An Ashford in the family

Ready... Set... Go!!

I meant to blog more fully about the construction of this wheel, but nothing very interesting happened, and anyway, I was so absorbed I lost track of my camera! I've actually owned this wheel for a couple of months now; it came as a kit in unfinished wood. Now, normally me and delayed gratification are just fine together, but not in this case. Each piece of this beauty (and a few more - see later) had to be sanded and waxed¹. I'm not a woodworker; it interests me, but I'm not 'into' it. Anyway, it's now finally together, and it is so easy to treadle and so quiet compared to my other wheel that I spent about two hours spinning Lorna's Laces top on it last night without noticing any fatigue at all. The wheel, I love; the top, I'm not so sure about. It's probably because it's been stashed for ages, but it feels pretty compacted and refuses to draft. I'm trying to pre-draft, but even that isn't helping all that much; it sticks and jumps and won't draft smoothly. If I want to spin this evenly, I need to find a way to help open it out again. I'd think about carding or combing, but the roving's already space-dyed, and I'm not sure I want to mix it all up. ________________________________________________________________ ¹ OK, I could have just assembled it without finishing - the wood is nice and smooth anyway - but I just *know* that within months it would be looking grubby and sorry for itself, especially around the treadles and those places where one's hands repeatedly touch... So I wanted to seal the wood, so that all muck and rubbish would not soak into the grain and would be easily removed.