Antique Spinning Wheels

I get asked by new spinners or those who would like to learn to spin and are looking for a wheel that is affordable whether they should buy a used or antique spinning wheel.  To be honest, my answer 99.9% of the time is no.  Even for more experienced spinners, my answer would be a very reluctant maybe (with a lot of grimacing and shrugging of shoulders).  The vast majority of the used/antique wheels are not functional.  I came across this video by the always wonderful Abby Franquemont where she discusses what specifically to look for when considering a wheel you might find on the internet or in an antique shop.

I particularly like her comment near the end that if you're shopping for your first wheel or your only wheel, you should go for one that is a "newer" used wheel, i.e. one that is still being manufactured so you can easily get any missing parts, and that you should buy it from a spinner who can assure you that it is in working order.

So, thanks Abby for making your video so I don't have to and providing a practical guide for this important question.

I can't tell you how many people I've talked to who have dreamed of learning to spin only to waste their money on a wheel that isn't functional.  This is to keep you from being such a person.  I know you don't have money to waste because you need to buy fiber to spin!

The Bug

I must have the spring cleaning bug because I'm finally getting things straightened up and cleared out (watch out Goodwill!).  As I was running around this morning, I was trying to think what to do with the little round table in my living room and it suddenly hit me.  Actually I tripped over it on the way to the kitchen. 

I had my beautiful antique wheel that didn't have a place to live.  He was just getting moved from pillar to post.  Was the base small enough to fit on the little round table?

Ha!  It does.  Add one of the vintage drawn work tablecloths I scored a while back and jibledy flippit, I've got the little spinning tableau I've always wanted.  Now all I need to do is figure out what fiber I'd like to display with it.  Although this wheel works and I will use it from time to time in demonstrations, mostly it's pretty and unique and I just want to be able to admire it and for it to feel welcome here. 

Now I can! (and it can)

p.s. - Do you love the little vase with the double pointed knitting needles?  It's a lovely little pot I bought from a potter at the Midwest Folk and Fiber Festival last year.  So sweet. And the picture behind it that you can't see very well because I haven't hung it yet, is a photocopy of a page from a January 18, 1868 Harper's Bazaar magazine.  It's a poem and illustration called, "The Stocking-Knitter."  Since the wheel is probably at least that old, it seemed fitting to display them together.

A funny thing happened...

Every once in a while I have to run away from home and such a thing happened this weekend.  After being woken up at 5am for 3 out of 4 mornings to let people in at work because of a faulty piece of software, I told my boss I was taking today off and running away from home. 

OK, well maybe I didn't go into the running away from home thing with him but on the rest of it, I'm solid.  And I'm in Chicago for the LACE group meeting tomorrow.

It gave me time this morning (in between the phone call from work to turn something off) to get my workout done, pack up and run some errands before I hit the road.  Because I wasn't in a rush, I was free to stop at antique malls along the way.  The one I always look forward to on the way to Chicago is the 2nd Time Around Antiques north of Bloomington-Normal.  It's a proper antique shop, not a mall, and they always have beautiful, clean stuff at what I think are really reasonable prices.

Today I stopped by, wandered through and was ready to leave when I happened to look up.  You'll never believe what I saw.

You know I see lots of spinning wheels in places like this.  For some reason most antique mall stall owners way, way over price them.  I've seen broken spinning wheels with missing parts tagged $350-400.  Where I've found them in good shape, I've sometimes been tempted.  But the second I saw this one and reached to take it down off the cabinet it was on, I knew I couldn't pass it up.  Not only was it reasonably priced, if not underpriced, I got it for $50 less than it was tagged for.

It was marked as a "primitive spinning wheel" and that fits it perfectly.  I believe the wood is walnut.  It's chunky and solid with some lovely decorative touches to it without being prissy.  Certainly the person who made it was a top-notch craftsman. 

Everything is there, the wheel is straight and it has a jumbo flyer.  Most of these old spinning wheels have dinky little bobbins.  Not this one, though!

So I'm in love but the problem is that, for once, I came away from home with no spinning fiber!  Yikes, what a day to leave the house without fiber!!!!!!

Just the Cutest Thing

Let me show you something...

No, I haven't bought a new spinning wheel but if I'd seen this for sale, it would have been really, really hard to pass up.  I don't know if it functions but it's the cutest thing I've ever seen and it weighs about an ounce.  Goodness me.

It's actually just passing through.  Evidently there's a little network out there that will get antique wheels from one end of the country to the other.  I believe this one came from Nevada and is heading to Michigan.  A friend of mine brought it here from Iowa and was supposed to meet someone who could take it to Chicago on the next leg.  Unfortunately, that link seems to have fallen through but since I was headed back to the Chicago area this weekend, I said I would take it.  And the person it's going to lives just a few minutes from where I'll be meeting with the LACE group.  Cool, n'est pas?

I feel honored just to have fostered this lovely little thing in my home.  Fair trip, little spinning wheel.