Did you know I own a spinning wheel? I expect a lot of you didn’t. You may have thought I only spin with spindles. And for the last 4 years (FOUR! YEARS!) you were correct…
But I actually do own a spinning wheel. It was just in storage from 2018 when we moved to Germany until we pulled everything out of storage last fall. Since then, it’s been sitting in our main room ready and waiting. Aside from checking that all the parts were there and it was generally in working order, I hadn’t touched it yet.
Yesterday I decided that since we weren’t going anywhere, the weather was nice, and I didn’t have any major household chores to tackle that I would pull out some of the fiber I bought at Sheep & Wool and use my spinning wheel. I honestly think a part of my brain, somewhere in my subconscious, was worried about whether or not I was still any good. Which of course was silly… because even if I’d lost some of my skill, since I’d learned it once before I could do it again.
With the more mild day, I decided to set up in our three season room for lots of natural light. It was a bit warm, but with the fan on more than bearable. I also selected one of the wood folding chairs we picked up last fall. This turned out to be an excellent choice and better than any of the seating we had before for spinning. The right height, back support, and encouraging sitting up fairly straight.
Now, I have loads of fiber to choose from. But a nice braid of fresh BFL seemed the ticket for getting back into the swing of things. And for a warm summer day, something fun was in order. Also, I was feeling lazy maximizing my spinning time by going for something ready at hand.
So I grabbed the two braids of BFL from A Hundred Ravens in the subtle but still rich orange, pink and brown colorway “A Low Flame”. I decided to spin it from the fold in a semi-long draw for a little more poof and bounce, but at a decent twist. I started with a quick sample before diving in.
A few hours (and two episodes of Endeavour) later, et voila
Bottom is the Kromski Sonata wheel set up with a small sample spun, and half a braid draped on top.
Two bobbins of singles. Both for the sake of my body, and because rested singles are easier to handle, I stopped there for the day. But I didn’t want to lose momentum, so today I sat down again to ply my singles. I have the bobbins to do two more, but wanted to keep things straight and not mismatch my bobbins of singles. This time I set up in my office because it’s hotter and humid today, so the three season room is out of season.
Just half an episode of Endeavour later:
Plied yarn! So now I’ve 1/4 of the way through these braids of yarn. It’s probably around a sport weight, but we’ll see where it ends up post-wash.
The kitties were surprisingly nonplussed by the wheel. The object itself is familiar to them – it’s been sitting out for eight or nine months now. But it was the first time it was in motion. Yet neither tried to interfere with either it or the fiber I was spinning.
I’m pretty happy to be using my spinning wheel again. It’s a Kromski Sonata in the walnut finish. TheEnabler bought it for me for my birthday/Christmas in 2015. I wanted a wheel with a fast flyer, fold-able, and with more space between me and the orifice than the Lendrum offered. I’d tried a Lendrum, and felt cramped with the way it tilts towards the spinner. Many other fold-able travel wheels stick to fairly low spin ratios. The wheels themselves can’t be very large, so the only way to get a faster ratio is with a small whorl on the flyer. And of course, the Kromski’s are rather pretty.
They are however, also a bit more temperamental than the Lendrum, which perhaps explains the popularity the Lendrum had among many of the spinners in my group. I like it though, and I think it must have been happy to be back in use because it’s behaved beautifully the last two days.