Majacraft Pioneer X

 

 Majacraft Pioneer X - What makes it special?

The Pioneer X was launched in order to give spinners a low cost, low frills option to "dip their toe" into the craft of handspinning.  At a price of $989 it is the lowest price wheel in the Majacraft Lineup. 

The Pioneer X spinning wheel could also be a lovely addition to a collection which is missing a Majacraft wheel and therefore doesn't have that one wheel that offers effortless treadling and smooth takeup which is characteristic of every wheel in the Majacraft lineup.  In other words, you are getting all the benefits of the ingenious Majacraft design elements in a simple, low cost wheel. 

Another ideal scenario I can envision would be if you would like to work with Majacraft accessories to spin lace, art yarns, and higher volume spinning, but don't see the need to secure a wheel for more niche applications like the Aura for art yarns or the Rose for fine spinning.

Features

The Pioneer X is a double treadle spinning wheel.  This means you use both feet to treadle two pedals which rotates the drive wheel.  Double treadle wheels offer excellent control over the rotation of the wheel which is helpful when stopping, starting, changing speeds and rotation directions.  You have much more control than when using a single treadle wheel.

The Pioneer X uses scotch tension to control the speed of the bobbin and flyer rotation.  With scotch tension, the flyer and bobbin are activated by the rotation of the drive wheel using the same single drive band. The bobbin has a small amount of resistance applied with a separately controlled brake band to allow the flyer to rotate faster than the bobbin.  This makes it possible for the flyer to wind the fiber onto the bobbin.  This light tension allows for spinning finer yarns, but can be adjusted if more bulky spinning is desired.

The Pioneer X has a convenient carrying handle that folds out of the way when not in use.

Every wheel from Majacraft is individually numbered, assembled and tested before packaging, and is signed by a member of the Poad family. 

To register your wheel with Majacraft, click this link.

Spares/Replacements

 The Pioneer comes standard with the following items, all are available from our website for replacements or spares:

• 3 black plastic standard bobbins
• 1 standard fine flyer with adjustable 8 mm standard flyer hook
• Flexible polycord drive band
• Suzie pulley
• Nylon Brake band
• Standard tension spring

Other parts of the wheel can be sourced as replacement parts, contact me directly if this is something you need at jen6265@gmail.com.

Accessories

The following accessories are also available for use with the Pioneer X spinning wheel:

• Lace Kit
• Stylus kit
• Standard wood bobbin
• Rosebright Pink plastic bobbin
• Eastern Blue Plastic bobbin
• Plastic jumbo bobbin
• Wood jumbo bobbin
• Aura Hybrid Flyer
• Plying Flyer
• Standard E Flyer
• Delta Flyer
• Wild Flyer
• Wheel Skeiner
• Lavender Wax
• Universal Tensioned Lazy Kate
• Yarn gauge

The stem design of the Pioneer X makes it incompatible with the overdrive head and the high speed head.

Specifications

• Material:  The latest upgrade is made from American Ash.  The drive wheel is MDF with American Ash veneer, giving it additional weight to allows for even rotation and long life.  It is finished with a clear lacquer.
• Weight:  Aproximately 14 lbs (6.3 kgs)  The weight varies with the wood density of each wheel
• Height:  28.3" (720 mm)
• Footprint:  15.7 x 15.7" (400 x 400 mm)
• Wheel Diameter:  12.6"  (320mm)

The Pioneer X - Creative is a version of the Pioneer which can be supplied with a unfinished surface so you can paint or finish any way you want.  You can also get the drive wheel in custom colors.

The Pioneer received an upgrade in April 2019 which included three features:

• Changed the composition from pine to american ash
• Added a handy carrying handle
• Modified the base, pedals and stem to match the aesthetic of the other Majacraft wheels.

