In retrospect, as recovery starts to happen, I think maybe the t-shirts should have read

I SURVIVED SOCK SUMMIT 2009

or maybe

SOCK SUMMIT ATE MY BRAIN

or something along those lines.

Pulling photos off the camera, it looks like I.... hardly took any. Which, when I think back, isn't that surprising. I managed to get a few Wednesday afternoon before things kicked off, and then a few on Thursday morning... and then pretty much never again.

How did this happen? Well... I've gotta say, it was intense. I've been to a few fiber events, worked a few conferences, and this was different from all of them. It was big, and filled with people, and totally inspiring, and exhausting, and delightful, and exhausting, and invigorating, and exhausting, and it was all of those things completely nonstop. There's so much I've been swearing I was going to say...and so much I haven't found the words for.

Here's our classroom (and there's a story about that):

Here's Denny setting up:

Look how we didn't block the fire exit rearranging the chairs they couldn't put in a circle for us. We're such good kids and unlikely to get in trouble with anybody's dad.

We were conveniently located near the coffee.

Which was good because we needed oh so very much of it. We'd take turns standing in the line, which was not inconsequential... look, here's a relatively empty lobby:

(You may not be able to tell, but as usual, Tina is right there in the center of it all making stuff happen, and if you were to turn your back, there'd be Steph, and if you were to turn your head or go around a corner, there would be Rachel, Debbi, JoAnn, or Lisa in all their orange-shirted glory.)

Anyway, so this one time I'm standing in the coffee line and Denny's hollering "Oooh, I want the perfect oatmeal cookie! Buy me one of those!"

"Oatmeal, or the cookie?" I asked her. "There's The Perfect Oatmeal, or an Oatmeal Raisin Cookie."

"The perfect oatmeal cookie! It says right there!"

"No, that's oatmeal. It's not a cookie."

"I want the perfect oatmeal cookie! That's what I need!"

"It's not a cookie, Denny!"

"Shut up and get it!"

So I got it for her... but..

Would you believe it wasn't a cookie?

I told you Sock Summit ate brains.

We saw some great folks. Denny got to give Spirit Trail Jennifer a present, and here they are:

And I'm convinced this is the sassy magic of Mary Scott Huff that made this photo come out all fun like it did, plus you can see the shawl Denny gave Jen.

I can't wait for Mary's book, which should be on shelves just before mine. I haven't seen the book -- but I saw some of the projects and they were stunning, and Mary and I were cooking up an idea for a collaboration of some sort too.

We met WonderMike, see?

And we totally made a Rubbernecker mod cry, and we have PROOF.

But as for the rest of it, apparently it didn't happen. Why? Because there are no pictures.

So obviously, I didn't really meet Sivia Harding first thing at the airport, on the shuttle to the hotel. I wasn't at the teacher dinner when someone put a hand on my shoulder to steady herself as she raised her foot to show a sock to someone else... and I realized it was Barbara Walker. I didn't really set down my bag at the dinner table the next night next to Priscilla Gibson-Roberts and come back to find it had been moved to another table, so I was stuck eating with Meg Swansen and Amy Detjen (among others). Denny and I didn't really teach 150 students over 4 days.

Oh but! I did get batts there, and here they are in the wild at Carolina Homespun:

But I obviously didn't go to the Sock Hop, or all kinds of other things. And obviously, I bought nothing at all in the marketplace, and this is clearly absolutely true, because I didn't bring anything home. It is absolutely not possible that there's a box on its way to me now that had to be shipped. Nope. No way.

If I ever get my brain back, there's so much more to say. So very, very much. I'm completely thrilled and honoured to have been a part of it.

I have officially lost all track of time. In the past 5 minutes, or else perhaps it's 5 years, the manchild finished school for the year, started summer day camp at the local YMCA, I got my copy of Amy King's new book Spin Control, I went to Colorado to work on an exciting new project I haven't gotten clearance to blog about yet, I saw the first laid-out pages for my book, I went to TNNA, my 40th Anniversary cherry Matchless arrived at my dealer's, and officially started trying to make exercise part of my routine even though there's no way I can fit it in.

Okay, it's been 9 days, and I feel like today is the longest I've sat still (I think I feel that way because it's true). I feel completely dizzy. And exhausted. And years behind on my email. And vaguely as if I'm forgetting at least 8 other things that have happened. But there are two pieces of big news. The first is that tonight, for the first time since I don't remember when, I have time to spin something totally just for me. Something that isn't committed to a project, necessarily. Something whimsical. Something I don't have to spin, with no deadline. And I have absolutely no idea what to spin. None. I am totally at a loss. I can't remember what to do with myself.

The second is that my book is officially available for preorder! I can hardly believe it, but, as my long-suffering editor said to me the other day, "This ruse that we're publishing a book is getting expensive." She was kidding. I hope. Seriously though, it's real! It's a real book. I saw real pages for it. With real pictures, and real words, and everything. It has an ISBN. It's, you know, real. It's really expected in November. And I've had a few folks ask me already where they can get signed copies. The first answer that came to mind was "Come where I'll be signing them," but when I said that in Amy King's earshot this past weekend, she pointed out that with the wonders of modern technology, it's actually possible for people to pre-order them, which she'd set up for her loyal Spunquistadores to do. "You should do the same," she suggested. So I'm copycatting her, and there's a link on the right nav bar where you can do just that if you're so inclined. When the first copies hit the warehouse, I'll get your pre-orders in, sign them, and send them out to you forthwith. Make sure you let me know who you'd like it signed to, or if there's anything specific you'd like me to say.

But please do still come see me where I'm signing books... and I'll let you know where that will be before too long. But in the meantime, I'm off to do my comfort spinning, and I'd love to hear what you consider comfort spinning!

There's a lot to say about filling up a spindle. I often hear from folks who have been told that a big problem with spindles is that you just can't put a lot of yarn on them, and that's one of the reasons why wheels win out.

The thing is, it isn't true. Flyer wheels have absolute limits in terms of how much you can put on there: once the yarn on your bobbin is rubbing the flyer arms, you definitely can't get more on there, no matter how much you want to. Let's roll back the clock to 5 years ago or so...

I had a WooLee Winder bobbin full with at least 500 yards and 5 ounces of 3-ply yarn, and there was just no way to get the last bit on there, but it was completely mandatory that this be one skein because I had planned out this whole colour sequence thing in overly elaboraqte detail. I was seriously annoyed; "If I were doing this with a spindle," I said, "it would have been no problem at all to just get the last 30-40 yards crammed on there. Grrr." So that's what I did:

I wound all three singles together into a butterfly, then plied from the other end onto my Peruvian canti (plying spindle) and the problem was solved in no time at all... other than that I had to pull the stuff on the spindle off through the orifice and closed-ring hooks on the WooLee Winder, so I could skein the yarn off the bobbin.

