happy dance

a wheel, a wheel, a new spinning wheel! one that plies as well as spins, with both jumbo and fine yarn abilities. we decided to go ahead and get an ashford traveller with a jumbo flyer accessory. i'm so happy! it could be in part because of the fumes though (i just put the third coat of st. john's wax on); not bad fumes, just strong. here's the beauty now! happy dance!

mmm...sorbet

after making some adaptations to my flax wheel (mainly replacing the flyer hooks and smoothing the orifice), it spins a little better. i was able to spin up a pink batt i had made the other day; it reminds me mostly of raspberry sorbet.

my very own

the fiber guild has an offshoot branch dedicated to spinning. last week one of the ladies at the spinning meet mentioned an old spinning wheel that was being auctioned at a local event. i decided to try my luck and to see if it was a working wheel. luckily, from my untrained eye, i thought it was workable; it spun like a dervish, fast and smooth. i guess spinning wheels weren't in fashion that night, as i walked away with it for $50, and the only bid.

some wd40, silicone lubricant, elbow grease, cotton cord, leather, a day or two later, and it spins yarn! fine yarns anyways, no bulky art yarn on this grand old lady. it's a saxony wheel, probably for spinning flax, and it has a name on the side, p. cornyn. sadly though, i have only the one bobbin. anybody with ideas of finding other double drive bobbins for it? a step up from my drop spindle, but not yet the ashford traditional that my heart is set on.

an old one but a good one

my mentor and friend bonnie lent me one of her spinning wheels on friday. it's a lovely old wheel which has a lively history. while visiting england, she stayed with a friend who was in her eighties. this grand lady knew bonnie was a spinner, and decided to pass onto her this spinning wheel. she told her the story of it's provenance; when she was a girl of sixteen her scarborough beau crafted it as a gift of love. sadly though, he soon died, and they did not marry. bonnie brought it back on the plane, and her husband soon had it in tip-top shape. i'm very honored that my friend let me start my spinning on this wheel, and i was able to spin some soft grey alpaca on it today.

this is my first spinning wheel spun yarn, it's a white/color specked merino/silk and grey alpaca. the merino blend i had spun on my drop spindle several weeks ago, and i thought would go lovely with the soft grey of the alpaca. i'm very pleased with the end results!