SPINNING WHEEL
(among other things)
Do you know, gentle readers, what this is? This is my spinning wheel. This is my spinning wheel that I built. This is my spinning wheel that I built with my own hands. I MADE A WHEEL. Okay, okay, I had help, and I used power tools, but… it’s my baby! And it’s not from a kit! We didn’t have a kit, or plans, or anything. Just lumber and something to copy.
Man, it’s so beautiful. I think it needs a name. I think it’s a boy, and I think it needs a name. Help me out here. It also needs a single pilot hole drilled in one of the treadle supports because the leather strap (a.k.a. my dad’s old belt) needs to be connected and isn’t yet (and I don’t want to split the wood (again)).
I’ve spent months on this baby, and it’s so wonderful. It’s smooth and it’s pretty and it’s cherry and it’s mine. In every sense of the word. It’s a “copy” of an Ashford Traditional, but it’s my creation.
I’m showing it off at school tomorrow, and I’m excited to use it for the first time. I want to spin on it (but I can’t, see above not attached treadle).
Ooh, man. I love it.
My favorite part is the maidens that don’t match. On the right you can see the maiden I bought at Sheep and Wool. On the left is the maiden fashioned as a substitute until I get another one that matches the one on the right. I think it’s so funny that one is beautiful and round and turned and one is SQUARE. It rocks. The flyer and bobbin I did not build. I did build the mother-of-all and the base, though, so they match the cherry wood.
Squee!
In related news, I have swatched for the Project Sweater. I think the 7s gave me the nicest fabric, so I think I might just cast on the final stage tonight!!!!
And I can spin and dye more as I need it. Oh boy!
Also today, I pulled this little bastard…

off of the roof of our house. Picture me hanging out my sister’s bedroom window for half an hour trying to lasso a kitten out of the gutter with my sweatshirt and the handle of a bag. I have bruises all kinds of places. Freak. I love him. He’s fine, by the way.
Help me name my wheel!








































































