Pride of ownership

As anyone who has been following my adventures would probably know, I have been spinning for a little bit more than 12 weeks now. I have been spinning my yarns on an Ashford Traditional wheel that my very good friend loaned to me along with her bobbins, lazy kate, niddy noddy and learn to spin CD-Roms. Yes. She does indeed; rock.

Yesterday I had nothing on the bobbins and wanted a small spin, so I spun up 22g of pure mulberry silk that I had laying in the bottom of my fibre stash. I've never spun straight silk before and I honestly wondered if I'd do it justice as its such a beautiful fibre. But I needn't have worried; my 22g of silk fibre soon turned into 177 metres of super fine 2ply lace weight yarn...its gorgeous...even if I do say so myself ;o)

As green just isn't my colour I plan to give this little skein of turquoise heaven to my good friend tomorrow as a small thank you gift for loaning me her wheel for 12 weeks and getting me hooked on spinning.

I've been planning on getting my own wheel as soon as possible and I'm so excited to report that I have organised to purchase an Ashford Traveler from a lovely lady I know. It will be arriving some time next week and I look forward to its delivery immensely.

However, I also came across a second hand Ashford Traditional today for only $100...obviously that's just too good an opportunity to pass up so I bought it, and now I have my first wheel and a second one on the way...how awesome is that?

My Ashford Traditional
"Figgy"



Already spinning singles on her :oD

The wheel I bought was originally bought for an elderly lady; the mother of the man I bought it from, and he had a lovely little metal plaque put on it with her name engraved into it. I wont tell you her name for privacy reasons but as a tribute to this woman I've named the wheel 'Figgy'. Obviously I got Figgy home and cleaned her up, then immediately took her for a test drive....and she spins beautifully. She is an older wheel but she has been hardly used and you can still smell the natural scent of the timber that she is made from. She is solid and true, not a wobble in sight and her treadle doesn't make even the slightest squeak. But best of all, she is all mine.