Friday, November 02, 2007

Early Birthday: Wheel!

Just as I'd hoped it might, my big 3-0 birthday came a few weeks early this year, thanks to Coffeeboy who coordinated with my entire family to get me a wonderful present:

My spinning wheel.JPG

Thank you so much, family! I'm going to have such a wonderful time learning to use this new fiber "toy"! Coffeeboy was totally right that I'd enjoy having it be a present from all of you.

These amazing, generous people are all participating in getting me that used Lendrum and accessories I saw listed on Craigslist. Yesterday, I and my visiting relatives went to pick up the wheel, which I managed to avoid trying until after lunch and a stroll around Asheville. Late thtt afternoon, we brought it home and I could try this:

first singles.JPG

As you can see, I had a busy evening last night spinning up part of a bobbin of singles. I'm not sure what the fiber is; the wheel came with some unlabeled, undyed fiber that the seller included. (She said she included some romney and some Blue-faced Leicester, but I'm not sure which was which!)

I'm very happy with the way the wheel spins; it seems easy to control (for a beginner), solidly made, and intuitive in terms of its construction. The bobbin and/or the flyer seem to be making some sort of awkward clicking noise that's a little annoying. I don't know if the Lendrums we used in class made noises a lot, mostly because I was too concerned with the actual act of attempting to spin to worry about noises. I'm also wondering whether or not it's possible to put a darker stain or color on the wheel without too much mess or trouble?

I won't get too much of a chance to practice on my new lovely wheel in the coming days, as I'm leaving for my academic home this Sunday - my first visit back since moving! I'm very excited to connect to the world of academia again and to see my friends and colleagues. There's a very good reason for this visit: I'll be defending the proposal for my dissertation!

I leave you with a few fiber-related questions: I now wish I'd perused the fiber options at SAFF more carefully, but I didn't want to bite the bullet and buy fiber I might not use, lacking a wheel. Now that I have a wheel, though, I'm going to want some fiber: spinner-readers, what fiber sources and types do you recommend? Also, what are some great spinning blogs I should add to my bloglines?

Have a great weekend!

9 comments:

Sheepish Annie said...

Catena Expressions! I don't have the full url at the moment, but you can link to Cathy from my blog. She is a genius with the spinning and one of the most well-informed spinners I know. She's also a heck of a nice lady, to boot!

Welcome to The Dark Side. Life as you knew it is now over. And you won't mind one single bit!

CC said...

Good luck defending your proposal! I'm jealous of your wheel ... I haven't taken that plunge yet, but I am tempted!

Greta_Jane said...

I am consumed with jealousy. Totally consumed...

Teri S. said...

Congratulations on the wheel acquisition! I'll have to give some thought about the fiber that I like best and get back to you. Good luck on the proposal defense!

schrodinger said...

What a wonderful family you have!! I love my Lendrum too, it's really a great wheel, and it looks as though you're having a great time spinning on it already! Mine doesn't make any clicking noises, so I have no idea why that's happening, although in the picture it looks like you might have the 'feeder thingy' (yeah, I'm up with my terminology) upside-down, do you normally have the fiber feeing through the metal hoop into the orifice? Just a thought.

Happy early birthday to you!!

Unknown said...

Wow, what a great gift and I can't believe that's your first attempt at spinning on that bobbin! That looks wonderful!

As far as sources for fiber, there are so many shops on etsy that sell hand dyed, beautiful fibers. The first fiber I bought was from http://www.thesheepshedstudio.com/Roving.html because someone raved about their stuff, how cheap, how nice and how fast it comes. It was really nice to start out with. Gosh, there are so many great places that I've ordered from I don't even know what to tell you. Have fun though, a new wheel is so exciting!

The A.D.D. Knitter said...

Happy Birthday! What a fantastic present...even though I myself have no inclination to spin, I love to see what others come up with!

Kristi aka Fiber Fool said...

Congrats! Your spinning is looking fantastic!

Zarzuela said...

Yay!! I'm way behind (been home sick) but it looks like it's in great shape. :) Very exciting. :) Good luck with your defense today. I'll be thinking about you. And it was great to see you the other night too!

Jessica