Why did I buy another e-spinner ?

 Hi, Firstly I want to say that the snow did settle, was very slushy and they didn't even have any two roads away! It was enough to cancel my bus this morning but as Ian was doing the weekly shop, he dropped me off on the main road about a mile away where the buses were running normally.

Anyway, back to the subject of this post. You may have seen a red e-spinner turning up in recent posts and now I must confess that this is my third e-spinner.

The first was Ashford back in 2019 and this is still my main wheel to use at home. I still have two treadle wheels for demos but the Ashford is the workhorse.

The bobbins hold 200 gm which is a bonus but it is heavy to carry around with me and I was looking for something that was a lot more portable.

So I bought the Nano

Yes it works but the bobbins are only 25 gm so I'm still plying on the Ashford plus I have two groves in the plastic which sometimes catch the yarn making it really frustrating.

At this point I heard about the Argonaut and a friend of mine likes them so much that he bought two of them. We met up for coffee so I could have a play on one of them. I liked it enough to buy one.    

The bobbins are 100gm plus, the set up took me a while to get used to but I have that problem with any new to me wheel. I've now spun a few bobbins and I'm happy. Plying is something that I still have to nail in regard to tension but I will get there.

Its heavier than the Nano but much lighter than the Ashford which means that when we are away for several weeks, I will only need to take the one wheel rather than two. More space and slightly less weight in the van.

It will never replace the Ashford but definitely will be used more than the Nano.

The last spinning and knitting of 2025

 Hi,

I had a bit of a break from the knitting needles in September but since October I've slowly got back into the whole spin/knit thing.

The Nano still has a spin on it. This is hand dyed Polworth gifted to me by Petes Fiber Studion.

I had actually emptied the other wheels although the Argonaut now has a bobbin of Jacob on it. Did I mention that I now have another e-wheel?

Here she is.

border leics cross in progress.

So the last of 2025 spinning looks like this excepting the 2/3 skeins being knitted into hats.

plus this one fresh off the wheel

                                                                     not too shabby :-)

Knitting recommenced slowly, I have noticed that I seem to be developing a bit of arthritis in my thumb so I'm trying not to overdo things.

  

Next year may be more stitching than knitting, we will see how things go.

Worldwide Spin in Public day 2025

 This year Worldwide Spin in Public day saw me packing my Nano into my backpack and heading down to the harbour. We are still on the East Coast of Scotland and maybe here for another day or so as the wind speeds have picked up and this makes travelling across open countryside a little daunting at times.

Please note, some of these photos are from  my phone as I forgot to put the card back in my camera so returned to the campsite to pick it up and have dinner.

My spinning day on Saturday started at a coffee shop just before 9am, hot coffee and sat on a bench outside out of the wind. I had a good view of the harbour and watched the local sailing club youngsters having a lesson before heading out into open water.

I had a small note on my spinning wheel box explaining what day it is and feel free to ask questions, conversations were had with the early dog walkers , dogs were petted .

My next location was influenced by a poster tied to a railing.

So many lovely ladies took turns to come and sit with me and find out about spinning, stickers were given to youngsters and much tea was drunk. I may even have broken my diet and had a cheese scone !!

After a quick trip back to the van I called on Baa, a yarn shop in Stonehaven that sells predominantly wool yarns from Jamiesons of Shetland and independent wool producers around Scotland,

                                                                the Jamieson wall of colour

                                           Cookson crafts, Loch Lomond Lace, Kinross 4 ply

Local yarns in the basket and Fiberspates beautiful variegated yarns in the background.

Janice, the shop owner made me very welcome, clearing a space for me at the table and providing tea ( we had chatted on line prior to me turning up )

I spent a very enjoyable afternoon in her company, chatting with customers as they shopped.

Final Tour de Fleece 2025 figures.

I knew that I wouldn't spin as much as usual this year as we were away for nearly half of it. I've not included any half bobbins that are hanging around, just full skeins.

I had prepped around 1300gm of fibre, some is still in the bag but we have another trip or two planned so at least I have something to take with me.

All waiting to be washed, total 1.097Kg or 2.418 pounds, breeds.. Cheviot, Ryeland, Romney, Jacob, Shetland, North Country Mule.

The Cheviot and Jacob are from the Isle of Skye and will return there. The rest will probably join my knitting stash in the van.