Packed weight:  43 lbs dim

Sell Price:  $989 USD

Ratios:

Whorl size - 5 is largest ->	5	4	3	2	1
Suzie Pulley (standard)	4.4	6.7	9.3	11.4	14.5
Little Gem Pulley	5.9	7.1	9.4	12.3	16.0
Rose Pulley (Slow Speed Kit)	3.6	4.74	6.2	9.4	12.8
Fast Pulley		10.0	12.8	15.2	18.8

 

Here is a video of me changing the whorl on a Majacraft wheel:

 

Here is a video of me changing the drive band on a Majacraft wheel:

Here is a video of me unboxing the Pioneer X:

Here is a video of me assembling the Pioneer X:

Here is a video of me spinning with the Pioneer X:

Here is a video of me using the accessories on the Pioneer X:

Warranty

Your new Majacraft wheel is guaranteed to be free of defects in the workmanship for a period of two (2) years following the date of original purchase.

Whispering Pines Ivy

 Whispering Pines Ivy

Ivy is a grey katmoget ewe from our breeding program.  She was born in 2016 and is named after the kitchen maid in the television show Downton Abbey.

Her dam is Whispering Pines Pamela, a fawn katmoget.

Her sire is Whispering Pines Mr. Darcy, a grey katmoget that had his origins with our efforts in AI to help us achieve finer, crimpier fleeces than what were available from the shetlands that were available to us in the US.

Ivy has a very nice, fine and crimpy fleece, and it is usually one of the larger fleeces from our clip:

Her micron results from 2020 were as follows:

AFD:  24.3

SD  4.96

CV  20.3

SF 23.5

Here is a picture of her as a lamb:

 

Whispering Pines Freyja

Freyja is a very flashy spotted ewe from our 2019 crop of lambs, named after Nordic goddesses.  She is registered as black even though most of her fleece is white.  What is making her appear white is that technically she is black with an enormous white spot.  Her fleece will be mostly white, with a few small spots of black and black/white fiber.

Her dam is Blue Sapphire, one of our first fine shetlands born here on the farm.

Her sire is Rush, who we brought in from another fine fleece shetland breeder, OK Acres.

We knew when we put these two together that we were going to get very prominent spots, so were not suprised that Freyja and her twin brother had a lot of flash!

Last year I was able to roo her lamb fleece, which means I was able to pluck her fleece by hand without the use of shears.  This is a trait with the shetland sheep where their fleece encounters a break in the staple which allows them to shed their fleece.  It is also called a rise, and usually happens in the early springtime.

The AFD data on her fleece is AFD 23.4, SD 5.9, COV is 25.1 and spinning fineness is 23.6. 

Her staple length is a very nice 3" unstretched.

This fall we bred her to Brienne's 2020 fawn kat ram, who we named Frederick, after Frederick Douglass, keeping with the theme of key players in ratification of the 19th amendment.

Whispering Pines Harry

 Whispering Pines Harry is a white ram from 2020 lamb crop.  He has a white fleece which is very fine and crimpy.  Here are the ewes we put with Harry for 2021 lambs:

Neda:

Tovia:

Eir:

 

What I learned about Spinning Lace Weight Yarn

 I love learning new spinning techniques from an instructor vs. reading or watching videos.  Don't get me wrong, I use all three methods for learning, but love the opportunity to listen, ask questions and verify understanding with a live person.

I installed a Majacraft Lace kit to my Rose spinning wheel and began using it to spin a finer lace weight yarn.  These are available in my shop to purchase and can be installed on any Majacraft wheel - link to listing

Majacraft lace Kit includes two fat core bobbins, lace flyer, high speed whorl and an allen wrench.

 

I created one small skein then decided to reach out to one of my customers who bought a Rose and a lace kit from my shop in order to find out what I could do to get my yarn as fine as possible.  She generously shared her knowledge with me, and I am happy to document in this post some of the kernels of insight that I learned from the talk.

To follow are some of my questions I had and her responses.  I have also embedded the video of my interview with Caroline at the end of this blog post.

What is a lace weight yarn?

Lace weight is any yarn that yields 18 wraps per inch (WPI) on a standard yarn gage.  You measure it by wrapping your yarn around the gage and count the strands that fall within a notch in the gauge which is premeasured so you can calculate how many wraps would fit within one inch.

