Tuesday, August 29, 2006

The spinning wheel is coming, the spinning wheel is coming!


Took the plunge and ordered a brand spanking new spinning wheel on Saturday. After spending many hours at http://www.dettasspindle.com/ and trying several wheels (Detta is a very patient woman), I finally decided to order a Kromski (http://kromski.com). I love the look of this wheel and it spins beautifully.

I also gave a very hard look at the Majacraft Rose and it was hard to choose between the two (and they're about as different as you can get). Finally, price won out -- the Rose is twice as much as the Minstrel and I just couldn't justify spending nearly $800 on my first wheel. Maybe when I'm spinning for a living...

I ordered my Minstrel unfinished, which means I have a big job to do when it arrives, but I figured finishing and assembling it would be a good way to get to know it intimately.

I celebrated my purchase by buying more roving, a corriedale sliver that is SO easy to spin. I spun a bunch Saturday night (on the borrowed Ashford Traveler) and decided to do dyeing on Sunday. I should take pictures and upload them, but I'm still figuring out how to do that. The dyeing was fun, the manchild helped for awhile but then went back to his den when he got bored. I only have four colors, so was a bit limited with what I could do. But I had fun and this was the first time I've ever dyed roving. I can't wait to spin it and see how it turns out.

The spinning has improved immensely with the corriedale roving. I think I tried some fibers that were a bit too difficult to start with (a superwash wool and a merino/angora blend). After I've practiced some more with the corriedale I'll go back and give them a try again.

Counting the days (hours) until the wheel arrives.

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