Thursday, February 12, 2009

Spinning Wheel Purchase...Guilt or Pleasure?

I have done it! I have finally done it! After much thought and painful opinions from most everyone I know I have finally gone and purchased my first spinning wheel!! The Ashford Kiwi.....
Is this not the cutest spinning wheel you have ever seen? Ok the Lady Bug is a bit cuter but this one has my heart at the moment. I don't know what possessed me to make such a huge jump from my drop spindle to a wheel. I have been spinning since the beginning of the summer and only on occassion. It is so time consuming to spin on a spindle and as much as I love it, I can't do it very often.

I came across the Spunky Eclectic website the other day and I was looking at all the beautiful hand dyed roving that was there and on an impulse I bought 8oz of it. 4oz in Navaho colorway 100% merino wool and 4oz in solid purple, 100 % corriedale wool.
After this little impulse buy I realized I had never spun with corriedale before so I started to research the fiber to see if it was easy to spin with. I found this website called Hello Yarn and I was immediately excited about the fact that the site was a little cheaper and you get more roving! So I bought 8oz of solid pink corriedale for only $13!

Well I bought all this beautiful roving on impulse.....but now I have a problem. There is no way in hell I would be able to spin all this on a drop spindle!! There just isn't enough time in the world to do it! I mean I have been doing it off and on for a while and I am not even done with the 4oz of merino I bought from Spunky Eclectic when I first started! What is a girl gonna do with all this roving with no practical means to spin it? She buys herself a spinning wheel that is ten times faster and more fun of course! I asked alot of people what they think about spending $300 on a spinning wheel and of course they were all against it. No one understand the joy of wool fiber.
I took yesturday off from work just to have a day to relax. I went to the gym with Robert Gerard and then out to lunch (love him!). Then I went to Cambridge to the only spinning shop in the Boston area, Minds Eye Yarns. This store is run by a woman named Lucy who taught me how to spin on a drop spindle last summer. When I went in, my intention was just to ask a few questions about wheels, but the first thing I said was I wanted to buy an Ashford Kiwi and she said "Ok I will order one for you!" and low and behold....I now own my spinning wheel. She is even going to help me put it together and give me a lesson on how to use it when it comes in. She is very helpful and sweet, I can't wait to get started! I left there with an armful of lime green and yellow merino roving and a smile!
I wish it wasn't going to take a week, I have never been very patient if you havent noticed but I supposed I can deal. I mean my roving is going to take awhile to get here so I will just play with my drop spindle until then. Robert Gerard agreed to laquer it for me and I am sure I will put some cute designs on it. Maybe I will have my friend Linny draw me a cartoon image of myself to put on the treadle or something haha, I love her cartoons!
When it comes in I will be sure to post pictures, if I am not too busy playing with it.....i feel a new obsession coming on. But I also feel guilt about spending so much money....I mean people are making me feel guilty anyway. They say it is frivilous in this economy to make such silly purchases. So I am feeling a little bad about buying it.......I am sure I will feel better when it gets here though =)

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