I still remember sitting there thinking, "I so would not have had this issue and waste of time if I'd just been using a spindle to ply this from the start." Any time that I arguably saved with the wheel and WooLee Winder combo had been eaten up in dealing with this limitation. I knew from experience that I could put at least 8 ounces onto that spindle and it was a real shock to come up against the hard limitations of fancier equipment.

Mind you, this doesn't mean you have to cram a spindle insanely full all the time. It can be a great way to work with thread and small quantities.

This is an impossible to photograph project that I've been poking at here and there for a few years. It's some merino/cashmere top that I split up carefully and wound into small packages to preserve the colour sequence, and I've been gradually spinning little bits, winding it off onto another spindle, then winding it back onto a pair of matched spools for electrical wire that... well, it's a long story. But this is one of those funny little extreme frog hair projects I constantly have in the background. I do the rewinding when I get to the point that I've used up one of the small colour-sequenced pieces. Someday when I get to that point, these two electrical spools will be full of super delicate merino/cashmere thread ready to be made into a carefully-controlled 2-ply thread with enthralling colour shifts.

I've got a similarly sized-spindle sitting by my slothing chair in the family room right now, and I'm periodically, carefully, meticulously spinning the yield of my first cotton crop: two precious bolls worth. This is intended for a SOAR project, because the cotton seeds came from Phreadde, and it's a miracle that I grew plants without killing them, and cotton actually happened. Some seeds have been replanted this year, and if all goes well I'll have at least 4 times the yield, and gradually, as time goes by, I'm going to get to where there's a meaningful amount of cotton, from the half-dozen seeds Phreadde originally gave me at SOAR 2007.

I guess we can also take a sideline here and talk about why it is I really do desperately need more and more and more spindles, even if I keep getting spindles that seem incredibly similar to ones I already have. Here's one reason.

I can't remember, until I wind off, whether this was half of the singles I was doing for a specific project which explained managing colour sequences... or all of them. I have to wind off this spindle neatly and track the colour changes so I can remember, because I lost my notes. But I do remember that I was winding the cop with an eye towards showing the colour changes, and I took all these pictures along the way, and... yeah. Great. So I have to spend an afternoon going through those photos and winding that yarn off carefully, and then I can remember what I was gonna do next.

This one isn't done yet. I just have to remember where I put the rest of the fiber.

I can't wind off this one until I get a good picture in the right light, because in real life, it's insanely pretty. But all my pictures keep not coming out. This spindle was Divine Bird Jenny's, but we swapped some stuff. I love it that it was hers so I want to take pretty pictures of this yarn on it.

And then there's this one, also plagued with the same problem, which is that I really want to take pictures of it as it is, because... it's pretty, and something else (I'll get to that). It's my prettiest Bosworth in my opinion, and I spun this cop for exhibition purposes. I wanted to show something specific.

Can you see it in this picture?

I think it's easiest to see in this one. The top part of it -- closer to the whorl -- is wound criss-crossing, and the lower part of it is not. Why would I do that? The answer is first of all that switching between these methods is part of what lets me build a stable, dense and full cop (the cop, remember, is the spun yarn you've stored on your spindle). Winding around and around packs the yarn tighter, but it gets slipperier and sloppier more quickly. Winding in an X holds it more stable and winds on more yarn per twirl of the spindle, but the packing isn't usually as dense. Combining these methods allows for the best of all possible worlds in packing a spindle.

This was my carryaround spindle for about a month, then my sit-in-the-kitchen spindle for a week or two. It's an 11 gram Bosworth featherwight, and it's got 66 grams of merino/silk singles on it. For me, this is pretty much a functional limit with this spindle. The spindle still spins totally fine and would work for ages more, but I'm out of space for the yarn to go without compromising the shaft pace I need to set the spindle in motion, the stability of the cop, or the ability to keep the spun yarn securely in place when I start spinning the next length. More than this, and it would start to get annoying.

Allright, the truth is, it started to get a little annoying in the last few grams. But -- and this is where I was going at the outset -- it got a little annoying. It didn't get impossible. I wanted to get the whole batch onto that spindle, so I decided to, and it went on there. There are ways -- which there aren't when you hit the hard limits of a bobbin and flyer.

At 7 times its unladen weight, the spindle performs fine -- but differently from how it did at 11 ounces. I'd be lying if I said a brand-new spinner could do this. It takes time and practice, knowing the tool, knowing the yarn, knowing your own habits and tendencies.

I won't know for a while -- until I've wound it off, plied it, and measured it -- just how much yarn there was here. But I'm reasonably sure it's, well, a lot. I'm going to hazard a guess I'll get around 600-800 yards of 2-ply yarn from this when all is said and done. I'm tempted to skein it and measure it as singles, for science, but I'm just too lazy right now and besides, I want it in plying ball form for an impending project that requires demonstrating that.

In any case, don't let anybody tell you spindles don't hold a lot. It isn't true. On the other hand, what does appear to be true is that you need about 8 zillion spindles to have enough. I truly hope this helps.

Wow, I want to thank you all for the terrific responses to the question about spinning standing up vs. sitting down! I would urge anybody who hasn't to read the comments -- there's some fantastic food for though there.

Here's why I asked: over the past few months, I've heard lots of people say lots of different things about spindle spinning positions, some stated very authoritatively and completely contradicting each other. In some cases, when I've talked to folks about these things, they've told me they were told in no uncertain terms that you really couldn't spin sitting down, or standing up, or without reaching your hands way up over your head, or without using your whole body, or all kinds of things. So I started to wonder: first of all, who's hearing these things, and second of all, who's telling them?

What's interesting is that if asked, a lot of people can't remember where they heard, say, that you can't spin standing up; others say that it just never occurred to them that they could sit down; so there really doesn't seem to be an elite cadre of misinformation ninjas out there telling people untruths about the spindle or anything. But things that seem obvious to some of us, it turns out, are totally not. And some of the things we assume may even be mistaken.

I, for instance, assumed it was obvious you could just sit down. Or stand up. But then someone told me she'd found a particular video helpful learning to spin (which I thought was interesting since the video didn't actually cover what most of the world has considered to be "spinning" for thousands of years), and I asked her what she'd found helpful about it -- after all, I'm always looking to improve on my toolkit for getting folks started and reducing the time it takes them to be able to be hands-on trying it in ways that lead to rapid success. "Oh!" she told me, "Mostly it's that the lady in that video is sitting down. All the other ones, people are standing up. I want to learn a spinning method that can be used sitting down, not one that requires me to stand." You could have knocked me over with a feather. I made a mental note to add "And of course, you can sit or stand as you prefer," to the things I make sure to say when teaching a brand-new spinner.

