romney

Just a little romney spun up and dyed.

A beautiful old lady

I am in negative equity when it comes to blog posts lately I owe you soooo many!

The big spinny adventure has been T's Wheel, my dear friends T and AJ allowed me to buy for them an antique spinning wheel. Well it was on ebay and the moment I saw it I fell in love. You know the way you do when you suddenly spy something really great that looks so neglected and you are almost afraid that if you go have a seriously close look some one else will spot you looking and snatch it away......That was this wheel!!!

I bid for her, but sensibly, truthfully I wanted her for myself and this time of year well that extravagance wasn't hapening, but but she was sooooo gorgeous! Alas my bid got pipped at the post, so some one else out there also spotted her. ~QC gives a shrug of her shoulders and puts it all down to fate~ Day or so later the seller gets in touch and with my sensible head on I propose to AJ and T that the wheel would be a bargain. When the bill for shipping came out though my confidence crumbled and to be honest I was weighed down with guilt. Still kept her in the bargain category but not so high as she was.  AJ and T reassured me that it would all be fine, they had faith ~QC wishes she had quite as much faith in herself at times but that is another story~

Finally the wheel arrived, dirty dusty, the flyer arm not looking good and a littleheart sink hit me again.....

"What a big box you have Marrmarr"

Until I turned her glorious elegant beautiful gracefulwheel!!Oh yessssss yes yes yes she is heavenly ! I kid you not she almost purrs she is so beautifully made!!!

Repairing the flier and setting her up, investigating what parts might need replacing or restoring , with a lot of helpful advice from the Ravelry folk, followed by a loving buff of wax and she is looking dreamy. Even William wanted to sit on my knee and test spin her.

I cant wait to get T spinning on her, she is an antique Norwegian Wheel, probably circa late 1800s, double drive, single treadle and currently is set with 2 separate drive bands, I did consider swapping these out for a single figure of eight but my gut feeling tells me that the way the bobbins tighten into the whorl so perfectly she was always intended to be spun with both on the whorl, right now I have set her with the finer cotton band on the bobbin groove and the candlewick drive band running the whorl. The wooden screw wheel tension suggests she is from the Baltic (based on information from the development of the Kromski wheels). She is simply crafted, not too fancy,  and as a wheel, an object of desire she rates high in my book.There is the faintest sign of a mark painted on the end grain of the table, other than that there is no sign of any makers mark or any place where one might have been and since been removed, which is useful for saying what she is not rather than what she is.

To me she glows, like the shine on an old ladies cheeks.

She feels like she could spin mile after mile of lace weight yarn with gentle ease.

Even the pins holding her bobbin on the on board lazy kate are wooden and hand carved.

I love spinning, and my Ashford Traddy does it for me, but this old lady...she is a joy in her own right, even when she is at rest. Her wood glows, there are gently worn areas on the maiden from decades of yarn being parked for a break in the spinning , the vibes she gives off are warm and homely and serene. It is like she is saying "I worked a long hard life, thank you for not neglecting me in old age" If an inanimate object could feel love I think this wheel would do so and show it. If she were mine to keep I think I'd call her Nellie.