Color wheel

 

Oh the possibilities... This wool was dyed (from left to right) with cochineal, madder root, onion skins, copper and ammonia, and indigo.  Some portions were double dyed to get dark red, dark green-blue, and dark purple.  

Oh - my - gosh - I bought a spinning wheel!

I guess you could say I've been head-over-heels for fiber "stuff" for a while now. I have a mother who, whether she meant to or not, influenced me greatly - and still does. When I was nine she gave me a spinning wheel, I suppose because I kept asking her so many questions and she thought it would keep me occupied. After a few months of spinning, I realized no other children were doing it, and I abandoned the wheel to collect dust. One morning my mother came to me and asked, "Em. I have a student who wants a wheel. Can I sell her yours?" Well I thought about it and I admit I was a little angered that my mother would so flippantly sell my wheel. How dare she? Well - the way my mother tells the story, I responded by saying, "As long as you get something good for it." As so, the wheel was sold.

Since then, I've started spinning again and have assisted my mom at the John C. Campbell Folk School in her "Sheep to Shawl" classes. There, we spent afternoons spinning away, both doors to the studio open, talking with the students about family and fortune (as fiber artists of course.) Then something awful happened. After the class was over, at home, I asked my mom to use her wheel. She has more than one, thank goodness, so it wasn't too much of a problem until...we both wanted to use the same wheel. Oh no! What now?

Well -- then the elves got to work and for Christmas my mom and dad gifted me a donation towards my first wheel. Now, let me clarify, I'm talking about last last year, as in 2008. You see, I think I started dragging my heels! Do I really want something so big? It's like buying a piece of furniture. What if I want to travel? Or go to grad school? Do I really want to own up to being a spinner? But -- after asking my mom to use her wheel many more times, I saw that I had no choice but to commit to the relationship. I am now a packaged deal: It's me and my spinning wheel.

I bought a Kromski Minstrel, double treadle with three bobbins. It is a castle style wheel made of European alder and birch. And my mom threw in a niddy-noddy for winding yarn from the bobbin into skeins. Yippee!!