You can spin, or ply, standing up.

You can spin, or ply, sitting down.

You can spin, or ply, while walking around. Heck, you can do it while dancing.

Something else to remember is that when it comes to spindle ergonomics, we're all different and spindles are largely different from each other, and this is one of the great strengths of the spindle: you can figure out what works best for you personally. With a wheel, you're restricted to some extent by the shape and size of the equipment -- but with a spindle, your range of motion can be anything at all.

So if you've only felt you could do it one way, how do you get to be able to do it other ways? You'll all hate me for this, but the answer is simple: just give it a try. At first it may feel awkward, but that's normal enough. It takes time for a new movement to feel comfortable. And if you're just starting out, I would urge you to vary your position a lot, and try lots of different things. You might be amazed what a difference it makes to be able to spin comfortably in any position at all.

I'm hearing two questions asked a lot lately, and I'm intrigued about them, so I figure it's time to Ask The Blog. Are you ready? Okay, the first question is:

"Can you spin with a spindle while you're standing up?"

and the second one is:

"Can you spin with a spindle while you're sitting down?"

So I'd love to hear from you: how do you do it, and why? When you were starting out, did you strongly believe you had to do it one way or the other? Do you remember why you may have thought that? Has your opinion on the subject changed over time?

A couple of years ago I made a video called Drop Spindle Basics to demonstrate, well, the basics -- the most elementary parts of spinning.

Since it's been up, I've gotten all kinds of feedback on that video, ranging from "THIS IS AN AMAZING VIDEO. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with the world. This information and wisdom will go far in my life. Thank you from the bottom of my heart," all the way to "Details of what you're doing would be nice - I can't follow what's going on with just frantic motion." (I admit, that latter one pushed my buttons, and it took great emotional reserve on my part not to reply with "Have you tried listening to what I'm saying? Turn up your sound," or "Come over here and say that to my face and I'll show you some frantic movement!")

I've also spent a bunch of time watching other videos, thinking about them all, and of course, engaging in a wide variety of teaching activities. Over the past 6 months, I've been saying, "If I had it to do over again, I'd change this, or that, or the other thing about that video, to speak to this, or that, or the other concern." And of course, the funny part is that obviously I do have it to do over again any time I feel like it, right?

Well, any time I can steal a minute or two and a camera operator who knows where to zoom in, perhaps.

So what issues did I end up having with the first video over the past couple of years? Lots! I still like the video and think it's a solid demo with enough information to get you started. But there were things I hadn't anticipated. For example, I specifically chose low-cost materials so as to be very approachable, and show that even without fancy equipment, you can do all kinds of spinning. I tried to tailor the video to the lowest common denominator in terms of tools -- to the simplest, cheapest spindle option likely available to a majority of folks who'd watch the video. This choice turned out to have unintended consequences -- like people reaching the conclusion that the video's only for spinning with a low whorl spindle with no hook. It isn't -- yes, it tells you how to do that; but drafting is drafting, spinning is spinning, and the same basic technique applies. Yet, people got caught up in what was, to me, just one fairly superficial thing about the video.

Also, I wanted more "spinner's eye view" stuff. When I teach, I often stand next to a student, instead of in front of them; I wanted to create something closer to that effect. While a video still lacks the interactive nature of being there in person, I wanted to do something closer to my ever-evolving 5-10 minute basic spinning lesson on the quick. And I wanted to answer questions that people seem to often be left with.

On the other hand, I also didn't have it in me to spend a ton of time, or, well, any money at all on something to throw on YouTube. There's a limit to what I'm willing to do in that context, after all. So without further ado, here you go: Intro to Spinning Part 1 and Part 2.

Enjoy!

At this time of year, we seem to always have a huge crop of new spinners and would-be spinners looking for information about getting started. So I thought I'd take a morning and pull together an overall post linking to things I've written on the subject and various other resources too. What's more, I've been spending part of my holiday fixing and updating old posts with current information, so you may find a few new things.

Bear in mind this is a list of information and resources for those who are brand new to spinning; I've tried to keep from going too far into the more intermediate or potentially esoteric stuff that could be confusing for a beginner. We've got plenty of space for that under a heading other than "Getting Started."

1. What do I need to get started spinning?

I wrote a whole post about that entitled
What do I need to get started spinning? -- start there! You can do it with as little as $5-10.

2. What kind of fiber should I get?

Here are a few suggestions. If you're wondering what some of the terms mean, here's an explanation, complete with handy pictures. You'll need to register for a free account with Spin-Off and download the PDF, but it's worth it -- there are all kinds of great resources there.

3. Are there any books or magazines you recommend?

Interweave Press' Spin-Off Magazine is a must. Start here and click every link there. I'm totally serious. Click them all. Under "Projects and Articles," you can get to a wealth of online content -- every issue has a few articles that are published online as well as in print. Those are here.There are also forums there where you can interact with other readers and the publishers.

Some excellent books:

Start Spinning by Maggie Casey. Maggie is the owner of Shuttles, Spindles and Skeins in Boulder, and a spinning teacher par excellence.

Spin Control by Amy King picks up where Maggie's book leaves off, and teaches you how to take control of your yarn.

Teach Yourself Visually: Handspinning by Judith MacKenzie McCuin. Judith is a major rock star of the spinning world, and deservedly so.

Spinning in the Old Way by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts is the canonical book about spinning with a high whorl spindle, and an excellent resource.

Spin It by Lee Raven. An excellent book for the new spinner.

Hands On Spinning by Lee Raven.

Spin to Knit by Shannon Okey. A great easy introduction to spinning for straightforward knitting projects.

Twisted Sister's Sock Workbook by Lynne Vogel. Aimed at avid sock knitters, there's plenty of spinning and dyeing info in here too.

Spinner's Companion by Bobbie Irwin. A great all-around book.

The Intentional Spinner by Judith MacKenzie McCuin is not a total novice's book, but is a wealth of information.

Respect The Spindle is my own humble offering in the field, dealing with spindle spinning topics from beginner to advanced.

The All New Homespun, Handknit features projects to spin and knit for every level of spinner and knitter.

Some DVDs:

Start Spinning, The DVD from Maggie Casey is the perfect 2-disc companion to her book.

Drafting: The Long and Short Of It, my first instructional DVD, is a more intermediate DVD that goes into lots of detail about various fiber options, multiple ways to spin your yarn, and how to fine-tune what you're doing to get exactly the results you want.

4. What about web sites and mailing lists?

There are tons! For a really long list, make sure you check out Interweave's list of spinning links, which should be enough to keep you distracted and websurfing for days or weeks. Or even longer. I'm going to pick out a handful of online resources I recommend highly for new spinners, though.

