I just received my new Ashford Jumbo E Spinner. I thought I would do a little review of this new E Spinner. I have never used an e spinner before but I am already used to spinning artyarn on Ashford’s Original Country Spinner and the Ashford Country Spinner 2… so how hard could it be, right?

I spun this colorway, Seabreeze, on all three of the Ashford Country Spinning wheels… on my Country Spinner, my Country Spinner 2, and my new Jumbo E Spinner that is the electric Country spinner. Three wheels…..playing on them all. Believe me when I say, the new Ashford Jumbo E Spinner is really just an electric Country Spinner. I did not feel I had any real learning curve on it at all.

The tension on the Jumbo E Spinner was exactly the same as the treadle Country Spinners. It is Irish or bobbin led tension with a leather strap for a brake band. Spinning artyarn felt the same minus the treadle part with my feet. The foot pedal that comes with the wheel has two settings. One is a click to turn on and a click for off. The other you already have your foot on it when you turn it on, so when you let your foot off it stops. You essentially need to hold your foot on it like a sewing machine or gas pedal. I chose this method. That allowed me a bit of a connection with my feet while I was spinning artyarn and to me felt more like a treadle wheel than I had hoped for.

I found that I spun with the brake band off entirely just as I do with my original Country Spinner until I was about 3/4 of the way full through the 3 lb. bobbin. I only used the brake lightly on the last 25% of that bobbin. When spinning artyarn singles, I usually spun between 50-75% speed. When plying, I was always at 75% or a tad faster for speed.

The motor was quiet enough for me to spin on the Jumbo E Spinner and watch shows on my tablet without struggling to hear. It has a lovely slow start and slow down so there was no jerking or sudden stops which can cause tangles in your yarn. It only took a few hours and my bobbin was jammed packed with another well on it’s way to being full also.

This is the second color way that I have recently been spinning to stock the store with artyarn. I have photos of the artyarn on the bobbin and newly skeined. Also more photos as they have been washed, the twist set, dried on the rack and am about to box up…. thought you might like to see them all pretty. Seabreeze is in the shop now. Grab some before it is gone… HERE.

9 new skeins of art yarn…spirals, thick and thin, and baubles. Thread plyed with 2 threads held as one…a silver rayon and a turquoise metallic. I spun all of this artyarn from hand carded Art batts I made on my Louet drum carder which contained bamboo, silk, milk, alpaca, llama, and dyed medium sheep wool. Most of the fibers are from our Colorado ranch and a friend’s CO ranch before we moved back to Michigan. I thought it time to spin them.

Updated May 10, 2020:

What else do you want to know about the Jumbo e spinner? After more than a year spinning on my Ashford Jumbo espinner, I still like it. A lot. It has made me a faster spinner. I draft much faster now and spin on 75% speed or a tad faster. I can go faster, I make myself stay there so I do not tax anything because most times I settle in for 2-6 hours of spinning and barely move. I know…horrible for ergonomics! I have spun an even smooth traditional 2 ply yarn on it. My most favorite yarn to spin is handspun yarn of the textured yarn persuasion. I lock spin frequently and even if spinning art batts, the textured yarn is generally created from locks squished in here and there and everywhere.

Bobbin holds nearly 2.5-3 lbs fiber. Has slow stop/start. Strong take up for art yarn. Foot pedal has 2 ways to configure using. Has 2 reducers. Uummmmmm…unsure what else one would want to know. I use battery almost exclusively but have car charger and wall chords as well.

I have fallen asleep more than once while spinning but since I have my foot pedal set so I need to apply pressure to go…like a gas pedal…no disasters. Haha

I have taken it to meetings or left it set up at home to spin at any time. I demonstrated it at the Michigan Fiber Festival in fall of 2019. I have spun for hours…4-5 hrs without hardly moving even once…which was fine for the spinner but heck on my body. Very little adjustments or tweaking required. Sit and spin.

I did not want to like it. Hated idea of using an electric…eck pleughy….but found I love it. It is afterall only a tool. And tools are as good or bad as you make them. I do still prefer to treadle and I CAN treadle, so I just decided 2 days ago to sell my Ashford espinner and down size my wheels even more. I have not been spinning as much and have 3 other jealous wheels. I will buy another espinner later if I ever get to point of no longer able to treadle.

I decided a month ago to go back to spinning for me and my weaving and not spin production so my current stable of 3 Country Spinner in different versions is a bit over kill. I have the original CS in the A frame, CS2, and Ashford espinner jumbo which is an electric CS.

I decided to sell my CS2 and my espinner Jumbo. Keeping only my original CS. It was my 1st wheel so I am sentimental about it.

I got the Jumbo Espinner because I was having hip issues and worried I would no longer be able to treadle. Turns out I need to move more…no more spinning for 6 hrs without moving, and I needed a different chair higher because I am so tall and long legged. Those changes mean I can still treadle which I prefer to do. It’s my meditation.

I have no delusions I will most likely buy another espinner down the road…but I have made peace with using them and will gladly buy another when needed…hopefully years away.