Yes, as you can probably guess from the title of this post, I have forged ahead and put together the spinning wheel. And it works. I have spun some singles. It is good. I ended-up putting two coats of the oil rubbing finish (and let me tell you, with all of the long, cylindrical pieces to this thing, I think that I could easily be a guy now from all of the practice that I have had. Think about it, rubbing a hunk of wood up and down over and over….) and it looked good and I’m not planning on having dinner on this thing, so I started putting it together. It had amazingly easy to read instructions for as many parts as it contains. I wouldn’t suggest putting it together while drunk (which one could do with many Ikea furnishings) but it is easier to read than the average Ikea instruction manual. I have a masters degree in Ikea instruction manuals as we remodeled our entire kitchen and most of the living room and dinning room in Ikea, so don’t take the comparison lightly. Anyway, major kudos to the folks at Ashford for coming up with such a well thought-out manual!
Meara already hates the wheel. I will have to keep an eye on any spare parts to make sure that she doesn’t destroy them out of spite. See, normally I would be sitting on the couch watching a movie with Meara and Weezy on my lap crocheting. A dog on the lap is not conducive to good spinning, at least not at this point in my learning. She was sitting at my feet sighing looking up at me woefully the entire time I was spinning. Weezy, however, didn’t give a damn and had ensconced herself in the blanket that I have been working on on the couch.
I was talking on the phone with an old friend of mine telling him about the spinning wheel and stuff, then I started apologizing about it. He sort of gave me a little hell about apologizing, saying things like “…spinning and crochet and knitting and stuff like that are just as much art as sculpture….” I hate it when others deride what I do as less than a type of art, and here I was doing it to myself. Why do we in the fiber arts do that? In many cases, it takes as much talent, time, dedication, and even education to create what we make as it would a painter or sculptor. And yes, there are a lot of folks in the fiber arts who make toilet paper cozies, but there are folks who make ugly (to my eyes) watercolors of the seashore. Is it because that this craft wasn’t really a craft all that long ago, but rather a needed part of everyday existence? If someone didn’t shear the sheep/spin the wool/knit the clothing, it would be a very chilly winter. Is it because we don’t have to do it anymore that we are poked fun at because we choose to?
(Sniff) I don’t see folks being made fun of for gardening.
Anyway, no pictures of the spinning wheel, or of me spinning yet as it is night and not the best time to take pictures. Oh, and would need a 3rd hand to take a picture of me spinning, as it seems that most of my hands are already in use while doing it:-)
Tomorrow I am going to the Lady Lake Garden Club’s meeting to, well, thank them for the money that they have given me in the form of a scholarship this year. Yes, I am a good enough student that I actually get scholarships. I find it ironic that when I really could have used the money the most (when I first started going back to school) I couldn’t get a scholarship to save my life. Now, I am ok and I get scholarships. However, I am NOT going to complain!!! I find it hard to believe that I am actually going to be graduating in the near future, and more than likely, cum laude to boot! Yes, I am tooting my own horn so to speak, get over it. We all need to toot our own horns once in a while, especially when we’ve just put together a spinning wheel!
Sarah Jane Humke 