I now need to continue washing and prepping fleece both fine and coarse for both of the e-spinners.

quiet, meditative spinning

 We are back in Ludlow, lulled to sleep last night by Jess Glynne who was playing at Ludlow Castle and we could hear it across the campsite until the 10.30 curfew when it went quiet.

Today we went into town, did some shopping on the market ( liquorice, strawberries and cheese ) a quick trawl of the charity shops which turned up another plate for the collection, this time a German one.

Followed by coffee in the church

I had more pictures of the church and Ludlow but for some strange reason my photos have been deleted from the card so I leave you with just this one whilst I was quietly spinning in the Icon café based in the church.

The end of Tour de fleece

Good Morning

 A slightly early end to the tour, I did spin yesterday but forgot to take a photo and today we are back on a campsite so I will do a full post about what and how much was spun in a weeks or so.

I have my Nano here with me along with my knitting but at the moment I'm just unwinding with some you-tube.

Tour de Fleece day twenty

 Another busy day, headed out to do some shopping and spinning on my nano, I was speaking to a couple of people in the cafe and one of them has asked if I can do a talk/demo on spinning to her over 55 group. We have exchanged details and hope to put something in place later in the year.

We have finalised the campsites for our Scotland trip, a few familiar places and several new ones to explore.

Eventually I had the chance to sit down at my Ashford wheel and spin.

100gm ish of Romney.

I'm nearly at the 1 Kilo mark, I set out with 1.2 kilo prepped in the main bag so not bad progress really given how long we have been away involved in other things.

Tour de Fleece day , eighteen and nineteen.

 We've been busy since we got back, mainly washing and packing, a few medical appointments for both of us, some shopping and most importantly planning our next tour of Scotland.

In-between all this I grabbed the chance to ply the Shetland and spin the North Country Mule. 

This is looking like the least productive TDF for me for a while but it started by the coast, continued back at the coast las week and the last two days include  a summer bobbin lace day and yet another travel day.

Still, I have plenty of time in August to continue to spin down the stash so I'm not disheartened.

Tour de Fleece day fifteen - seventeen, more boats

 Saturday was indeed a wash out, we watched a few boats come in then headed for a trawl round the charity shops.

Henry Frederick Swan motoring into the harbour, built 1918 and looks amazing with all the sails in use.

However sails were soon stored away and we made our way into the boat shed to shelter from the rain.

We eventually decamped to the Spa for coffee.

(did I mention that I managed to get sunburt on the Friday ? the weather is so changeable)

Sunday.

Ian dashed out at around 8 o'clock to meet the boat crews so I had a leisurely breakfast before catching the bus. As I arrived in town, the first of the boats was heading out, the Three Brothers 1912. It was chasing the pirate ship out of the harbour and was soon disappearing into the mist.

I didn't realise at the time that this was the reason why I didn't see Ian for the next couple of hours or so.

Yep, there he is haha. second on the left.

Other boats were soon joining in the fun as I headed down to the boat shed.

local musicians had gathered for the event around the harbour

along with longsword dancers

Back out onto the harbour mouth to watch the cobles return after the afternoon sail.

During the day, I did take time out to spin in the boathouse and chat to several people about the Nano.

and I finished off the bobbin later whilst Ian helped pack the festival down.

Not a lot of spinning in all ( two bobbins of shetland) but a very enjoyable , if slightly wet, weekend. We travelled home on day 17 so I took that as a rest day.

Tour de Fleece day fourteen, back by the sea

 Beautiful morning, set out to walk into town but didn't realise how humid it was.

Four of the cobles were out in the bay, taking advantage to the quiet sea. They are easily identified by their brown sails.

The first land train of the day went past on its way to Sewerby ( the direction that I had just come from) and by the time it turned around and headed back I was almost in town but actually dripping ! Having chatted with a couple of people on the way one of which told me that the humidity was about 97% I decided to jump on the train for the last stretch and cool down.

 My first shop was the craft shop for a cup of tea and a spin, Shetland once again on the wheel.

Followed by a coffee at the Spa with Ian, as we walked back to the harbour to look at the boats we realised that the sunny day with blue skies was fast disappearing under the sea mist.

Still, the boats had the flags on ready for the weekend but it is sadly looking as if Saturday is going to be a washout.