My Yarn Gage has a groove that is 1/2 inch, so this yarn is 30 WPI:

A higher number indicates a finer yarn.  18 WPI is the lowest gage to qualify as lace weight.  Lace weight has other names, some are slang like frog hair, others have more acceptance as descriptions of gage, like "cobweb" for example.  3 fiber strands are the minimum to be called "yarn", and that is really fine!

What are the basic materials needed to make a lace weight yarn?

The most important thing is to use a very fine wool.  The neck wool is typically the finest wool on the body, but if you have wool that microns around 20, with a low standard deviation, you are using a good material for lace weight yarn.  Our soft shetland sheep usually micron in the low 20's, so I think I am in good shape for material requirements for spinning lace.

What tools are used to make a lace weight yarn?

Majacraft makes a lace kit which has some features that make it easier to create a fine yarn.  First of all the flyer has a very short bar.  This reduces the distance the yarn needs to travel as it's winding on the bobbin which reduces the risk of breakage due to the fine nature of the yarn.

 

The bobbins in the lace kit flanges are smaller so they can fit inside the lace flyer.  They also have an enlarged core which reduces the tension of the takeup, again allowing you to apply more twist to the yarn for a stronger, but finer strand.  

The whorl that is supplied with the lace kit takes you to higher ratios which result in a very fast rotation of the flyer, incorporating much more twist than you would get with a standard whorl.  My wheel is a Rose, so I am showing the whorl from my wheel compared to the lace kit fast speed whorl.

When you spin thicker yarns you have the benefit of many strands in your twist which provides strength to the ply.  This is less the case with lace yarns.  So Majacraft has tailored the parts of the wheel which when combined create the optimal conditions for spinning lace yarns, which are as follows:

1. Light takeup tension to prevent breakage and allow for more twist before winding on bobbin
2. Shorter distance between flyer bar and bobbin core
3. Faster flyer rotation to get more twist into the yarn

What techniques are used to make a lace weight yarn?

When I started out with the lace kit I was using a supported long draw drafting technique.  After talking with Caroline I decided to switch over to short forward draw.  Spinning as a worsted yarn with as few fibers as possible is how you create the finest yarn.

Because you are consciously trying to minimize the number of fibers that go into your yarn, it is a good idea to put a cloth behind your spin so you can easily see how many fibers you are introducing into your twist.

If you are spinning from roving or combed top, you want to isolate some fibers to measure their length so you have an idea of the optimal length of your drafting zone.

Caroline showed me a few very lightweight spindles that she uses for lace spinning which is another way to achieve fine yarn.  She shared the links to those suppliers:

Trillium spindle from Bull Sheep Fibery 

SpindleLady has some very lightweight spindles 

There is a contest for lace spinning called "The Longest Thread Competition".  Can you tell us about it?

The contest is in Tazmania, Australia and takes place every other year.  The next competition is in March 2021, entries from the states should have beenin the mail by the end of October to arrive in time for the entry deadline.  The challenge is to spin the longest 2 ply yarn with 10 grams of fiber (1/3 oz).  The judges measure the length of all the entries in the different classes, and the longest strand wins.  The record for wool is 1,442 yards held by Naoko Tamuro from the 2005 competition.

Bothwell Spin in - Longest Thread Contest

What do you do with lace weight yarn?

Lace weight yarn can be used for knitting shawls, weaving and crocheting lace items.  Caroline talked about how to use lace weight for weaving. 

I am currently in the process of working towards a very fine lace yarn and will share my progress and findings in my next blog post!

 

Frederick's Breeding Group

 Frederick, a 2020 ram lamb, named after Frederick Douglass, a pioneer in the suffrage movement, had a very nice assortment of ewes in his breeding group.

Frederick:

Susan:

Freyja:

Sif:

Baxter:

Knightley's Breeding Group

 Knightley got a good sized group of ewes this year - we are looking forward to seeing well conformed fine wooled lambs from this group.

To follow are the ewes we bred with Knightley for 2021 lambs:

Sansa

 Soshi

Arya

Sarin

Frigg

Audie

Mrs. Hughes

Yuki

Renee