Mr. Kiwi

My first spinning wheel was a Kiwi by Ashford; and yes indeed, I do call it, um, him,  Mr. Kiwi. He is the only wheel who has a name.

My dear Aunt Polly has a wonderful fiber store (Tennessee Valley Fibers, here's the link:  http://www.spinningwheelspot.com/store/  ) and by chance I mentioned to her that I wanted to learn to spin. She send me a gift box full of roving and a drop spindle. To this day I think she was shocked that I stuck with it after seeing the pictures of my first feeble attempts at spinning on that spindle.  I tried, and tried....and tried, tried and tried. I spun some truly ugly yarn and never could get a pretty bit, no, not ever. And that despite the fact that I read and watched everything that I could find.  I did knit a cowl from the short bits of usable yarn and still wear it proudly.

Months passed and I kept at it. And, I started nagging asking my husband to give me a spinning wheel for some occasion or other. Well, he finally did and with Aunt Polly's advice,  he bought Mr. Kiwi. I'll never forget trying to put that wheel together. Oh man, I hadn't any experience with a spinning wheel except in the abstract and I don't have a lot of patience and there sure seemed to be a lot of parts. Between me and husband and a few pinched fingers, Mr. Kiwi was ready!

I will always believe that my time with that blasted spindle helped me because I was spinning in about two seconds. I spun thin singles, practiced plying and spun every week day for at least four hours. I was (and am) completely hooked. After about a year, I began spinning art yarns,  and bought a jumbo flyer to go with my wonderful spinning wheel.

Would I buy the same spinning wheel again knowing what I know now? You bet! Mr. Kiwi was great to learn on (the scotch tensioning is super easy to understand)  and can do about anything.  Ashford makes a high speed kit for higher twist, finer yarns and also makes the jumbo flyer.  The only thing I would change? I'd finish the wheel before assembly.  I do use Howard's "Feed-N-Wax"  which gives a nice bit of protection. Mr. Kiwi is a great travel wheel too; he fits easily into the car.  I seatbelt him in and we're off..................