i fell down at SOAR

Full SOAR report later, but for now, I thought you'd want to see my biggest falling-down.

This, my spinning friends, is the new Ladybug wheel from Schacht. She's all mine.

I didn't mean to buy a wheel at SOAR, though the thought of it as a possibility was in the back of my mind. I roomed with Carla [who had her Journey wheel with her] and Jillian [who has a Schacht Matchless] and watched them spin so happily the whole time. So with an entire room of wheel vendors at my disposal, how did I manage to avoid testing any wheels until the last day? Willpower. Fear. Mostly fear.

The morning of the last day, Jillian casually said, "You should spin on the Ladybug." Because she knows me, what I spin, and what I like. And all day, that's all I could think about. Because, of course, my enabler had given me permission to try it out. So at the end of Saturday, I *did* spin on it. And within seconds, was making yarn more effortlessly than ever before. Deep, instant love.

So meet the new Knittyspin wheel, my Ladybug. My birthday present to myself.


The most recognizable feature of this wheel is...the wheel. It's a red bicycle mag wheel [plastic? not sure. will find out]. Did you know that Schacht's other business is building bicycles? Clever people. The treadles look like ladybug wings, and just to make it unbearably cuter, they include a wee ladybug on each wheel [in a unique position] to keep you company while you spin. Here's mine.



I can't stand it.



They ain't kidding.

So, you might ask, what will happen to my Ashford Joy double treadle? Well, it's a really fabulous travel wheel, which is what it was designed for. It went with me as carryon baggage on even the smallest planes [Embraer 4 jets] in the overhead compartment with no trouble. So it's got a very important job to fulfill. I also was able to have Richard Ashford [himself!] tune it up at SOAR, and he signed it, which he was doing for many of the Joy users. Very coolness.

The Ladybug is, their website says, a great beginner wheel. It's also significantly more affordable than the Matchless [which I've heard called the Jaguar of spinning wheels], and therefore more suitable for me, a spinner on a budget. It doesn't fold up, but it is only 12 lbs and very light to carry. I may hang it on the wall in my office to keep it out of bunny-nibble range!

I'll have much more about learning to spin [finally!] on the Joy and will explore the Ladybug more in future editions of my soon-to-be resurrected column, Knittyspin.