One thing to bear in mind as you delve into the world wide web of spinny stuff is that as with anything online, there are good sources of information, and less good sources. It can be hard to know which is which. And whereas formal publication usually ends up being something done by people with a ton of experience in a given subject, casual publication like having a web site is something anybody can do. That doesn't mean casual publications are bad -- far from it! But it does mean, as a reader, that it pays off to spend a little time figuring out who's giving you information, and what that person's perspective is.

For example, my perspective is that of a spinning teacher and writer about spinning, who's been at it for over 30 years in a variety of contexts. I will obviously see things differently from someone who started spinning a couple of months ago. Does that mean you should only read one of us? Absolutely not; but it's worth thinking about the differences in perspective or experience, as you read things. Consider: my experience trying a brand-new prototype spinning wheel is probably not going to be the same as a brand-new spinner's. Which perspective you're after is up to you. You may be looking for instruction (in which case I'd recommend seeing what an experienced teacher has to say), or you may be looking for a peer group as you start out on your spinning journey (in which case, you'll probably be most interested in meeting fellow new spinners). One of the fabulous things about the online spinning world is that you can have all of those things.

WEB PUBLICATIONS

• Spindlicity is an online magazine for spinners, with lots of terrific how-to information, and more.
• KnittySpin is the spinning focused section of web pioneer Knitty.

MAILING LISTS

Yahoo! features a number of great lists dealing with spinning.

• Spin-List
• Spindlers
• TechSpin
• Spinning Community
• Spindlitis
• Spinfree

WEB COMMUNITIES

• KnittyBoard features various spinning forums with great participants!
• Knitter's Review Forums: Spinner Central has been around a long time and is a wonderful community
• Handspinning on Livejournal
• Ravelry features lots of groups: Spinner Central, Spin Love, Beginning Spinners, and Spindlers are probably your best bets for starting out.

FAVOURITE INSTRUCTIONAL BLOGS:

• Spinning Spider Jenny Jenny Bakriges is a fabulous spinning teacher with a terrific instructional blog. Go, check her out, take her classes, await her forthcoming book just like the rest of us.
• Ask The BellwetherAmelia is a wonder, and her blog is structured in a fabulous Q&A format and she's an incredible wellspring of information.

I recommend reading ALL the blogs I read, but if you're a new spinner looking for information, don't miss Jenny and Amelia. I read hundreds of blogs and they are all fabulous, and they're all linked at right.

Just for kicks, if you're looking for some top picks from my own archives, read this 100th post..

5. Can you recommend any good videos on the web?

Well, I've got a few aimed at the complete spinning novice, even starting on a budget:

• Abby's Drop Spindle Basics
• Introduction To Spinning, Part 1
• Introduction To Spinning, Part 2

Although they aren't used much, YouTube has groups! We have one for handspinning:

• YouTube Handspinning Group

There's a broad range of videos there already, and more being added all the time. These are added and vetted by experienced spinners and spinning teachers, and videos that aren't solid information don't make the cut for this group.

As with web sites, videos on YouTube vary wildly in terms of the quality of information they contain. There are some reasonably well-produced videos that contain horrible misinformation. Wherever possible, try to take a minute and figure out where the video came from -- someone who spends a lot of time spinning, or someone who started a week or two ago? The more folks sharing what they do, the better -- but be wary of authoritative pronouncements from people who haven't been spinning any longer than you have! In fact, I'd almost go so far as to say that most people making really authoritative, "This is how you do it" pronouncements, instead of saying "Here's one way to do this," are relative novices.

Why do I think this matters with videos? Because ideally, I think you should be looking at good spinning practice, or good form, if you're looking for something to emulate and practice. If this was dancing or gymnastics, I would be saying you're better off watching someone who's been dancing for years than someone who just started and has never been to a class or performed or anything.

In addition to YouTube, I recommend ispindle.com, courtesy of the folks behind the Spindlers yahoo group.

6. What are some great places to shop for spinning equipment and supplies?

Well, here are a few of my longstanding favourites. These are people who I can call up and say "Hey, do you have... or can you get... and is there anything like..." and who I trust with every fiber of my being (har har). These are the kinds of folks who you can go to with a dilemma and they'll solve it. They're the ones you can trust if you can't make up your mind. These people are pillars of the larger fiber community. These are the people my family calls up to figure out what I should get for Christmas.

• Carolina Homespun was my local shop when I lived in the SF Bay Area. If you are in that area, run, don't walk, and then camp out and wait for Morgaine and Lann to let you in, if that's what it takes. Make sure you visit them at every fiber show where you see them.
• The Fold, better known as "Toni." Not only does Toni Neil have an incredible full-service fiber shop -- at least, I assume she does although I've never actually been to her shop, only her booth at various events, and dealt with her lots on the phone and in email -- but she's someone who Makes Stuff Happen. Like, she talked Jonathan Bosworth into making spindles. That kind of thing. I can't say enough to praise Toni. I just can't. She's too fabulous.
• The Spinning Loft is now my local fiber shop. Okay, it's the entire length of my state and part of another away, in Howell, Michigan (near Ann Arbor), but Beth Smith is my go-to gal. She is one of the very few people -- heck, she might be the ONLY person -- who I trust to the point that if she says I don't want to buy something I am positive I want, I just say "Okay, what do I want instead then?" and then go that route. Know why? Because she is always right, and down the road, the times I haven't gone with her advice, I've wished I had.
• The Bellwether is my friend Amelia, who very very often has that thing I'm looking for that nobody else has. I don't know how she does it. She has stuff that nobody else does. And if I think something might be a good idea to do, she's usually already done it and has advice about it, and she'll share it honestly and courteously and caringly.
• The Spunky Eclectic is run by my longtime friend Amy King, author of Spin Control. I'll put it this way: I call Amy up when I need a treat for myself, and can't figure out what it should be. I place standing orders with her, and when there's a new product on the market, she'll know about it, have tried it, and have the scoop. And she can Get Things Done. When I have a task I know I can't get to in time, I can count on Amy to do it to my standards and beyond.
• Village Spinning & Weaving is a fabulous shop in California, and another absolute don't miss at any fiber event where they've got a booth.

If you've talked to that list of people, and they can't find what you're looking for? Then you can't have it; it either doesn't exist, is a treasure of rarity beyond compare and you have to hope someone's leaving it for you in their will, or is backordered for however long they said. Seriously, if that list of people can't make it happen for you fiberwise, nobody can. These are the folks you can call up in total chaos, confusion, despair, whatever -- and they solve it, and give you a good deal besides.

