Turn, turn, turn . . .
Tuesday, May 3, 2011 at 8:57AM Six years ago, my mother-in-law and I attended a fiber festival to see what the buzz was all about. It was the Fingerlakes Fiber Festival in Hemlock, NY and I was amazed at all the yarn. Yes, yarn. That's it.
Yarn was really all I was shopping for as a knitter. And then I saw a Golding spindle. Oh yeah . . . that caught my eye! I had dismissed the idea of spinning for a while with an arrogant huff of "Why would I make yarn when I can just buy it?" and "It would take forever to make the yarn and then I still have to knit with it; I'd never get anything done." (that last one is still a pretty valid point!)
But the Golding had me at "flick." My mother-in-law, being the great enabler that she is, bought me the spindle and How-to package that included a cloud of wool and an instuction book. I taught myself to spin and made a hat with my first hand spun.
Six years later, I have two spinning wheel: a hand made wheel from my husband and a Country Craftsman, and four spindles. Each has their own special story, but right now we'll just enjoy a photo gallery of them all.
Mike's (her name is "Serenity"):
The Country Craftsman (it's an original J. Rooney, and is, as-of-yet, unnamed):
My newest spindle from Threads Through Time (unnamed--though I think it's a boy):
Sea Sediment spindle from A Dyeing Wish (no name, but needs something peppy to embody it's speed):
A fun resin spindle from Spinatude (named "Mariposa"--not very original, but it fits!):
And tragedy recently struck the Golding ("Goldy"--again with the lack of originality) . . .
You'll be relieved to know that Mike has re-glued Goldy and she's spinning once again! However, I'll always be able to see the break marks, and I'll be retiring her as a teaching/demo spindle. She's just too delicate now.
Reader Comments (2)
Oh thank you for the photos. I think spinning tools are soooo beautiful. Especially drop spindles... mine is very simple and boring.
I think one day I will be a good enough spinner deserving of a beautiful spindle. But the Estes Park Wool Market is coming up so I may just find myself a beautiful spindle anyway. ;-)
i went to the same school as patrick. i remeber those girls from my school who wrote in. they were white trash...i always felt so bad for them. lqcxrq lqcxrq - Shop Hermes Outlet.