped in-I’ve worn bridesmaid dresses that have been shipped in boxes bigger than this!  And it weighed next to nothing-I think my laptop weighs more than the Victoria. I opened the shipping box, and pulled out the carrying case.  With the wheel inside, I can safely say that the Victoria with the carrying bag is smaller than the duffel bag that I usually use as a carry-on for most flights. 

 

Inside the bag, there was plenty of space for fiber or other soft things.  There’s an external pocket on the bag as well, for knitting needles, or other spinning equipment, like niddy-noddies.  The Victoria was secured inside the bag with buckle-straps, and the bobbins were secured with elastic or in the portable lazy-kate. 

 

I picked up the “unpacking” directions from the top of the case, but I was so excited, it was hard to make myself read them!  Since it’s a folding wheel, there’s a knob used to engage the folding mechanism, and to hold the wheel in place for spinning.  I unfolded the wheel of the Victoria, unbuckled the security straps, and lifted the wheel out of the bag-with two fingers.  To connect the treadles to the wheel, there’s a snap-on heavy-duty plastic cup that connects the wheel and double treadles.  It took two tries to get the cup to snap on the wheel, but once I figured it out, it was easy to take on and off!

 

I took a quick look over the rest of the bag-I had three bobbins, one secured with elastic in the case, the other two secured in the Lazy Kate.  Wait.  There was something missing-the flyer!  I looked in the unpacking directions, and it said to remove the flyer from the storage casing.  I looked back at the bag-no storage casing there.  I checked the external pocket.  No flyer.  Where was it?

 

I picked the wheel up, and that’s when I noticed under the left treadle-the flyer, stored in a metal lock-housing.  It just clicks in, right under the treadle!  Ingenious and remarkable engineering!   

 

With the flyer found, I put the bobbin on the flyer, and inserted the metal rod into the main stand of the Victoria.  It’s magnetic, so the rod clicked into place, and felt very secure.   I don’t have an Ashford bobbin here to compare, but I believe the Victoria bobbins are larger than those on my Ashford, but the Victoria bobbins are smaller than those work-horse standard Louet bobbins.

 

The Victoria is a scotch-tension wheel, so I threaded the tension around the bobbin, and tightened it a little, preparing for a test-drive.   The drive band of the wheel is one of those stretchy-poly cord bands, which I’ve never used before.  I moved it from its storage position behind the whorl into the grooves on the whorl.  There are three different speed ratios, but since this was just a test-treadle, I used the highest one.

 

The time I spent looking for the flyer aside, set-up took me less than 3 minutes.  With practice, I can imagine being able to be up and spinning in about a minute. 

 

Feet on the treadles, I prepared to test my spinning skills.  I’ve never used a double treadle wheel before, so it was a different sensation at first.  But I found the double treadle to be far more responsive than my single treadle-with just my heels and toes, I was able to change the direction of the wheel without stopping!   On the single-treadle Ashford, I had to stop, push the wheel in the direction I wanted it to go, then continue treadling. 

 

The Victoria was so easy to treadle!  Unfortunately, I was getting late for work, so I had to wait until later in the evening to play with fiber.  I happened to have some dyed Merino blend roving that I had been spindling with, and that became my test fiber.  I attached a yarn leader, drafted my fiber out, and to my immense satisfaction, started to spin!

 

I should mention again that I’m a novice spinner.  On the Ashford, I could usually manage a single that was about a DK weight.  Once plied, it was usually pretty bulky, but that’s what I was trying to spin at the time.  I was just enjoying the process of learning, and bulky yarn knits up quickly, so it was double-instant gratification.  Now, I’ve started to knit socks (being in Germany, I found no shortage of sock yarn), so I’m interested in spinning finer yarn. 

 

To my surprise, I had no trouble spinning a much finer yarn on the Victoria.  In fact, the singles look almost identical to those on my drop spindles, so when they’re plied, I’m expecting a DK weight, rather than bulky.  The orifice of the Victoria is generous though, so if I wanted to spin more bulky yarn, I believe it would not be a problem.

 

An interesting note about the hooks on the flyer-I was used to the row of hooks on the flyer of my Ashford.  On the Victoria, the hooks are replaced by a sliding loop, which seems to be just as effective.  You still have to move the loop to evenly distribute the yarn on the bobbin, but because it slides, it takes very little time to move the yarn.  I often got my yarn tangled around the multiple hooks on my Ashford flyer.

 

With two bobbins full, I was ready to ply!  The Lazy Kate is an interesting piece of engineering too-the bottom of it is flexible, and to change the bobbins in and out, you bend the bottom of the Kate.  No long metal pins to thread through a standing Kate!  It takes no time at all to change the bobbins, or to add them to the Lazy Kate. 

 

Plying was a breeze-in no time at all, I had a full bobbin of plied merino, with plenty of singles left on the other two bobbins for a second skein!  I made a makeshift niddy-noddy out of a discarded cereal box, and wound my first Victoria skeins off the bobbin.  With both skeins washed and drying, I came back to my computer to find an email about my passport status.  My visa had been approved!  Unfortunately, too late to make a wheel pilgrimage to the Netherlands, but at least I could leave the country to go home for the Holidays.

 

And speaking of going home, the Victoria is coming with me for the trip.  I have a mess of flights to catch to get back home on Christmas Day, and I feel certain that there will be an airport delay in my future.  With the Victoria in tow, I can happily spin through my flight delays, cancellations, and other traveling mishaps.  

 

What is my next Adventure in Spinning here in Germany, you ask?   I’m searching for native German sheep wool, and it’s more difficult to find than one would think. Imagine seeing sheep everywhere you go, but confusing the word “schaf” which means “sheep” in German, with “scharf”, which means “spicy”.   My English-to-German Dictionary is packed in the outer pocket of my Victoria bag.  I’m ready to go!

 

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Jessica Stephenson spent five years fighting her teaching bloodlines-both parents, both grandmothers, and many aunts and uncles were educators.  She accepted her fate, and currently teaches English pedagogy courses at the University in Dortmund, Germany.  You can read more about her adventures at ...In Progress .  When she returns to Virginia this spring, she plans on adding an Agricultural Education endorsement to her teaching license.  Her hobbies, aside from traveling and spinning (or spinning while traveling), include hiking, skiing, knitting, and trying to convince her mother that her grandparent’s farm would be perfect for raising alpacas.