First of all, the Wild Flyer is completely and totally, amazingly cool. It is going to take significantly less time to spin this wolf yarn now, and I will have hands free to work on placing the mohair better, instead of freeing it from the hooks all the time.
Here’s the latest skein.
Second, I love the new wool. Nate wanted me to card up some white wool, white alpaca and that gawsh-awful-ugly silk noil that didn’t dye well. So I did, and while I think the batt looked pretty bad
I’m spinning it up to see what the finished yarn will be like and really, I was just extremely anxious to spin this wool.
It spins like a dream. It’s the softest, silkiest, most delightfully easy-to-spin stuff ever. I’m so excited to make a batt with those fibers when they’re actually dyed pretty! And I think the wool is so silky, I can reduce the alpaca a little bit.
It cracks me up that women are primarily the spinners, while it’s ALWAYS the men that come up and ask questions when I’m spinning in public. They’re fascinated by the “machine”. I’ve had them lay on the floor and watch the treadles, then slowly get up as they scrutinized how the treadles connect to the wheel, connects to the pulley, connects to the flyer, etc. Last night was no exception. We had one man come and ask about how it works, and two men come up and ask what kind of fibers we were spinning. Then they went on and on about how nice alpaca is, talking more to each other than to me and my friend. Then they asked to touch it.
Makes me laugh. Why don’t more men spin, I wonder? There are two men in our spinning group and they’re great.
So a friend of mine took the Weaving Works spinning class last week, and is in need of a wheel. We met up last night and I lent her my Clemes. She loved it. They’re such nice little wheels.
August 22nd, 2008 at 11:17 am
So is the Wild Flier a new spinning wheel? I didn’t know you got another one 🙂
August 24th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
me too, I want to know. I’d love to try spinning and dying, but I’ve got kids in private school so can’t afford it now. What would you recommend to put on my wish list? I thought of getting a drop spindle just for the fun of trying spinning, but I wouldn’t know where to begin. I’d love your advice!
August 24th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
The Wild Flyer is a part for my existing wheel (Majacraft Suzie Pro) that will let me do more with it.
Drop spindling is ok. Not really my thing. If it comes to putting a wheel on your wishlist, I’d say, get whatever you happen to find that you can afford. Wheels are such a personal preference. If you happen upon one for $200 or so like I did with my Clemes, and it’s realistically functional (by that I mean that it isn’t some ancient antique that wasn’t really designed to produce yarn, and would therefore be more headache than it’s worth), I’d say get it so you can start spinning. You can always sell it in the future if you find something you like better. Stick with the known brands. Ashford, Majacraft, Schacht, Clemes and Clemes, Louet, Jensen, Kromski, Lendrum…
The Ashford, Lendrum, Kromski possibly, Louet, and Clemes are the most likely to find inexpensive. And admittedly, that’s if you get lucky, but it is possible.
Good luck. I wanted a wheel desperately for a couple years before I could get one. It’s worth the wait.
And who knows? Maybe you’d love the drop spindle. There I’d say, don’t get a beginner spindle. All the ones I’ve seen are way too heavy for some crazy reason, and they pull your fiber apart and fall a lot.
August 24th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Wow, that Wild Flyer sounds awesome! I LOVE your batts!!! Just got back from vacation and wow, you’ve been busy!