Friends, I am a lucky girl. Just look at the booty I got from my fabulous Knitty Spinning SP:

This is from a gray Corriedale/Romney cross named “Black Betty”:

And this is from Martha, a black Corriedale:

And then finally ther’s Purl, a white Corrie/Merino cross:

All of it lovely and soft with amazing crimp! It came in a big grocery bag that was fabulously stanky and lanolin-greasy… like a big bag of popcorn at the movies. Mmm. I can’t wait to dig into this stuff!

Speaking of spinning… I recently had a little crisis of faith regarding my Louet Victoria portable wheel. I wasn’t using the Victoria to do the traveling that I had initially thought I’d do, and the Victoria just wasn’t my ideal choice of a second stay-at-home wheel. So I got it into my head that I wanted to trade in Vicki for a Lendrum Complete. I figured that the Lendrum could be used with the plying head at home, and it’d still be portable enough for the once or twice a month that I go to a spinning group or to teach a lesson. So I got together with the lovely Carmelnap, who had a Lendrum in Brooklyn and not enough space to keep it, and made the trade for this:

And I absolutely love it! It spins like a dream. Compared to the Schacht it is sooooo easy to spin on this wheel - it’s not finicky at all, yet the end product is just as good. (I probably feel like the Schacht hates me because I’ve got it set up on double drive and the Lendrum is run Scotch tension, but Dang I really prefer the Lendrum right now. I just can’t stop spinning on it, which says a lot given how lackadaisical about spinning I was there for a little while.)

One thing to know about the Lendrum, for those who are shopping for portable wheels, is that it’s BIG. It’s taller than my Schacht Matchless and just a little less wide; because the wheel leans toward you at an angle, I have the sense that it has an even larger footprint. But it does fold down flat quite neatly, so it still works well for me as a travel wheel when I need it. It’s just that if I (like Carmelnap) was looking to shove it under the bed in my Brooklyn apartment when not in use, I might not feel the same way.)

Here’s a little sample of the sort of thing I’ve been up to:

Now think slinky ladies of the 1930s… that’s all I can say for now, so stay tuned!