All Things Reeves

Most of my travels to teach spinning workshops are by car. So, I usually take two wheels with me: my sturdy and reliable Louet S10-DT and my mechanically magnificent and adorable little upright made by Rick Reeves. Here’s a picture:


I did take both wheels with me for my October road trip, first to the NYS Sheep & Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, NY, then to the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair in Fletcher, NC.

One of the workshops I taught at SAFF was “Plying Balanced Yarns”. And one of the participants in that workshop was Linda Martin (aka “Tropical Twister”, seabreezespinners.com ). She is a big Reeves fan, and she admired my sweet little Reeves wheel. She has a couple of her own (not, however, the upright!). We oohed and cooed about the wonders of Reeves wheels.

A few weeks after meeting Linda, she sent me a present: a lovely orifice hook made by Rick Reeves. Oh, yeah! Thank you, Linda!

Linda also has an etsy site, where she sells yarn, jewelry, and the occasional Reeves orifice hook. Take a look.

Now retired from wheel making, Rick Reeves made some absolutely magnificent spinning wheels. You can see pictures of the wheels he used to make on the website, Detta’s Spindle. Rick Reeves sold the rights to his saxony style wheel to the Schacht Spindle Company, which now makes both the 24” and the 30” saxony Schacht-Reeves wheels .

I used to have an original Reeves 24” Saxony wheel, but I didn’t use it enough so I sold it. Now, I miss it. Wish I hadn’t sold it. I look at this picture and think of what could have been … yarn-wise.


By the way, if you have an original Reeves wheel, you can still get bobbins for it from Carol Leigh’s Hillcreek Fiber Studio . I’ve purchased several from them. I think I now have 12 bobbins for my upright. Is that enough?

One more thing: everyone who knows me knows that when I kick the bucket, my friend Sylvia VM inherits my Reeves upright wheel and all its accessories. Now it's public, now it's official. Until then (and there are no immediate plans!), I will gleefully use my Reeves wheel daily or nearly so.