Presents.

I never did show the Christmas gift my dearest John got for me did I?

So how about I show you now:

Yes, he was listening all those times I rambled on about how I would love to learn to spin my own yarn. And just before Christmas he was passing a secondhand shop when he spotted this wheel on top of a sideboard in the street outside. He had no idea what he was looking at but bought it simply because "everything moved" on it! So anyway I put it in my craft corner and had a go at treadling now and then. No idea what I was doing and when I found that there was a snapped part, (the windy part on the horizontal tension knob that kind of goes into the table??) I just decided it wouldn't work and so left it there thinking that one day I would get round to doing something with it.

So in 2 weeks it will be my 40th birthday and knowing how much I wanted a real working wheel John has been browsing Ebay on the lookout for one. Last week we saw a Wee Peggy for sale and after seeking advice online (thanks Dawn) we kept an eye on it. I decided it was too far away but unbeknown to me John had other ideas and so he bid on it and won it. Last Friday he went to collect it but as I was working all weekend I didn't have to chance to look at it properly. 

So today I'm home, Heather napped and the boy's played together for a while. The perfect opportunity to examine my new plaything. I treadled awhile to get the feel of it and then wondered what to do next. I remember reading online that it's a good idea to get the feel of the wheel by plying some already spun yarn so I grabbed a couple of acrylics from my stash and used the wheel to wind them onto bobbins. And then I plied them together. Well I tried anyway. But you know nothing happened! I had a handful of twisted yarn in my hand but it wouldn't go onto the bobbin. So I had another look online and discovered a new phrase "scotch tension". Well that explained the random piece of string with the spring attached. So I threaded the string over the bobbin and attached the spring and had another try. No idea if it was right or not but hey, if you don't give it a go.... So I began spinning again and this time the yarns twisted together and began to take up onto the bobbin. Hurrah!! 

And so this is where we're at now:

See my two separate yarns? And the much nicer yellow/orange yarn below? I'm so very pleased with it, you just wouldn't believe :) So now to find a nice introduction to spinning book (I'm not so much of a visual learner as a literal one) and some fleece and away I go. 

Thanks to my lovely husband and extra thanks to the lovely Dawn for her advice and guidance, although I know I ended up with something other than Dawn recommended but you can blame the husband for that!

Oh just one thing - please ignore the dust over both of them! The first one has been standing in the corner for quite a while and the second carries the previous owners dust, eurghhh, what can I say!!

-x-