I thought I'd let you in on my whirlwind love affair with spinning on a wheel. As you can tell from the title of this post, I did in fact buy a spinning wheel.
Here it is in it's box. The Cat is wondering what I've brought home.
So here's the story --- A few years ago I decided I wanted to try spinning, so I bought myself a drop spindle. I was pretty good at it, but I really did not enjoy the drop spindle aspect of it, since it required my arms to be over my head for long periods of time. I did however enjoy the drafting, etc.
I figured that I might like spinning on a wheel better, but since wheels were so expensive, I figured I'd never be able to get one, so I cooled a bit on spinning and put it aside.
Fast forward to Saturday. We were at Fibrefest and wondered into the Birkeland Bros. booth to just look at their spinning wheels. Well, I ended up trying one. I liked it. Ohhh...I really liked it.
I tried the Ashford Traveller for about 15 minutes, and enjoyed it so much that I thought it was the wheel for me. The only catch was that it was $510+tax. I consulted with my financial manager (Stu), and he told me that I could afford this wheel if I wanted it, but this price point I figured I'd better think about it.
Between Saturday afternoon and Sunday night, I new I had to have a wheel. As soon as Birkeland Bros. opened on Sunday I headed into their shop, and told them that I had so much fun yesterday, that I wanted to buy a wheel.
They remembered me from Saturday, and Cara (the owner) said that from what she saw I was a lace spinner, and I should try this other wheel which had better ratios. She introduced me to the Ashford Joy.
I was skeptical about whether I would like the Joy as much as the Traveller, but truly it was much better.
It treadled more smoothly, and it was easier to spin on, and is ever meant to be portable, so it comes with its own bag. The catch this time? It was$795! Ouch!
I bought it anyway, then tried to figure out how to tell Stu. It turns out he was okay with the slightly larger expenditure.
Here is my new wheel in all it's glory!
After my exciting purchase I headed to the knitting meetup that it held only a few blocks away from Birkeland Bros.
It was a lot of fun, but honestly I was distracted by my new purchase that was sitting in the trunk. I will definitely be heading out to the next knitting get together.
Now, Abigail cautioned me that spinning could cut into my knitting time, but I have come up with a solution. I will take my spinning time from my sleeping time. I get far too much of that anyway ;)
PS. I haven't even tried the new wheel since I got it home. I've just been staring at it. Oh man, I think I might need an intervention.