After destashing some yarn this month, I was ready to fix up the old wheel. I did some price check online and realized it would cost me $200 to get a new Flyer Unit, a Lazy Kate plus other parts that it needed to start running. That would be a good chunk of money for something I wasn't even sure if it would be worth it at all. I almost went for it, but just wasn't so sure, so I kept putting off ordering the parts.
Last week I found out a yarn store in a nearby town is closing :( I read that everything in the store was 25% off. Noticing that they sold Ashford wheels on their website, I called them up to see if they had any spinning wheel parts. They didn't, but as it turned out the owner was selling its new Ashford Traveller SD floor model for $400. It came with manufactured lacquer finish. It was more than what I was hoping to spend when I first thought about fixing up the wheel. But after I looked around online and found that a new Traveller without finish goes for higher than that, and the ones with finish goes even higher. I felt this was my chance at a decent brand new wheel. And one reason the Traveller also attracted me was its flyer unit also works on my old wheel that I was intended on fixing - an Ashford Traditional. So getting this one would give me both a new wheel and help me figure out if it's worth it at all to fix the other one. I was very glad by selling the most pricey yarns in my collection it gave me enough to afford this wheel.
Bright early this morning, I drove out to the store to check out the wheel. I liked the feel of it when I treadled. I didn't get to spin on it, but I felt like it was a good buy for me at this point. I also liked the fact that I'm keeping the economy local considering how bad it is around here, and that I had been a guilty party of buying most of my yarns online. After I got home, I played with it for a while. I could see the big learning curve is ahead of me. I spun the Welsh Top I still had. I might have to get different fibers so I'm not as frustrated with drafting. I noticed that Welsh was harder to draft for me as compared to Corridale when I was using my spindle.
This is the biggest gift I'd given myself in a long, long, long time. I feel so special. It's a whole new adventure waiting for me and I'm totally stoked. Hopefully I'll have some finished yarn to show soon.
Wow! Congratulations. She's a lovely wheel. I hope you have many many happy times together.
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