7. Any other thoughts for a new spinner?

Just that, if there is any way at all for you to swing it, go meet other spinners. Take classes if you can, but even if you can't or don't want to, just meet other spinners. There are things about this that can't be learned from books, videos, and so on. There are things that must be passed from one hand to another. You will get things out of a few minutes spent with other spinners that you can't get out of years of spinning alone, even with the greatest references in the world.

Oh, and one more thing: this. Consider it a yarn manifesto, and enjoy.

That's it! Please feel free to share your thoughts about being a new spinner, and any questions you might have, in the comments.

I've updated this as of 28 December 2008, to reflect new wheels on the market since I first wrote it in 2006, along with changing prices, adding some links, and putting in a few pictures to liven things up.

Choosing your first spinning wheel is somewhat like choosing your first car. There's a level on which it doesn't really matter exactly what it is, because it's going to do the trick to get you started, and odds are it's going to be a little while before you've refined your spinning and your ideals for your spinning to a point where you really know what your exact needs are.

In some respects, the best spinning wheel to start out with is one that someone will let you borrow or rent; this is especially true if the person doing the lending is going to be able to spend some time with you in person showing you how it works and getting the ball rolling for you. If you have such an option, it's an unbeatable first choice. You might be surprised at how readily you can find such an option, too: handweaver's guilds will often have loaner wheels, and so may spinning teachers. Shops may do rentals and layaways. Experienced spinners may have extra wheels to lend out as well. At any time, I usually have at least one wheel out on loan to a new spinner -- and often more than one.

The second best thing you can do is find a fiber shop or fiber show that you can get to in person, where there is a selection of wheels that you can try out, again with expertise handy to help you figure out how things work. This is what experienced spinners will generally tell a new spinner to do if at all possible -- there are so many individual variables that it's impossible for someone to be sure that what really works for one person will work as well for another person.

It's not an absolute requirement that you find in-person assistance, but if you have never spun before, never seen anyone do it, and have no idea how wheels operate mechanically, it will make a huge difference to be able to get a little orientation. A few minutes with an experienced spinner can save you a world of frustration and possibly even prevent unnecessary damage to your equipment. If you absolutely can't meet a real live spinner or do any in-person testing, don't let that stop you -- but if you have the option of going to a real full-service spin shop, or meeting with experienced spinners, don't let anything stop you. It's an incredible leg up on getting started.

Those things said, there are a few things to consider when you start wheel shopping, which a little advance thought about can really prepare you to get the most out of a trip to try out wheels. The first is your lifestyle: where, and when, do you expect to spin? Do you have a good-sized dedicated space that's where you expect you will always be spinning, or are you uncertain? Do you want to be able to spin sitting on the sofa watching TV or visiting with other people? Do you think you'll want to take your wheel with you from place to place, or travel with it? If nothing else, this can help you rule out choices because they simply won't fit your lifestyle or your space.

The second thing to consider is if you have a sense of what kind of yarn you feel you're most interested in spinning. Although a skilled handspinner can spin pretty much any kind of yarn on pretty much any type of equipment, the fact remains that different setups are not always best suited to the same things. Although the majority of modern "mass-produced" wheels are aimed at being multitaskers that can easily handle a wide range of things, if you know for certain that you have a specific interest that's on one side of the spectrum or another, you might do well to choose a wheel that's less aimed at versatility across the middle ground, and more tuneable for what you think you want to focus on specifically. If that's the case, a good idea might be to contact people who you know regularly spin yarn like what you want to spin, and ask them what kind of wheel they use. Chances are spinners will be delighted to expound upon their wheel choices and give you all sorts of useful information that you can add to the pile of things to think about while you shop.

Most newer spinners shopping for a first wheel, however, are not likely to have complete confidence that they know exactly what they want to spin most of the time. In this case, it makes very good sense to choose one of the aforementioned multitasking wheels that currently dominate the spinning wheel market. In addition, many new spinners these days do not have ready access to a real live spinner who can help troubleshoot or answer questions or show things in person, and must rely on literature and the Internet for help. This can mean it's a good idea to choose a wheel that many other people use, so help is just an email away, or even already present in searchable, archived mailing lists and forums on the web. Don't discount how instantly you can find the answers to your questions by searching through past discussion! Chances are good that if you have a question, someone else had it first and it's been answered. The Internet is a great resource.

New or Used?

Used wheels can offer a great value, and with proper maintenance will retain essentially the same price value that you paid for it; if you decide you don't like it after all and want to sell it, you'll get almost all your money back. You can often get a much higher-end wheel used than you'd be able to afford brand-new; and sometimes, someone who is selling a used wheel will be selling it with a range of add-ons, accessories, and extras which they won't be using anymore without that wheel.

However, as a new wheel spinner, it can be hard to know whether or not a used wheel is in good working condition and operating as it should. In some cases, people are selling wheels that have sat unused for a long period of time, often deteriorating or having pieces run off without anyone even realizing it. And sadly there are a handful of disreputable folks selling wheels that they know have problems, and such problems may not be apparent right at the outset. Consider, too, that you may not get much (or anything) in the way of documentation or manuals with a used wheel. You may be able to find such information online, but it's not a guarantee, and even if you do, accuracy might not be 100% either.

Don't rule out a used wheel, but if you don't have an experienced wheel spinner handy to help you evaluate it, or you can't check it out in person, or you don't really know the seller, be aware there are risks and potential frustrations that you might encounter with your purchase. Excellent sources for used wheels can be a local spinning and weaving guild (where you also might find rental or loaner wheels), local fiber or yarn shop (perhaps they've got a for sale bulletin board), and several online sources, such as the Yahoo! group spin-sales (only for active members of the Yahoo! group spin-list, but that's a list worth joining), the Spinners, Weavers & Knitters Housecleaning Pages, and various for-sale and marketplace groups on Ravelry. Although there are often used spinning wheels on eBay, condition is a much more hit-or-miss proposition with those wheels than these two sources; and the same goes for the classified ads in your local paper, or your local Craigslist, where you might get very lucky, but you also might not. If you are able to make contact with other spinners via the Internet, ask them to take a look at online listings for you and give you an honest opinion before you buy. You could save yourself quite a bit of time, money, and disappointment.

A used wheel that isn't in good working order can end up costing you more than buying new. This doesn't mean there aren't great deals out there, but don't assume that $200 used wheel is actually a better deal than a $450 new one -- it could easily cost you $250 to get it working again. Or more. If you aren't sure, and you can't spin on it, you may not want to take the chance.

Antique or Modern?

Antique wheels, while often beautiful, will be subject to all of the potential down sides of any used wheel, in some cases multiplied over a longer span of time. They also may be incomplete and really being sold as decorative items rather than working wheels, and can be expensively priced because of that as well. Even when an antique is in good working order, another thing to consider is that such wheels were generally made to spin specific kinds of yarn, and aren't likely to be strong multitaskers. They'll also often make use of more complicated systems to operate, and finding replacement parts or someone who can do repairs can be a bigger challenge. Unless you have someone handy who knows a lot about old wooden machines (or you are such a person), as well as about spinning, an antique wheel could pose a significant challenge for a new wheel spinner.

