This week I finally got to grips with a craft I have wanted to do for a very long time. For my birthday (last week, remember?) I got a spinning wheel. It’s an Ashford Joy 2 which is portable (it even has it’s own backpack!), beautiful and goes like a dream. Because it really is a fancy-pants wheel I’m also getting contributions towards it from family for Christmas.
Sometime back in 2019 when we could do such things I went to an event at Ewe Felty Thing in Llandudno where I had my first go on a spinning wheel. I’d been looking at them at yarn shows for years, hypnotised by the movement of the spinners and wanting so badly to try, but too shy to ask. Fortunately the amazing Nikki Small at Ewe Felty Thing encouraged me that day last year and showed me the ropes. But then that was it. I didn’t believe I could justify buying a wheel; I thought it would take up too much space; I didn’t think I had time for another craft.
Until a few weeks ago when an old friend of mine (hello Helena Thomas!) advertised her wheel on Facebook. It was virtually unused. It was a bargain. Barely 20 minutes after spotting the ad and talking to Sue about it I’d messaged Helena – only to find she already had a potential buyer! But the fire had been reignited and would not die down. I did some online research and discovered that the wheel I really wanted (not actually the model from the Facebook advert) was out of stock in most shops. Apart from one – Fibrehut, which just happens to be based in the town where I grew up!! Serendipity? I think so.
So, this past week there has only been one day when I haven’t done some spinning. I’ve spun, plied, washed and skeined my very first yarn (pictured) and the second one is currently drying over the bath. Oddly enough, there is room for it in our little house – it takes up no more floorspace when in its bag than a multi-pack of loo-roll. I have found time for another craft – and I haven’t been ignoring the knitting! I uploaded my design submission four days before the deadline and I’m well on the way to finishing another wip (work in progress) that’s been languishing in the basket for a while.
The deadline for the design submission was yesterday and feedback is due by the end of the week. I’m really pleased with the finished design, but I can’t show it to you yet. I hope they say yes. The waiting is hard – but there’s plenty here to distract me!