My spinning wheel.

The beginning of this month marked my birthday. It was a weekday so was reasonably normal. I went to work, had birthday cake with my colleagues and did a few support visits. When I arrived home I was treated to a home made dinner and an amazing gift - a brand new spinning wheel! When I decided to learn to spin back at the beginning of this year the agreement was I purchase a second hand wheel and see if I liked/could spin wool. I loved it. I joined the spinning Guild, and spent the rest of this year handling the most wonderful Merino and Alpaca fleeces and turning them into yarn. My new spinning wheel is an Ashford Joy Double Treadle. It is so unbelievably compact - it can even be carried around in its own carry case!

And what about my old wheel? It was enthusiastically accepted by a wonderful local friend who is treading the path of sustainable living. She is loving learning to spin.

If any of you are interested in learning to spin, I would say to you "have a go!". Buy yourself a working second hand spinning wheel and a bag of fleece (washed or unwashed - it doesn't matter). Then sit down and watch a few YouTube videos to get an understanding of what spinning looks like, read a bit about it, then give it a try. I promise you will look at yarn in a whole new light after spinning your own skein. If you're not sure, why not support a spinner and try buying hand spun yarn for your next knitting/crocheting project? There are plenty for sale on sites like Etsy.

Sam xox