Most modern wheels, by contrast, are designed with versatility in mind rather than being aimed at production spinning of specific types of yarn; they often use modern materials and design elements like sealed ball bearings which make for less maintenance, simpler systems, and more readily replaceable parts.

While antique wheels are often quite fabulous, they can also be a labour of love to get working and to care for, and that doesn't always make for an ideal first wheel experience. Does this mean you shouldn't let your grandmother give you her old spinning wheel? Absolutely not -- see the first paragraph of this article, that says a gift wheel is almost never worth turning away, and this is particularly true if it's a wheel with which you have a personal connection. However, bear in mind it might not be the easiest first wheel in the world, and you might not be spinning the yarn of your dreams on it immediately.

Single vs. Double Treadle?

The cold hard truth of the matter here is that it pretty much doesn't matter. Both systems work well, both are implemented in a variety of different ways, and there are good ones and bad ones of either variety. If you happen to know (say, from having used a treadle sewing machine) that you really like, or really hate, one kind of treadle mechanism or another, you can take that into consideration -- but barring a known physical problem that pushes you to one side or another of the debate, the bottom line is, this is a question of personal preference. Don't rule out a wheel because it's one or the other, unless you've tried it or you have firm and absolute reason that you must have one or the other (like you only have one leg you can use to treadle, or you have knee problems that rule out getting one leg very tired). As it happens, I have the latter issue, so most of my wheels are double treadle -- but I do have at least one single treadle wheel which causes me no trouble at all because I can switch legs easily, so long as I remember to do so. I also have multiple double treadle wheels which can be operated with only one foot.

You can spend a lot of time thinking about whether you want single or double treadle, and the truth of the matter is, it's not worth worrying about extensively in most cases, not for a first wheel. Let your gut decide.

Scotch Tension, Double Drive, what?

The short answer here, too, is that it sort of doesn't matter, because as a new wheel spinner you don't have preferences yet, and whatever you learn with is going to be part of what shapes those preferences, at least for a while.

The longer answer is that there are basically two kinds of systems for driving spinning wheels, and these are single drive and double drive. In single drive, the drive wheel is connected via a drive band to only one thing, a whorl connected to either the bobbin or the flyer. In double drive, your drive wheel (the big wheel) is connected via a drive band to both of those things. A single drive wheel has a drive band that is one single loop, and only drives one thing; a double drive wheel has a longer drive band that is in two loops and it drives two things -- the bobbin and the flyer.

Double Drive

In order for a bobbin and flyer mechanism to allow yarn to wind on to the bobbin, both things need to be able to turn together, and at different rates; when they're turning in unison yarn isn't winding on, and when they're turning at different rates, yarn will wind on to the bobbin. Depending on the setup, and how you have things configured, the amount of pull you'll feel on the yarn as you're spinning is going to vary. So, all types of flyer wheels do offer some mechanism by which you can adjust this. On a double drive wheel, it's generally adjusted by managing how tight the drive band is, which can be done in various ways. Examples of double drive spinning wheels include the Schacht Matchless, most antique Saxony-style wheels, and double drive Ashfords and Kromskis. Most modern double drive wheels can also be easily rigged as single drive wheels, operating in either Irish tension or Scotch tension mode (see below).

With single drive, braking action is applied to whatever item is not being driven by the drive band. If your drive band goes around a whorl attached to the bobbin, the bobbin is the thing that will start moving first, and this is called a bobbin lead system. In this case, braking action will be applied to the flyer, often with a leather strap that goes across the front of the flyer near the orifice. How tight this strap is controls how hard the pull is on your yarn as you are spinning. Single drive and bobbin lead with a flyer brake is sometimes called Irish tension. Examples of Irish tension wheels are most Babes, most older Louet wheels, and the Roberta electric spinner.

Single Drive (in this case, flyer lead or Scotch tension)

If, on the other hand, your drive band goes around a whorl connected to the flyer, then the flyer will move first, and the bobbin will follow after, and braking action must be applied to the bobbin in order to allow for wind-on to happen. This type of setup is commonly called Scotch tension. You can identify a scotch tension wheel by the presence of a separate brake band that goes around only the bobbin, often with one or more springs attached to it, and a knob to turn that tightens that brake band. Examples of Scotch tension wheels are the Lendrum upright, Majacraft wheels, the Louet Victoria and Julia.

There are good, and bad, implementations of all of these systems. For the purpose of talking about a first spinning wheel, though, I'm going to generalize a bit about wheels in more entry-level price ranges. Double drive wheels have the most consistent pull-in, but are the finickiest to adjust. Bobbin lead single drive wheels have the easiest treadling action, but the strongest pull-in and it's hard to get the takeup really really light. Flyer lead single drive wheels using scotch tension offer the easiest-to-change takeup settings that span the widest range, but can be fiddly and require a lot of minute adjustments as you go, particularly in low-cost implementations.

So what does this mean? In my opinion, if you know you want to spin a lot of fine yarn, go with double drive or scotch tension. If you want to spin more bulky yarn than anything else, go with bobbin lead single drive (irish tension) or flyer lead single drive (scotch tension). Yes, you can spin anything with anything if you're a good spinner, but that doesn't mean you have to, or that it must be your first choice. Spinning a thick, low-twist yarn on double drive can be frustrating and require more fiddling, and the same thing is true of spinning extremely fine with bobbin lead single drive wheels.

Just as an added consideration, any double drive wheel could, with relative ease, also be manufactured to include a scotch tension setup option, and there are a number of wheels on the market today which offer exactly that combination. These are extremely versatile wheels that offer a lot of room to grow.

What about drive ratios?

Drive ratios, too, affect the type of yarn you can easily and comfortably spin on a given wheel. For a lot more detail on this subject, take a look at my recent articles about drive wheel size and drive ratios, here. The short version is that bigger numbers in the drive ratios mean the twist gets in your yarn faster, which is great for fine yarns; smaller numbers mean the twist goes in slower, which is great for fat yarns. I generally recommend that new wheel spinners look for a wheel which can use a fairly wide range of ratios, as this is a key element in versatility, and one of the things about spinning with a wheel that really uses mechanical advantage in ways that broadens a spinner's capabilities. Drive ratios are like gears on a bicycle or in a car; you want several, for different purposes, in order to get the most out of your equipment.

What about bobbins and accessories?

