2004-04-09 - 12:41 p.m.

Spring is thinking about maybe making an appearance. I'm not saying this very loudly, as the weather gremlins will smite me down as I sit here, but we MAY (SHHHH!!) have dodged the worst of the mud season already. We've lost the bulk of our snow with just a few small piles from plowing left. The mud pit known as our driveway is also drying out. Our neighbor, Tom, came over and scraped the worst of the ruts off with his tractor bucket. Just rain scheduled in the forecast... but no snow, which is a good thing. Last year, we had our last snowfall over the April 28th weekend, so we are not out of the woods yet, but at least there is light at the end of the tunnel.

In fiber news, I traded up for a slightly different and much less beat-up travel wheel. I still love my big Saxony from Lehigh Valley Spinning Wheels, but I just have NO place to put it in our tiny house. I may move it up to the living area this summer, as I could store it by the stove, but I am not going to do that until we are no longer using the stove as a heat source.

At any rate, this cute little wheel is now my spinning companion:

It's a Koala from NZ. Reminds me a bit of the current Baynes wheels, but is currently not in production. The wood on it is really nice (zebrawood, I believe) and it spins like a dream. The wheel itself is so heavy you barely have to treadle at all!

One of the interesting little features is that it has no orifice - just a hook - and while you'd think that just would not work, it actually works quite well! Here's a close-up:

I was worried the spun yarn would keep jumping out of the hook, but lo-and-behold, it stays right in place with the little amount of tension you put on it to spin.

It's a nice little wheel. DH is going to try to make me some extra bobbins, and he may even try to design and build a jumbo flyer assembly (in his spare time!). Even so, lots of good spinning time to be had on it. I'm currently listening to "Pride and Prejudice", and have 10 more 80-minute CDs, so lots and lots to keep me entertained. For some reason, while I have never been able to get through the classics very easily by reading them as text, they are charming and delightful when read to me!

All for now....

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