My spinning wheel just arrived in the shop!
I am very happy indeed. Of course, I can’t go get it because I don’t have the car, and I have too much work to head out to meet HRH at the school and pick it up on the way home. Tomorrow is orchestra, and doing the trip out and back is likely to exhaust me. Perhaps Thursday. It’s a bit more expensive than I anticipated because prices went up, the exchange isn’t great, and there’s all that tax, but I have the money aside, and the gift certificate my wonderful Witchy Editor sent me for my birthday will offset a bit of it, too. And then to stain it, and set it up, and spin!
But it is here, and I am very pleased.
I totally stole the title of the post from one of Pasley’s e-mails, as she has been chatting with me this morning about spindles and wheels as used in Sleeping Beauty retellings.
Yay! Wheel!
Actually, I’ve been curious about spindles as used in Sleeping Beauty myself, since they mention the spindle as being attached to a wheel, and from drawings of spinning wheels, I gather there was a spindle ON the wheel (as opposed to a drop spindle that you can actually spin yarn on). Was it used to hold fibre? And when did it fall out of use? Any ideas? Because I’ve never seen anything like it even on the antique wheels we’ve looked at.
Hee. Ceri, darling, have you looked at the walking wheel my mother left in your front sunroom? Imagine the spindle longer, sharper, and sticking out of the front. That’s exactly what you’ve got; the spindle is either not original or has been shortened for safety.
They were still being made when the settlers were here in North America, probably because they’re easier to make than treadle wheels with bobbin/flyer assemblies. Spindle-based wheels are also generally woolen long-draw tools, good for spinning lofty warm yarns for our cold winters. As for when they fell out of use… Da Vinci designed a flyer assembly but didn’t build one, although someone else designed a different version and actually built it in the, um, 17th century I think. Treadles were designed in the 14th century, I think, but again, not widely used for a while. Treadles tend to not be used with spindle wheels because treading spins the drive wheel too quickly, and you can’t control the yarn slipping off the spindle’s end. I think flyer/bobbin assemblies + treadles began to be used more frequently in the 17th century, but don’t quote me on that.
Yay! Wheel!
So glad that you’ll have it for our upcomming spinning / knitting / sewing / crafting weekend!
As am I, I’m sure you can guess! I was telling Ceri the other day that if it hadn’t arrived by then part of me wanted to stay home and sulk, even though I have plenty of other crafty stuff to work on.
WHEEEE-L!
Great news!