Let's start with a bit of background info: I have 10 spinning wheels and 4 children, one husband and one cat, all in a relatively small house. Coming up to Christmas, I realised that I needed more floor space in the living room in order to have space for the Christmas tree. Also , I had two daughters who would be coming home from college and they would not appreciate sharing their bedrooms with a spinning wheel or two, from this little group of wheels.
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| the view of the corner of my living room |
To cut a long story short, I decided that two of my spinning wheels could go on a Christmas holiday to two new spinners.
One wheel (a light coloured Dutch wheel in the style of a Louet S10) went to B outside Ennis.
The other wheel, (a dark coloured Willy Spinnewiel from Holland also) went to S, from County Limerick.
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| Willy Spinning wheel, from Holland |
However, the leather tension strap on the wheel that S got broke shortly after she got it home.
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| The leather strap on the wheel before it broke. It is connected to a tension peg, which is hanging loose on the left lower part of the photo. |
That was two weeks ago. I really wanted S to have a working wheel. So yesterday's spinning activity involved me meeting S and taking back one wheel from her and giving her a different one. We met at a hotel in Limerick and had a lovely chat and cuppa, joined by another knitter/spinner/dyer, G.
S took to my Ashford Traditional without too much bother, and I tried out the dark Dutch wheel again. Amazingly it spins and takes up without any tension at all, and I got it to spin quite finely. Apparently it is a bit of an acquired taste, the other two girls did not find it comfortable to use at all, so it looks like this old Dutch wheel will be staying with me for the time being. No bother....
I am glad it works without the leather strap. Maybe I don't need to be in a rush to replace the leather. I do not fancy taking out those 3 studs holding the strap, I am afraid I would damage the wood. Not to worry, I know an excellent woodworker, who can do these small jobs for me.
It was lovely to spend time with two other spinners last night and it was just what I needed.
The waitress even recognises us now because that hotel is where we go to meet up for the weekly Limerick Knit night which G started. The waitress offered us some wool as she said she had a fleece from one of her family's sheep. Immediately, I offered to teach her how to spin the fleece. So maybe one night she can come join us and learn how to spindle spin!
Quite some juggling. Proof that our craft tools are family too. Hope the wheels have nice holidays.
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