Spinning

I learnt to spin on a drop spindle earlier this year and have been loving it. It's not a speedy way to do things but I've made some good yarn, including a three ply sock wool. I had been wanting to learn to spin on a wheel, and the Spinners and Weavers Guild runs a class, but it took me a year to find a time they were running a class I was available. That opportunity came up recently, and now I can spin on a wheel. The teacher is great, and the Guild has lent me a wheel, Alice, pictured above (sorry about the cat, Princess Daisy was posing) to use so I can practice at home. And Alice is a lovely wheel, and I have spun a kilo of Corriedale on it in the last two weeks.
Part of me loves spinning on the wheel becasue you can get so much done, part of me feel like it's a bit too fixed in space and factory like. I have been thinking about buying a small wheel, something like the Majacraft Gem or an Ashford Joy. Or I was thinking about not buying a wheel and sticking to the spindles... And then, on Tuesday my friend Skip came to the pub, as he does every Tuesday. The weird thing was he drove, even though he lives just up the road. He said he drove because he had something heavy with him: and then he pulled a three kilogram fleece out of his car and gave it to me!



And it's stunning. Soft and crimpy and I love the colour, which is prettier than in the photo... So now the question is not whether a wheel, but which wheel.