the kiwi has landed!

it’s an early christmas as the saliz/pempek household…. my wheel arrived yesterday!  thank you so much to DAVE at merlin tree!!!  despite my illness, i managed to put him mostly together (i didn’t permanently attach the wheel since he’s going to be painted) and filled up all my bobbins with a single ply brown wool.

buster is very excited (mostly just about new cardboard to eat)!

the pieces:

the yarn i spun yesterday is a little heavier than sock weight.  i wound off the first bobbin(121 yards) and the second(184 yards) this morning.  i’m practicing consistency and adjusting the tension on the wheel – so i can spin my baby alpaca and wool without it being all crazy.  i got the fiber from the sheep shed studio from their ‘mill end roving’ stash.  it’s awesome for a beginner because it’s not super slippery and drafts really well.

there is a cute wood-burned outline of a kiwi bird on the right treadle.  i painted him turquoise today as i was unloading my bobbins and wet finishing my skeins.

the wheel will be getting a paint and oil job shortly.

so far, i have enjoyed spinning on this wheel much more than the ladybug i was learning on.  the ladybug had very large treadle pedals and i found them harder to control.  the tension knob on the ladybug kept popping out so i had to adjust my tension a lot more.  the kiwi is also over $200 cheaper than the ladybug!

there were some added surprises with the wheel.  i ordered it with the merlin tree folding pedal conversion for storage, but it also came with a built-in lazy kate (the two spool holders attached to the base of the wheel), a carry handle, and a big bottle of teak oil (though i usually use straight lemon oil to oil my boat teak – it smells like home).  it also came mostly assembled!  i read about other kiwi owners who hated assembling their wheels, i was glad i could play with it after only a little minor tinkering!

gotta spin…. 

’til then…