A few days ago, there was a note on Ravelry.com in the El Paso County Crafters thread about a spinning wheel for sale. I looked at the ad and thought, I wants it, I do. I have been yearning for a wheel for quite some time, now. I used to wheel spin years ago as a demonstrator at the Texas Renaissance Faire. We're talking spinning with castle wheels, walking wheels and drop spindles as well. I have also tried my hand at spinning a few times over the last 10 years as a part of the Renaissance Scots Living History group.
I googled the Louet S15, which was the model that was for sale. It's a little workhorse of a single treadle wheel made by a reputable company. I have actually spun on one of these before, years ago. I thinking to myself, how am I going to buy it?
I was in a quandary. It's a good price, it's here in this city (no shipping), I could help out someone by buying it from her. What to do, what to do, where's the money going to come from, yadda, yadda, yadda? Well, the other day I got a letter from Uncle Sam telling me that I was getting an incentive payment, Cha-ching! Hmmm, found money! new tattoo, new tires, put towards a new digi SLR camera, the spinning wheel, what?
Then I talked to Erin about it and she's like, oooooh, cool!, a wheel, maybe I'll get back to spinning as well. To that end, this morning we went to ColoKnitter aka Gretchen's home to check out the wheel. I sat and treadled it and looked at the wood parts, the leather part and metal parts and checked out the general soundness of it's action and wrote out a check for it and came away with my, new to me, spinning wheel.
We parked it in the back seat of the car belted in and Erin brought it home as I was on the way to church to work on the garden plan and plant the tree (earlier post). Best part, besides my new toy, is that I have a big ball of merino roving ready to spin up here at home. It was meant to be, I suppose.
As you can see from the picture, I have a blank canvas to work with for decorating. So, I have to figure out what Celtic knotwork designs I want to put on the wheel. I will paint one on each side of it so that I see one as I spin and other folks see one as I demo spinning at the festivals this coming summer.
6 comments:
I must admit I miss my old castle wheel. But I did not spin enough to keep it (along with the 50,000,000 other tidbits I have collected!). So I expect to see some absolutley LUSCIOUS sock yarn coming off that baby!
No pressure, eh? ;)
Have patience, I haven't spun on a regular basis in over 30 years. Chunky, sloppy is what I expect first off.
Muna wrote:
Wow, I went to your blog..very cool!! We have a lot in common...
Congratulations on your new spinning wheel! It will be a joy.
They say spinning is like riding a bike. You never forget. Bet it all comes back to you lickety split. :-D
I must admit my spinning wheel is sitting unused in my craft room, along with an obscene amount of delicious rambouillet-merino roving. Must get back to spinning soon! But how to keep inquisitive toddler-boy fingers away from the wheel?
Looking forward to seeing photo(s) of your first spinning effort on your new wheel.
Yay for spinning! That's a great wheel. I teach spinning on that at the yarn store.
I can't wait to see how you decorate it. I can just imagine the gorgeous artwork that you're going to put on it!
Hello, I've followed you over from Rav--- Nice place you have here ;)
And what a beautiful wheel. So many hours of enjoyment await you, do they not?!
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