Update:

Footman's almost complete. Here's a pic!

  
As you can see; it is in fact much longer than it needs to be. This is intentional. Since it's so very tricky to make perfect plans for found parts, I'm winging it. Measuring to size as I go.

The crank is a success! It softened in the oven, but I just reheated over the stove again, and bent a bit extra for a longer "handle". Then once it set I used a fiber cutting/sanding disk with my "wishes it was a dremel" and proceeded to hold the wheel as though steering a car to sand the handle of the crank into a reasonably perfect cylindrical shape.

I then drilled a hole in the top of a small scrap of acrylic and ground the hole bigger with a diamond burr bit. It's nice and smooth and I tested as I went to make sure it wouldn't be too ginormous for my crank. Then I ground the top into a nice shape, so it wouldn't be too pointy or have sharp edges(I hate wearing shoes so I'm softening edges and rounding them whenever possible). I can reinforce the crank if need be, but if it's short enough that won't be necessary. It all depends on how long it has to be:).

Next on the list, assemble the center post/bottom of the base, and attatch the piano hinge to the base(and I think I'll add a little extra acrylic to make a really nice level edge for the hinge to sit on. I'm using an easy to aquire hobby and model glue which melts/welds the plastic. Dirt cheap, so anyone can find it. Catch a bit of a buzz off it though, no matter what, cause it's so close to my nose:(. Not huffing, just close to the pieces when lining them up and phwew that stuff's strong.

update: The glue is set and seems rather sturdy(I did a couple of really fast sample spins on a bamboo stake to see if the crank would hold up). Right now the whole wheel's in the oven @ 250° farenheit. I used some sculpey to try and make the bump on the back of the wheel nice and sturdy. Why I did this instead of just cutting off the bump is beyond me, but I did so oh well, will wait and see(might just cut it off after it bakes and use the clay piece for a nick-nack.

Next I have to sand the crank to perfectly or as close to perfectly as possible; round, for a nice smooth spin. I'm scared I didn't leave the ends long enough, will find out by this time tomorrow or sooner :).

Well it turns out a scanner works pretty well for close up detailed pics of fiber. So here's a looksie at some of the mawatas I stretched and dyed from bombyx cocoons.

  

  

You can click them for a closer look:).

I love the way the colors look together, but that's personal preference. Now imagine me fitting the wheel in progress onto the bed of the scanner. Now imagine the scanner breaking :P. Okay, now imagine how enchantingly scrumptious this stuff will be, spun up, and knit into lace :D.