In Autumn 1994, I took my first spinning lesson. It was a weekend course, in West Co Limerick. We learned to spin on a drop spindle, and to spin on a wheel. There is a photo of me spinning on a Louet-type wheel in the kitchen of the draughty farmhouse we lived in that year. This photo reminds me that I rented a spinning wheel from the spinning teacher, Julie, for a month or two. The winter got colder and so did the kitchen, and I was expecting my first child and so the wheel was returned to Julie and my drop spindle got packed away in a box.
Roll on 16 years, and 4 children later. I had some time off work for health reasons. The Internet had arrived. I discovered blogs, and blogs about knitting, and then Ravelry, and then spinners!
I dug out the old drop-spindle and said I would start spinning again. I bought a new spindle, and some fleece to spin. Then an offer came from a German lady on Ravelry, asking if I would like to buy a wheel she had for sale. YES! So in September 2010, I got my first spinning wheel, a heavy Louet-type Dutch wheel, Irish tension, single treadle, from the 1980’s probably. It pulled and it creaked and sometimes it clattered, but it worked and I began to spin. The wheel had turned full circle, so to speak.
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| From left: My first wheel, from Holland; My Ashford Traditional, from circa 1982; My white Bliss wheel from Woolmakers.com, purchased Spring 2017 and finally the speedy and portable Ashford Joy, Mark 1. |
After some time I noticed that I was spinning finer and finer, and the Dutch wheel was pulling and breaking the yarn, so I put out an In Search Of request on Ravelry. I was very lucky to be able to buy an Ashford Elizabeth I from a lady in Cork in August 2012. The Elizabeth was a different ball game, it had Double Drive and this was a bit of a learning curve. I persevered and I spun some wonderfully fine, even yarn on Elizabeth. The only disadvantage to Elizabeth was that it was not easy to move her from place to place in the car. I had become a spinner who liked to spin in public. I needed a more portable wheel.
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| Ashford Elizabeth spinning wheel, Mark 1. Double Drive. |
I put out another ISO, and this time I bought an Ashford Joy I from a lady in Galway. A relative said he would collect it on his way home from university in Galway and deliver it to me. In the meantime, I spotted an ad for a spinning wheel for sale in an antique shop near Limerick city – an Ashford Traditional. Not one to hesitate where wheels are involved, I called the shop, drove 30 mins and snagged myself an Ashford Traddy. So the Traddy and the Joy arrived within weeks of each other in February 2014.
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| Ashford Traditional to left, and Ashford Joy, (folded) on right |
The Traditional is single treadle, single drive, from 1982 or so, and is a lovely wheel to spin on. I use it for Heritage Week type events, as it fits the image of the spinning wheel that the public expect to see. It is also fool-proof and never complains when being lifted into and out of the car and taken to events. No fussing about setting it up either.
The Joy is equally lovely, double treadle, and so portable. It is sturdy, attractive, effective and mesmerising to all who see it in use. At home, it folds up and fits in a space about 5 inches wide between two presses. It sits in the space behind my car seat when I am going to Knit and Spin Night, leaving plenty seat space for my basket of wool.
I was pretty much happy with my lot at this point, but continued to peruse sites like adverts.ie and donedeal.ie. Well, we all know where that will end…..
Two years ago, June 2015, I saw an ad for a Great Wheel/Walking Wheel in Cork. The price was too high and it looked a bit funny. It had a square frame which seemed quite unusual to me, but what did I know? I asked the good folk on Ravelry what did they think, should I go look at it, or keep far away? The advice was to run. I had to clarify that, did they mean run away, or? Nope, run and get it! It was unique!
The price dropped and I made an offer which was accepted. My daughter, who was doing her Leaving Cert at the time, was a Learner Driver, mad for the road and for driving practice. She happily drove me to Cork to collect the wheel on a gorgeous sunny Friday evening 5th June 2015. The wheel was bought in Canada by the seller’s mother many years ago and it had been shipped to Ireland when the family moved back.
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| Great Wheel, possibly Canadian, from late 1800's. |
I subsequently discovered that there is one twin wheel to this wheel. The twin wheel was found in a garage sale on the South Shore of Nova Scotia, (NS), Canada, near Lunenburg and was probably made originally in that area of Canada. The owner of that wheel has done some research and found that “the best evidence would suggest that this frame was built between 1840 and 1870”. So it looks very likely that I have an antique Great Wheel.
