Welcome 'Ashland' My *New* Ashford Traditional Spinning Wheel

Whoo hoo!  Welcome 'Ashland' my new Ashford Traditional Spinning Wheel!  What a day it has been.  First, I went to the beach to meet up with friends to go scuba diving.  Well, my tanks were BOTH low on air and I had issues with my regulator.  So instead of diving today, I was beach support for my buddies.

It was a beautiful morning at the beach.  As I waited for my buddies during their dive, I sat and worked on another new found interest 'English Paper Piecing' in which I am making a Tumbling Blocks quilt.  It was so peaceful.  Then, I thought, how cool it would be to sit down on the beach spinning fiber!  Agh... if I ONLY had a wheel!

As it was, I have been searching the past couple of weeks for a wheel and doing a lot of research on spinning, especially this past week.  In that I knew nothing about spinning, I joined several lists and groups on Yahoo and Ravelry to begin my education.  Several of the spinners suggest I try several wheels and take a class before deciding on a wheel.  With that said, I made an appointment with Nancy of Nancyscustomhandweaving.com in Redondo Beach, CA for a spinning class.  Nancy was great!  She had me try several different wheels, both single and doube treadles; some were in my price range, some were not.  The one that I really liked, was the Ashford Joy.  I did my best spinning on that wheel.  Still, the wheel was a tad out of my price range.  In the meanwhile, I had been in contact with a gal from Craigslist.org who was selling her Ashford Traditional Wheel.  I was the second person to contact her, so sale 'was' pending.  Luck turned in that the person that was going to buy the wheel never sent her a check for it.  So after my spinning class today, I hustled over to Huntington Beach to see the wheel.  What a beauty!  I took her for a test drive after learning all of the valuable spinning techniques that Nancy had just taught me.... SOLD!  The wheel also came with a Lazy Kate, a niddy-noddy, carders, and several bags of fiber.  As soon as I got her home, I started practicing spinning.  Wow!  I completed my first bobbin of yarn... with no lumpy bumpy's!!!!  Granted the wool on the bobbin isn't as evenly spaced, but I'll get used to adjusting the hooks as I spin.  I now have yet another new found passion/ addiction!!!