There I was, minding my own business at work the other week when a lady phoned with some things she wanted to put to auction. Nothing unusual there. Most of my phone calls are from ladies wanting to bring things in to sell. But this one was exciting! Well, it was exciting to me - I don't think the auctioneers' quite got it but I was buzzing!
You see, she had a spinning wheel to sell. And she had mentioned the very important fact that it was one she had spun on 30 years ago, so it wasn't just a decorative item. She asked me if I thought it would sell. Normally I advise people that they should really speak to the auctioneers but this time I was able to confidently tell her that I was sure it would sell because if no-one else bought it then I certainly would!
I've been interested in spinning since Moogsmum got started (and now I'm interested in weaving since she took that hobby up too - I'm a copycat, what can I say!)
When it came to the sale day I was beginning to doubt the wisdom of buying a machine I knew nothing about for a hobby I knew nothing about, but then temptation got the better of me and I snuck out of the office and bid for it, next thing I knew she was mine for the grand sum of £25 plus commission. I then spent about three hours regretting my purchase, thinking I'd bought a white elephant that I would never be able to use. But then I sent Moogs a photo from my phone and she instantly identified the make, model and age of my new wheel. I was now the proud owner of a 1980's Ashford Traditional for which I could still buy parts! From then on I got very excited!!
I went on to Ravelry when I got home and asked a local group when their next spinning meeting was (4 week's time), but then someone commented that there was a spinner's gathering about 25 miles away on Saturday with stalls selling fibre and an Ashford supplier who would have the parts I needed for my new wheel.
To say I was excited was an understatement. My colleagues all found it very amusing.
So on Saturday I went to the gathering of lovely people and the Ashford dealer set my wheel up for me so that by 11.30am I was making my first tentative attempts at spinning! Everyone was really helpful and I got a lot of invaluable advice on how to do it. I made plenty of mistakes and broke the yarn a good few times but gradually it started to feel do-able.
So then I went and bought lots more fluff!
I'd started with some undyed Corriedale which was very reasonably priced
then I bought some beautiful packs of dyed Blue Faced Leicester
followed by some undyed Masham
and another bargain plait of BFL
followed by some bright blue BFL that I spun before I could photograph it.
I've had a lot of help from the Ravelry forums and today I managed to ply my first skein and a half of yarn. It's undyed Corriedale twisted with blue Blue Faced Leicester.
Very lumpy and bumpy and variable but I absolutely love it!
Spinning is just the best thing! Why didn't I do it before?
And as with all of my obsessions, I really am obsessed! So all things woolly and sheepy are now very firmly on my radar. So when I saw this postcard of Mr Locket in the future I knew I had to buy it for him as something to aspire to! ;o)
