My friend Elora

I love my spinning wheel. Her name is Elora. For those of you familiar with the movie Willow, the savior of the movie is a tiny curly red-headed baby named Elora Danan. My spinning wheel is not named for her. I found my spinning wheel on Craig's List listed among various household items in a moving sale ad. "refrigerator, sofa, dressers, bookshelves, spinning wheel, bicycle, ..." I contacted the seller and asked if I could see the spinning wheel prior to the sale and what kind of wheel it was and the price. The woman was enthusiastic about it and said that it was a Canadian Production Wheel and she was asking $100.  I considered it was worth a look and CPW can mean everything from a really nice single treadle upright to a ghastly falling apart worm-eaten "living room antique." I had $100 cash in my pocket but was willing to walk away if it was the latter.

The woman's house was in a very nice neighborhood with perfectly manicured lawns and not a single pink flamingo in sight. Each cookie-cutter house with their matching driveways and brick encased mailboxes looked the same. And it was one of those neighborhoods that all have the same street name. I was looking for Hidden Oaks Lane amongst Hidden Oak Drive, Boulevard, Circle, Court, Road, Parkway, and Street. I spent more time turning around and meandering down the winding roads and parkways before I finally found Lane. I started thinking perhaps I should go home. It was looking more and more like this was going to be some show piece that was glued together so it wouldn't move. I took a deep breath and knocked on the door anyway. A well-dressed woman opened the door and introduced herself a Laura.

And there she sat. I knew the moment I saw her that she was not in anyway a Canadian Production Wheel. This, my friends, was a genuine Ashford Traditional. I knew it the moment I saw it. My heart started pounding. I repeated to myself, "Don't say a word. Don't say a word."  I hemmed and hawed. Gave the wheel a slight push (it turned). Asked if I could sit down and try it (I took some roving with me.). As I played with the wheel I asked if the woman could tell me anything about the wheel. Where she got it, where it had been stored, etc. 

"Well, I bought in Canada, so it's a Canadian Production Wheel (I apologize Canadians for that assumption) and I've kept it mostly in my classroom where I taught. See, I taught third grade and we would do a session in literature on fairy tales and I would show the children how Cinderella pricked her finger on the spinning wheel. I always called the spinning wheel Ella because of the story."

That's when I stopped spinning. And had to give this retired third grade teacher a lesson in spinning wheels.  I asked her where she thought Sleeping Beauty (I refrained from correcting her that Sleeping Beauty's name was not Cinderella) pricked her finger and she pointed to the maidens (the two upright spools that hold the bobbin and fly and is part of an assembly called the "mother of all"). I then told her about the kind of spinning wheels that Sleeping Beauty would have had when her story was first written and about spindles and how they were sharp, and that she did not prick her finger on a Canadian Production Wheel.  I told the woman that I thought the spinning wheel was nice and accepted the $100 price. I clasped the spinning wheel to my chest and almost ran to my car with it, afraid she might change her mind.

I then giggled all the way home. I knew right away that her name would be Elora. El for the many years of being called the wrong princess and -lora for the woman who owned her all those years. The only things I had to do was replace the footman joint (the footman is the rod that connects the treadle to the wheel drive) at the treadle and put a new drive band on her. About a year later I had to reglue the hub as it had come loose and was wobbling.

She's a lovely wheel. She spins beautifully and she sings several different things as we spin together. Her treadle keeps beat with a soft whump-whump-whump and the wheel whirrs and gives a soft swoosh, the bobbin clippity-claps as it turns and the orifice hook tings as it hits the front support leg in rhythm. It's quite soothing and most of the time when I am spinning I don't like to listen to any music or podcasts. I do sometimes, but most of the time I like being lost in the soft song that Elora sings and I let my thoughts wonder off in various directions. It's lovely to have this active meditation and I truly enjoy the days that Elora and I spend in the attic. She's taught me about patience (especially in the early days when I was just learning and thought it was a huge mistake for having bought a used wheel) and she's taught me about love (like after I finally worked out the coordination and got my hands and feet working in different rhythms to create lovely yarn). When we moved from Florida to Ohio, the only thing in my car other than our overnight bags and the cats was Elora. I was so afraid that if I put her in the moving van she would get crushed.

If my house were ever on fire and I was told I could only go back in for two things (assuming my children and cats were safe), I would grab my laptop and my spinning wheel. Let's hope it never comes to that, but Elora is on the top of my list after my children and cats.

Book Review: Cora's Heart by Rachael Herron

As I said yesterday, my friend, Rachael Herron, has a new book coming out on Tuesday. The title is Pack up the Moon and I can't wait for it to come out. But, since it isn't out yet and I haven't gotten to read it yet, I wanted to still give her a hearty plug because she is my friend and I love her books. And not because she is my friend. But because she writes about real people and sultry dark handsome men (many of them cowboys of a sort).

I recently re-read Cora's Heart so it is fairly fresh in my brain. The short review: I loved it! No truly, it was a lovely book and I both couldn't wait to get to the end and was sad when it was over. (I love books that do that!)

