the wheel turns

And so the wheel of the year turns.
It seems only a very short time ago that we were enjoying the days getting longer; and now they are getting shorter already !
I generally like to let days unfold as they will; but once the dark evenings descend, I prefer to get some kind of task order into the day. Using the daylight for handcrafting, and thus leaving the twilight hours for computing / research (and you'll note that there is no mention of housework / gardening in there !) tee hee!.

A small group of us went to Melton Market last week.; where there was, among other animals, a fabulous collection of different sheep breeds. The local spinning group were demonstrating. There was also a chance to purchase fleece from a variety of breeders. (I only bought one small bag of Shetland back with me), although I was very tempted to push my luck with him indoors, and bring back a small flock of live ones !    

                                                                        

 

"I am not a number!"
                                                                                              

Melton Mowbray is one of England's oldest market towns. Well known for it's famous pork pies and Stilton cheese .
 

High Street

This Melton market is held annually, and is well worth a visit. The old architecture is amazing; and the market itself, apart from the fleece and feather, has many interesting stalls and crafts.


 As I've become more involved within the realm of textiles; one of my dearest friends lent me one of her wheels to play with....

Louet Victoria

 
 One bobbin full of humbug BFL...and my head is really spinning.!!

And spinning some 'designer yarn' with some of the Lincolnshire Longwool fleece.

nice hair, wink wink

And dyed silk.  Absolutely yummy !

And some BFL / silk blend with all sorts of bits and bobs spun into the mix.

With all this spinning going on, I suppose it was inevitable that I would want a wheel of my own. After much research and talking to 'them folk what know about such things', me and him indoors took a trip up to Wentworth, South Yorkshire to visit Wingham Wool Work where there was an opportunity to try out a few wheels.
Here are a few photos from around the village, that were just too good not to share...

Paradise Square

  

Victorian Postbox

The Church

Rush hour !

Pentagram ? These villagers were well protected

Me and 'Cookie' across the road from Winghams

Alan at Winghams was very helpful with my final choice of wheel. I wanted a double treadle, that would fold flat for traveling. It also needed to be fairly compact when assembled, and pleasing to the eye. Most important though was how it felt as I treadled, and would it spin the types of yarn that I was looking to spin ?
Modern wheels have come a long way, and although they all basically do the same thing, they do vary in size and design. Some have a very contemporary style (which are nice) while I prefer the ageless/timeless/classic look.
Ashford (New Zealand) wheels are always spoken highly of, and research had provided lots of positive comments about the Kromski (from Poland) wheels. Visiting Winghams gave me the ideal opportunity of trying both. 

The Kromski Sonata  ticked all the boxes for me.

  Although this photo doesn't show it, there is a  built in 'lazy kate' which swings out from the bottom right-hand side, holds two spare bobbins, and is used when plying. The photo below captures the Polish newspaper that was wrapped around some of the parts, and this write up would not be complete without a mention that the instructions for assembly are written in Polish...Ummm...Cudowny ! They did have clear photos though (just as well !!)...and hooray for t'internet, managed to find them in English.

So, here is a picture of my new wheel complete with some 'homespun' and roving, and the Polish newspaper.
This photo has not been 'staged'. Our house always looks neat and picturesque like this...uumm..yeah right...NOT !!.

Blessed be. May your harvest be a bountiful one...  and happy crafting.
The wheel turns.