A Trip to Purlescence

countgeiger and I ambled down to Purlescence just to look at spinning wheels. He said he'd lay a goodly sum towards one for my birthday, and I thought...

Oh, good--I'll get a wee portable one and spook people in airports with thoroughly innocent activity, e.g. a Louet Victoria. Or perhaps some other aimed-at-newbies wheels, like the Ashford Joy. Oh, hey, the Schacht Ladybug was just reviewed at Knitty, maybe that! At any rate, insofar as one can ever call a spinning wheel a sensible purchase when one is not, say, Amish, then I shall be Sensible. I shall most assuredly not get one of those fairytale, Sleeping Beauty sorts of wheels. A Schacht-Reeves wheel is gorgeous, but costs more than my rent. Get thee behind me, ye Ashford Elizabeth! We shall buy Small! We shall be (relatively!) Inexpensive!

But I shall also heed all the wise women who said, "go to a store with many, that you may treadle with your very own feet. The wheel chooses the spinner!" Sounds a bit Harry Potter, but in a way I actually agree with. Bring on the wheels!

So I went. I test-treadled every wheel above as well as the Louet Julia--yes, including the 30" Schact-Reeves Saxony, that is in the shop window with big signs saying "don't touch!". The store owner strokes it lovingly and calls it "Precious".

My husband and I are engineers, and my father-in-law is a retired ironworker with a strong second in woodwork--craftsmanship was a strong factor in our decision, but dangit I'd brought him to help make sure I didn't buy anything too expensive! Still, when we saw the second most expensive wheel, he was willing to double his contribution to this folly to encourage Sound Engineering and Good Craftsmanship.

We didn't walk out having bought the Precious, but we did buy another, whose treadling was smooth, whose quiet purr enchanted me, whose eager spirit wanted dearly to occupy a corner of my home...

The Schacht Matchless:

It's a little large to be called "portable", but as it comes with a shoulder strap, one may deem it "luggable". Also, we didn't exactly "purchase"--we laid down half and will lay the other half down when it arrives in a month, because apparently it has to be made, a prospect which makes me a bit weak in the knees.

Whee! Also--GAH!

I also picked up the Yarn Harlot's latest, Cat Bordhi's other Moebius book, some wool wash, and a replacement skein of Haida. Y'know, as long as I was there and freshly paid and delighted in a store where the owner knew me by name.

By the by, they're angling to have a booth at Pantheacon. *grin*

(holycrapIboughtaspinningwheel)

-- Lorrie