Cora's Heart is a sweet story of mis-crossed lovers. She loved him. He loved her. She ended up married to someone else (his cousin in fact - no not a spoiler) then her husband dies and what a mess that leaves. Cora is strong, yet she needs help and doesn't even know it. She's a planner, a prepper, a meet it before it happens kind of gal. She takes no bull from anyone, but in reality she is tender and fragile. She would break easily if she only knew she was as tender as the teacups she loves to drink from. This is the fourth book in the Cypress Hollow Yarn series (there are also two novellas which are also well worth reading). Yet once again the late Eliza Carpenter, who is so wise and dispenses wonderful wisdom disguised as knitting advice, manages to bring together two of Cypress Hollow's residents in an odd turn of misery to love. I love Cora and her story is delicately told by a darling storyteller. If you love yarn, love romance, and love well-rounded characters then you need to grab a copy of this book.

Unfortunately, this book is not available at Barnes and Noble, but it is available as a Nook download. I'm not sure why this one book isn't available in a paper format, but it isn't. If you do want a paper copy rather than a digital copy, you can purchase them through Amazon. (Note: I am not a fan of Amazon. I truly believe that Amazon is trying to strategically destroy brick and mortar bookstores whether they are independent or a "big box" like Barnes and Noble. I truly love going into a bookstore and holding books and thumbing through them to see if they are the right book. I do own a Nook and do purchase digital books from time to time, but my first love is the printed word and being able to go into a bookstore and browse for hours to find the perfect book. So off my soapbox now.)

My favorite character in all of Rachael's books is one that we rarely see. Her name is Eliza Carpenter. She's deceased in all the books, but her spirit lives on. She is a very Elizabeth Zimmerman like character. She is a famed knitter (and spinner) who had much to say about knitting and life. She knew exactly how to reach out to someone in need and she knew how people would respond to different stimuli in the future. Sometimes she would make plans for people ten or more years down the road because she knew the very fiber of their being. Her gentle, but no-nonsense, demeanor makes any fiber person yearn for someone like her in their lives. I forget sometimes that Eliza Carpenter wasn't a real person. I know logically that Eliza Carpenter is a creation of Rachael's brain and heart. Eliza is real in that she is Rachael. I wish I had an Eliza in my life. someone who knows better what I want than I do. Who assures me that knitting and spinning and my love of fibery goodness isn't silly or only a hobby. That it is something that speaks to my heart.

So go out and buy a Rachael book. Or at least borrow one from the library. You will appreciate yourself for it. And perhaps you will find a new author to fall in love with. Oh and Rachael is such a doll.

Tour de Fleece

It's July and for millions of people around the world it means it is time to check daily to see how the Tour de France is going.  Who's ahead?  Who's wearing the yellow shirt?  How the heck do they endure it day after day through mountains and valleys and in rain and heat and sleet (remember that year)?  For over 4,000 knitters this month also means that it is the annual Tour de Fleece.  We spin our fibers as cyclists spin their wheels.  It's kind of the same except without the mountains or hills or long exhausting hours.  If we start to get a blister we stop.  If we get hungry we go get a piece of cake.  to tired to even get out of our jammies, we just spin in our lovely sheep festooned pajamas.  Yep.  It's grueling I tell ya. 

The premise is that you set a goal for yourself and spin every day that the race is happening.  I decided to spin for 10 minutes a day at a minimum.  I've spun a total of 9 grams so far.  It may not seem like a lot but considering I don't spin all that often and I'm using my lovely Trindle to do so, it's a big step for me.  I love my Trindle.  It spins fabulously and my spinning is getting more even each day.  Yesterday I only dropped the spindle twice while spinning. 

The fiber I'm using is a wonderful merino and bamboo blend that I picked up at Stitches South last year.  It looks a whole lot like cotton candy with its pale blue and pinkish lavender colors.  (Xeno cat can attest that it doesn't taste like cotton candy).  It drafts so lovely and is going to be gorgeous once spun and plied.  I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, but it will be something people will be able to see easily (so not socks).  I'm thinking a scarf or hat.

It may not be as challenging as riding a bicycle for 3600 kilometers, but when we get to the end we will have more to show for it than a silly yellow shirt.  And the really cool thing is that everyone is a winner.  I like that kind of world.

My New Baby

I've been scouring Craig's List and Freecycle and the newspaper classifieds for a new(er) wheel than the one I have. Don't get me wrong. I love Eloise, my 18th century Eastern European flax wheel, but she is fragile and needs a little attention. So earlier this week I found an add on Craig's List about an estate sale which listed all kinds of miscellaneous household furnishings and then a light from the heavens showed down on the listing and tacked on the end of "... dishes, linens, two sofas, antique chair" were the words and a spinning wheel. It was hanging there like an afterthought. I immediately contacted the person and asked if they were willing to let me come out and look at it and what kind of condition the wheel was in. She wrote back and said, "Sure, come on Thursday evening. It's in working condition and I'm wanting $100 for it."

Now, being the skeptic I am, I immediately questioned what "working condition" could mean, but decided that I would go look anyway. I mean it might be a good wheel or it might be a nice display piece, but the address was only ten minutes from my house and I could always luck out. Well, I lucked out. It's a beautiful fairly modern Saxony Canadian production wheel. She's in perfect working order (and I even have spun a few yards on her already).

Her name is Elora. I asked the owner if she had a name yet and I was met with confusion. She said, "Well, my students (elementary age) called her Sleeping Beauty." I laughed and said, "But she isn't a flax wheel." That got me a confused look. I then had to explain that Sleeping Beauty pricked her finger on a distaff of a flax wheel and not a wool spinning wheel. (That got me a bag of New Zealand wool thrown in.) But I didn't want to call her Sleeping Beauty and I didn't want to call her Aurora, so I combined it with the previous owner's name (Laura) to come up with Elora.

I'm so happy.