6 months later, January 2016, I saw a wheel for sale on Donedeal.ie. The wheel was in North Co Tipperary, not far at all. A look on Ravelry and an email to Johnny Shiels in Carndonagh Co Donegal confirmed that this was indeed one of the Shiels wheels.
Off I went, on a grey January Sunday. The wheel had belonged to the seller’s mother, who lived in Dublin. When I got there, the wheel was disassembled and so began the task of assembling the wheel and trying to get her together correctly. I got the wheel upright, and set up to spin. Somehow I got her to spin and so purchased her straight away and headed home. A Donegal wheel! Wheeeee!
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| Shiels wheel, from Donegal originally. |
By now I just placed new wheels in the living room in front or between other wheels. It took a few days before anyone noticed that there was a new wheel in the room and that it was different!
3 months later, April 2016, I was gifted another Shiels wheel, a lovely dark mahogany wheel, in excellent condition. This is my wheel of choice for Irish-style Heritage events, eg, Bunratty Castle or the 1916 events last year.
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| Ashford Traddy to the front with my second darker Shiels wheel to the back. |
In September 2016 I bought an Ashford Traditional from a fellow spinner in Limerick on behalf of a friend in Waterford. That wheel is now living happily in County Waterford.
Spring 2017: I had been telling a friend, who wanted to buy a spinning wheel, all about the Bliss wheel produced by Woolmakers, a daughter company of Louet. This wheel is said to be very versatile, great for beginners, can spin all weights of yarn, is indestructible and public friendly, and costs about 300 euro, postage included. Then the idea dawned on me, I should get a Bliss! I saved my pennies and after a few months I got my Bliss, single treadle, 6 bobbins. Bliss made the journey with me to Sheep’s Head Yarn Festival, me and 5 wheels in a Ford Focus saloon, to teach spinning on a spinning- wheel to fellow yarn lovers.
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| Bliss Wheel, the day I set it up, Spring 2017. |
In June 2017, I made two trips to Dublin, one to buy an Ashford Traditional for a friend in Clare who had been looking for a wheel for a while, and the second trip to buy a small quaint-looking wheel, identified by the folks on Ravelry as a Wendy wheel.
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| Wendy wheel, by Philip Poore, NZ, purchased by me June 2017. |
Wendy wheels were made by Philip Poore, in New Zealand in the 1970’s. Philip Poore started out making Saxony wheels, called Pipy, which were based on an Irish flax wheel. He then made Wendy wheels, smaller and more portable. He signed and numbered the wheels and mine is numbered MB 7112, the 71 denotes 1971 as year of manufacture. I believe the 12 means the wheel was made in December, the 12th month of 1971.
This wheel is small, dainty, but sturdy. It can be lifted in one hand and is very cute. It has a large wooden ball at the right side attached to the metal frame which holds the flyer and turning the wooden ball adjusts the tension. The very day I bought this wheel I brought it to Limerick Knit and Spin Night, oiled it and spun on it.
In September 2017, I saw that Marianne atvww.wolplantage.nl/ger had an Autumn offer on some dark Willy spinning wheels, so I took the leap and purchased one. It is larger and bulkier than I expected, so I may end up selling it on.
There are 10 spinning wheels in my life at the moment. They each have their own history and place in my heart. I do not use them all all of the time, but they are precious to me. I think I want to Save All the Wheels and Teach All the People to Spin.
My Spinning Wheel Wish List would be to have a Swedish wheel, a Dutch Schippertje wheel and/or a Frank Herring bentwood wheel. So if you are destashing wheels….
However, I think I have probably saved as many wheels as I have space for currently. So now to just teach all the people to spin.
Links:
http://www.woolmakers.com/ for Bliss wheels and Hero and Giant Drumcarders
http://www.nzspinningwheels.info/pipy.html
information about Philip Poore and his Pipy and Wendy wheels
2 sites for people looking for secondhand wheels which have been checked over:
http://wolplantage.nl/ger/ This is Marianne's Dutch site selling Dutch wheels, postage to Germany is quoted, but she will post to Ireland for a bit more.
http://www.woodland-turnery.co.uk/recon.html Joan and Clive sell reconditioned and renovated spinning wheels in UK. Email for prices and postage quote to Ireland
Note: elements of this blog post was previously published on the website of the Irish Guild of Weavers , Spinners and Dyers , www.weavespindye.ie.
