May I introduce...

Lady Wheelamina Woolerton of Ashford, ye olde spinster.

(dammit, I did it again with the forgetting to take pictures. Imagine a pretty spinning wheel here.)

We finally had a chance to get together over at Rich's (we meaning Britt and myself) for dinner -- the first time in nearly a month! I brought over my spinning wheel, gleaming from her Murphy's Oil Soap-based spongebath, and two intense massage sessions with the Howard Feed 'n Wax. The finish looks much-improved, and the wood has a healthy appearance.

Rich tightened the screws, replaced the leather bit connecting footman and treadle, replaced the washers under the mother-of-all with copper washers he made right then and there for me (pennies...heehee!), added an extra screw for stability, and set up the scotch tension before taking it into the kitchen to give things a good oiling.

She runs quietly; the only noise being a slight creak from the leather bit, and a soft whirring from the flyer. After a bit of practice, I have discovered that once I get the treadle moving, I can actually minimize the noise of the creaking leather.

Treadling moves muscles in my leg that are not used to being moved. Bit of an interesting burn, there. If I can get it positioned to treadle with my left leg, I wonder if that will help strengthen my bum knee (arthroscopic surgery six years ago after having a kneecap dislocated for seven or eight months).

I asked Rich to please come up with a name; I knew I'd either come up with something stupid ("Jenny. huh-huh-huh, as in Spinning Jenny"), or fuss over finding the "perfect" name.

So Lady Wheelamina Woolerton of Ashford, ye olde spinster it is. Wheelamina for short, or Mina for even shorter. I think it suits her, being an early-70's Ashford Traditional.

I had to play around a bit last night with a bit of roving left over from my failed attempt at drop spindle spinning (hi - I will never be able to handle manual transmission in cars)... I screwed up because I'm clueless, but it was still neat to see how it worked. I have a few books on spinning, and of course the variety of videos on YouTube to get started with.

And new bobbins and pretty roving on their way in the mail. Woohoo!