A fun little surprise happened around here this week. I knew about it, but wanted it to be a blog surprise. Another wheel joined my home.
Isn’t she pretty? This is a kromski prelude, and it came from Introverted knitter’s wheel family. I feel so fortunate to have been able to add it to mine!
I had put all those singles on spindles in anticipation of this wheel arriving, I wanted to have something to practice plying with. The wheel arrived in parts in a large box, so I had to figure out how to put it back together. It took me a bit of time, but there’s youtube videos out there to help. I am hoping I did it correctly! I only needed Mr. Ink’s help with one thing.
Now, everyone (surely?) who has gotten used to one wheel and then purchased a new one, or added to their collection has had the experience of wondering if they’d made the right decision. I’ve been 10 years almost exclusive with my rose now, and so even just plying, I had a bit of a struggle with the prelude initially. I think that was twofold. New wheel, and also just needing to make adjustments to it until it was ready to run really smoothly.
I finished plying the yarn on Wednesday evening, shot this photo Thursday evening, and then made a couple more adjustments. I grabbed a batt out of stash and decided to try for some singles. And, wonder of wonders, it went beautifully! The wheel was running quietly, I was making nice, appropriate, mostly even singles. (even, for a batt.)
So, after like 24 hours with the wheel I am already getting accustomed to it, and I am really glad I have it! It’s been a lot of fun to put it together and see if I am a capable enough spinner to make the appropriate adjustments to a new wheel to keep myself spinning on it, rather than heading right back for the comfort of the rose.
One of the things I like the best about it is how light it is! It’s quite amazing, I may never take the rose out of the house again. (That’s probably a lie.) But, it really is wee, and light, and easy to carry around.
And one of the things I like the least? The treadle could be larger. My feet are not that small, and it has rather hard edges, and I desperately want to use both feet on one small treadle with sharp edges, so it’s not that comfortable. But I can overlook it. And am considering what options I could use to alleviate that.
One of the reasons I was so pleased to put the wheel together by myself was that Mr. Ink had a project he was hoping to complete before he left for Boston Thursday morning.
This little rock wall is in! It needs a bit more dirt, but we’ve been discussing this one for a year or more. This was just a sloped area of grass, and it was losing ground which made me worry we’d put the cement area in danger of tipping. Plus, the gas and electric lines to the shop were pretty unsightly, and we figured building up around them, then putting a plant in front of them would really help cover them appropriately. This little wall matches the one behind it, and there’s another across the sidewalk from it, so it’s now a nicely matching section of yard. The problem? That the place we were getting these stones from had very few left, and so we had to take out the edging stones from elsewhere in the yard to match them over here. It made me sad that Mr. Ink had to dig up his hard work elsewhere, but we also were in agreement that we’d prefer to have everything match nicely over here, and then we could choose something else for the other portions of the gardens.
That’s your update from me. I have a couple finished small knitting projects to post in the upcoming days, and a skein of poorly plied handspun that’s drying in the bathroom right now. So, I should have pretty good blog photos for the upcoming week. Have a great weekend, happy Friday!
Suzy Sells Sea Shells 
Since it isn’t a folding wheel could you either replace the treadle with a larger/wider board or patch a piece to it on one side?
I’ve got an Ashford Joy2 so I don’t get that option but I’ve been tempted to do it anyway.
Glad to hear the new wheel is a success! It’s always so fun to get new tools:)
very nice wheel! It does take time to adjust to new tools, I am glad you were able to so quickly! I agree with bagheeracr, you might be able to put a wider board on that treadle.
the stone wall looks great! Too bad about undoing other work, but it sure does look lovely – and the other edging can be replaced with less work than it was to install it originally, right? I mean it is already leveled off and dug out, right? She said, not having a clue. 🙂
Yes that’s exactly correct, the grass is already removed, we’d just need to add the edging and it’s good to go. Though I don’t really imagine that will happen this year. The season is getting a little late. Then again, with Mr. Ink around, you never know.
And if you are having a fall like we are, there is plenty of time before it gets and stays cold. I am still in short sleeves, haven’t shifted my closet over to winter clothes yet! Unheard of! We haven’t; even had a killing frost – we had one cold morning a few weeks ago, but my lettuce is still growing in the garden. No row covers necessary.
Apparently we are not having the kind of fall you are! It’s been below freezing more often than not at night, often in the mid 20s range. No plants are left to speak of. A few days get to be fairly nice during the day if it’s sunny, but most of them are pretty appropriately fall cool. On the plus side, the scarves and shawls are in full swing now.
That is our normal fall, but this year we are having our early September weather all the time. Always in the mid 60’s, down in the 50s, maybe 40s at night. NOT NORMAL!