The second half of my Saturday trip to the NHSW festival was spent focusing on spinning supplies, albeit with copious amounts of gratuitous fiber fondling thrown in. Chris gave me guidance on what type of roving to buy and I settled on an 8 ounce bag of natural colored Correidale.
Ascribing to the William Morris maxim, "[h]ave nothing in your homes that you do not know to be useful and believe to be beautiful," I was overjoyed to see Golding Fiber Tools had a booth. When I considered getting a drop spindle, I immediately envisioned buying one of their intricately carved whorls.
I found more than one to fall in love with, but easily settled on a hand carved vintage spindle (#13). When no one came promptly to ring up my purchase, I began to rethink the purchase and found myself returning the spindle to it's display. I had been hypnotized into gratifying every whim at the festival up until this point. The extravagance of the purchase finally awoke my slumbering pragmatism, and once revived, I could find no justification for a $140 spindle.
With absolutely no regret I moved on and shortly thereafter we came to a vendor selling Grafton spindles, also a Vermont product, but one more moderately priced. The clerk and a passing customer were kind enough to provide a lot of insight into what I should look for in a beginner's spindle and as I fell in love with their designs, I decided to purchase a 1.2 ounce whorl:
Just as I was paying, Chris came over and handed me a spinning kit as a gift in her wonderful, no nonsense way. Yes, I had just bought a spindle, but the kit had a video, and a different spindle. Learning on more than one type of spindle would be good for me. I was blown away by her generosity. Really blown away.
With these purchases made, all that was left for us to do was to continue to enjoy all the fiber around us, which we did to the fullest, until exhaustion set in. After a meal, at a chain steakhouse in Concord, and a hearty hug, we each went home our separate ways.
It was a great day.
Ascribing to the William Morris maxim, "[h]ave nothing in your homes that you do not know to be useful and believe to be beautiful," I was overjoyed to see Golding Fiber Tools had a booth. When I considered getting a drop spindle, I immediately envisioned buying one of their intricately carved whorls.
I found more than one to fall in love with, but easily settled on a hand carved vintage spindle (#13). When no one came promptly to ring up my purchase, I began to rethink the purchase and found myself returning the spindle to it's display. I had been hypnotized into gratifying every whim at the festival up until this point. The extravagance of the purchase finally awoke my slumbering pragmatism, and once revived, I could find no justification for a $140 spindle.
With absolutely no regret I moved on and shortly thereafter we came to a vendor selling Grafton spindles, also a Vermont product, but one more moderately priced. The clerk and a passing customer were kind enough to provide a lot of insight into what I should look for in a beginner's spindle and as I fell in love with their designs, I decided to purchase a 1.2 ounce whorl:
Just as I was paying, Chris came over and handed me a spinning kit as a gift in her wonderful, no nonsense way. Yes, I had just bought a spindle, but the kit had a video, and a different spindle. Learning on more than one type of spindle would be good for me. I was blown away by her generosity. Really blown away.
With these purchases made, all that was left for us to do was to continue to enjoy all the fiber around us, which we did to the fullest, until exhaustion set in. After a meal, at a chain steakhouse in Concord, and a hearty hug, we each went home our separate ways.
It was a great day.
Comments
Let me know how you like that spindle!