Ah yes, bobbins and accessories! If you expect to spin a lot of 2-ply yarn, odds are you'll want a minimum of 3 bobbins. If you are looking to spin 3-ply yarn, go with 4. When you're looking at wheel prices, also look at what they come with in terms of bobbins, flyers, and any accessories -- and price those out individually. You may very well find that some new wheel packages are significantly better buys than they appear simply by looking at the numbers on the total packages -- they're not all the same.

If you're looking for a setup you won't outgrow quickly, and that won't send you back shopping for a few more things in very short order, I recommend either choosing a new wheel package that comes with 4 bobbins and a lazy kate that can hold 3 bobbins, or else buying an additional bobbin and a 3-bobbin lazy kate. Another accessory you'll likely find very useful is a skeiner or a niddy-noddy, for making skeins from your yarn, which you'll want to do in order to wash it and finish it and so forth.

This is a lot of information. Just tell me what I want.

Okay, okay. For a "you can't go wrong" versatile, general-purpose first spinning wheel, I think you want one that offers the following:

• a good range of ratios, or add-on kits that can extend the ratios you spin at
• a scotch tension wheel, or double drive wheel that can be rigged for scotch tension
• a wheel that either comes with multiple flyers and different sizes of bobbins, or for which that's available
• a modern spinning wheel, not an antique
• at least 4 bobbins total, and a lazy kate or similar device to hold 3 of them
• a wheel that you can try out in person and make sure you actually like how it feels!

So how much can you expect to pay for all these things? Used, it very much depends; $150-500 for a lot of entry-priced, very solid wheels with all accessories, in good working order, though there are custom and high-end wheels on the used market as well, which can be priced much higher.

Please note that the following prices on new wheels factor in costs such as tax and shipping; and on sale, it may be possible to find them a little cheaper. When shopping for a new wheel, I definitely recommend a new spinner try to purchase one from a full-service spin shop, ideally one close enough to go visit for service and support if necessary. Obviously, not everyone will have a local (or even local-ish) fiber shop, so if you don't, I'd recommend mail-ordering from a great and reputable dealer who's been in the business for a while and carries a wide range of products for spinning. Your dealer is your first line of support, and can make a huge difference for you. Even though I am a very experienced spinner and am regularly in direct contact with wheel builders, I still usually get my wheels, parts and service through a handful of dealers I've known for a long time. Those dealers with whom I have longstanding relationships know me, know what's coming out on the market, and can always give me the fastest service and support that's most tailored to my needs. What's more, they're available on a retail schedule, which wheel builders may not be.

New, for $300 and under, you can get something from Babe's Fiber Garden. These are consistent and reliable performers made from PVC, you can get similar accessories and in some cases make your own, and they're all but indestructible. They're a great value, and Nels Wiberg, their maker, is a great guy who stands by his products. There is a strong and vibrant community of Babe aficionados who can provide you with a lot of advice about these wheels.

For $400 and under, you can get a Fricke S-160. These are durable, rugged, very versatile, quiet, and low maintenance. By default, they come with a delta orifice, but a standard tube orifice is also available. If you don't know what that means, don't worry -- you probably don't care yet, and won't until after you have some spinning miles on your odometer.

For $500 and under, you can choose from offerings from Ashford (the Honda Civic of the textile world -- everyone has one, or has had one, so everyone knows how they work, you can always find a used one and you know you can sell yours used too), Baynes (terrific wheels at a great price, that perform on par with many higher-priced wheels), and Kromski (like the Baynes, fully functional wheels at a great price, and every one is both double drive and scotch tension).

The Baynes and Kromski wheels are the most affordable "traditional-looking" and decorative wheels around, so if a historical look is important to you, these are in my opinion your best options. In this same price range, if super-mega-extreme fine yarn (and I mean as in the kind of laceweight yarn you use for a wedding ring shawl) is not an immediate interest for you, consider bobbin lead offerings from Louet, which are modern in design, durable, and much loved by their owners for their extremely strong performance and ease of maintenance. These wheels, such as the S17, S10, and S75 are icons of the spinning world -- especially the S10, which is quite possibly the most indestructible wheel ever built, even without factoring in Louet's superb lifetime warranty.

Perhaps the strongest offering to come on the scene in this price range recently is the Majacraft Pioneer -- fully compatible with all Majacraft accessories except the accelerator head, the Pioneer is an exceptional value in a wheel you won't outgrow. I'd rate this wheel as the most versatile all-around option under $500.

For around $600, an extremely popular choice is the Lendrum folding wheel, or a Fricke that's been equipped with level-wind flyer and bobbins. New in the past couple of years from Schacht, the Ladybug is a terrific lower-priced sibling to Schacht's venerable flagship wheel, the Matchless. Capable of double drive and scotch tension, and with all bobbins, flyers, and accessories entirely compatible with the Matchless, the Ladybug is a winner for any spinner at any level. Also in this price range you can get Louet's new Julia, a wheel I'm confident will ultimately see the cult status the S10 enjoys, only in flyer lead.

So what's my number one recommendation, supposing you just have to order something right this minute, and you can't go try anything out, and you want to get the best bang for the buck? The Fricke S-160, which of all the teaching wheels and student wheels I've owned over the years, is the only one I've kept, and the one I find most of my students get the most mileage out of the fastest, and keep the longest. The number 2 spot goes to the Lendrum, followed closely by a tie between the Majacraft Pioneer or the Schacht Ladybug, with Louet's Julia rounding out the top 5.

Supposing the same thing, but adding in a desire for historical appearance, I recommend the Kromski Mazurka or Minstrel, or the Baynes.

Supposing you've no idea if you'll like having a wheel and you don't know how long you'll keep it and you want to be sure you can destash it quickly, get the ubiquitous Ashford Kiwi, Traveller, or Joy, or look for one of these used.

A final note

The specific wheels I've discussed are all generalist wheels, multi-taskers, and I've left out serious travel wheels, specialty wheels, and wheels priced over about $700. Price ranges given figure for paying tax or shipping and possibly an extra bobbin or something of that nature. I'll cover wheels upwards of $700 at another time, but generally set that as a likely ceiling for a first wheel purchase. Links provided are to wheel manufacturers or reviewers, and not to vendors; I strongly recommend finding a local fiber shop if at all possible, and giving them your support as well as making use of them as a resource.

If you have questions or comments about any of these wheels, I'd love to hear them -- please don't hesitate to leave a comment and share your experiences, or ask about wheels not mentioned here.

Allright, I'm going to do a few questions relating to my wheel collection, because it's been a long week and that's what I think I have the cycles to do.

Ok, devil’s advocate here: Why do you have so many? Are certain wheels better for spinning certain kinds of yarns? And how do you justify buying a new one? (I know I’d have a hard time convincing my husband that I needed more than one wheel, thus I ask.)

