Once we got home from our adventure to Frankfort, Kentucky, I could’t wait to put my new spinning wheel together. Mom and Dad dropped us off and Tom and Dad carried the wheel over to our RV site. Then Mom and Dad headed home and Tom and I went to work on my beautiful Kromski Minstrel wheel.
Most spinning wheels come unassembled, which can be a challenge if you are new to spinning. Fortunately I have been spinning for a while on several different wheels. Probably even more important, Tom is an excellent put-it-together person with lots of experience fixing the wheels I have been using.
First, we took all the pieces out of the box. Kromski Minstrel wheels are made in Poland so they are very well wrapped before being shipped overseas. The Woolery puts enough of them together for display and spinning trials, but you buy them still in their box. So there were plenty of pieces to begin with.
The Kromski Minstrel instruction book included pictures of each assembly step but it was still a good thing we had some experience with spinning wheels. Getting this part in that hole and having it all work was like putting together a 3-D jigsaw puzzle. After unwrapping all the parts, we started by putting the legs on the supports. Then we attached the mother-of-all and had the basic support structure together.
We put the drive wheel on its axle, then got it seated in the support structure. I was so excited I forgot to take a picture of this step! The treadles attached next and I threaded the leather straps carefully and attached them to the footman. We put together the flyer and bobbin and got them seated in the mother-of-all. Then I attached the extra bobbins to the lazy kate and added it to the support structure. Tom tied on the drive string and we adjusted the tension. Finally, my new Kromski Minstrel was assembled and ready to use.
I love my new spinning wheel! It is beautiful and fits nicely in front of my chair in the RV. I spin every day and even plied a bobbin of the yarn for my special project. I anticipate many happy hours spinning with my Kromski Minstrel in the future.