So, here's the thing: I'm a textile professional. It is my career. Right now my focus is spinning, so I spin, and I write about spinning, and I teach people to spin. Those things, plus producing handspinning fiber, are what generate income for me. These are the tools of my trade.

If I were a woodworker, then chances are I'd have lots of saws, lots of specialized equipment for doing specific tasks, a stash of custom and hard-to-find sandpaper, piles and piles of various types of wood, and even more than one of what seems like exactly the same thing. Being a professional spinner is no different.

Different wheels do have different strengths and weaknesses, and different purposes to which they're ideally suited. It's the same as how a mechanic has different wrenches and screwdrivers and jacks and ramps for the cars to go up on and a stash of spare parts and a creeper to get under cars and maybe an engine lift or might choose to buy the house with a huge garage that has a pit in it. I have wheels that excel at super fine yarn, wheels that multitask, wheels that do a good job plying or dealing with bulky stuff, wheels that are great for a beginner, wheels that are compatible with each other in the event of a problem occurring, wheels that are expressly for travel.

Because I do this professionally, I may have a real need to have multiple kinds of things going on multiple wheels at a time. I can't fail to sample something on a wheel because I have a lengthy project in progress, and queue up work behind me finishing that. I really do need to have a wheel open at pretty much any time; if I have a big project on a given wheel, that doesn't mean I won't need to do a smaller one in the interim. I can't have the bottleneck of only one wheel.

I also have wheels because some time ago I recognized that the cosmos had appointed me to a position of great responsibility in which I am required to save wheels from uncertain fates, and often find them new homes. I'm like a spinning wheel foster parent. I save the wheels nobody wants from ending up living under bridges and spare-changing. Sometimes there is rehab. Sadly there is no government support for these activities, but that's not why I do them. Often there is no reward but the joy of ultimately finding these poor beleaguered wheels a loving home with a spinner or would-be spinner who has been trying to get a wheel for a while, to no avail.

And then too, I need to have extra wheels in case there's someone who simply has to be turned to the dark side taught to spin and given a chance to work through it. Sometimes people don't realize they want to be spinners, and may argue with you about this. They'll say all kinds of things -- oh, it costs money, I can't afford a wheel, where would I put it, I just don't know if I'd use one, maybe I wouldn't like doing it, I tried with a spindle but something doesn't feel right. Most of these people are wrong and must be re-educated are ripe for indoctrination actually ARE interested, and if loaned a wheel, are easy pickings and become addicted, providing a captive audience in the future have an opportunity to explore spinning at their leisure before going out and starting their own wheel collections and decide if they want to make an investment in spinning equipment.

I've also had times when I've been working on an article for which I had to provide photos, and it's been a drag going around saying "Hey, do you have a good picture of a double drive wheel?" and "Can I just borrow your Traddy for a bit while I'm working on this technical piece?" It's much easier to just walk over to my own Schacht Matchless, set it up, and do what I need to do.

Then too, I've got to be familiar with all the major wheels out there. Why? Let's say I'm teaching a class, and someone is having trouble with a technique. 9 times out of 10, the reason for this trouble is a wheel adjustment. I need to be able to find the source of the problem, correct it, and move on, very fast. If the problem is with the wheel and it's broken and it's not an adjustment, then in the interests of keeping that class moving, sometimes another wheel must be found. Fortunately, I often have one. But seriously, teaching spinning often involves teaching people about wheels. A good spinning teacher who covers wheel spinning should, in my opinion, know a lot about wheels, and also shouldn't be one of those people who propagates misinformation. I like to speak based on my personal experience whereever possible, and I try to make that a broad range of possible places.

If you had to narrow the collection down to only four wheels, which ones would you pick, and why? Could you choose only one, and if so, what would impact that decision most strongly?

Well, why do I have to narrow my collection? Is it the apocalypse? I'm trying to think about what conditions would cause me to have to choose only four, or only one, wheel. Totally sounds like the apocalypse. That has to be it.

What kind of apocalypse? The kind where I'm going to hole up in the house and take potshots at approaching zombies until things stabilize and we live in a world without a lot of modern conveniences? Because in that case, none of them go, and in fact, I need more, because I have to set up to teach people to make textiles so we don't have to live in a "The Matrix" world of ill-fitting and shabbily knit raglan sweaters in which nobody owns a crochet hook to pick up the dropped stitches. I mean, seriously.

Or is it the kind of apocalypse where I have to flee jack-booted thugs and go into hiding in a tiny attic?
That would be like living in a small house, and I already did that. That was why I got the Suzie Pro: a production wheel that takes up less space than most folding chairs. In this case, I'd keep the Suzie Pro, the two Louets, the Journey Wheel, and the Schacht. I know that's five. Shut up, they're small. The charkhas don't take up any space either.

Maybe it's the kind of apocalypse where we have to get in the truck and drive as fast as we can away from a fast-approaching lava flow which has come all this way from the Yellowstone volcano blowing its top. There is no room even for the cats, and I can only take the Journey Wheel, and I never recover from the loss of all the others, but live out my life in a strange post-apocalyptic bunker talking about everyone I left behind.

I'm totally disinterested in the type of apocalypse that requires wheels to go away. I vote we only have the kind of apocalypse in which I become the sage old lady everyone loves for making civilized life possible when you can't buy jeans from Bangladesh anymore.

Well... so that covers two questions, anyway. We'll be talking lots more.

In that way that things sometimes go, a wheel followed me home yesterday...

It's an older Country Craftsman, a 24" Saxony wheel, literally never used. It needs some cleaning up and minor tweaks, but should be a solid enough spinner once those are all squared away.

Posting the picture on Ravelry, though, resulted in folks asking to see pictures of all my wheels. At first I laughed that off, but then, the more I thought about it, the more it seemed like a neat idea. The boys helped me get everybody lined up on the deck for a class picture:

We took a couple.

The tall kids are standing at the rear. We let the Autoknitter join in despite not being a spinning wheel, on account of it’s a very cool machine, and tall. In the middle of the back row of tall kids is my old Majacraft Suzie (more on her later), which I really need to ask Glynis for more info about one of these days. At right in the back row is the Country Craftsman you saw earlier.

Middle row, from left: Bosworth Journey Wheel, Schacht Matchless, Majacraft Suzie Pro with accelerator head, Majacraft Saxonie, Louet Julia (S-11), Fricke S-160F.

Front row (seated), from left: Bosworth Book Charkha and Bosworth Book Charkha B-1, Ertoel Roberta, 1964 vintage double drive electric spinner (LOUD!), Louet Victoria.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be telling you in detail about each of these wheels. And by the end of the summer, I'm expecting a couple of them to matriculate and move out.

(That means I'm going to sell 2 of them before the summer is over)