Oh I know it is crazy to be posting to this blog that I have ignored for so long. But it just seemed to be the right place to put this.

For years now, I have been resenting all the choices that beginning spinners and weavers have now that I did not have when I started back in 1979. When I started to learn to spin, there were two, then three spinning wheels easily available in the US. More if you were willing to wait to get one from New Zealand or the UK. You could most easily and cheaply get an Ashford. A Country Craftsman Spinner's Delight was also available but more expensive and less versatile since it was based on the design for a flax wheel. Eventually, you could get a Louet. For looks, they were kinda modern, very traditional (not at all modern), and very modern.

For fibers, you chased down a local sheep farmer and persuaded him to sell you the nicest of his really dirty short fleece from a meat-producing sheep so that you could spend your spare time over the next three months skirting it, sorting it, shaking crap out of it, picking weeds out of it, washing it several times, drying it, picking it, carding it, and finally spinning it. Whew! If you were flush, you might blow your savings on ordering a fine handspinners fleece from Australia or New Zealand or even find a rare US source for a Romney or Corriedale fleece.

Eventually, someone in Columbus (Ohio - the Heart of It All! - I lived in Dayton at the time) discovered MidWest Wool Growers and that they didn't just stock the wool pool, the vast storehouse of wool sheared by hundreds of shearers from the thousands of meat-producing flocks all over Ohio. They had some different fleeces, ones from non-meat and multi-use sheep breeds that had different qualities or were from farmers whose fields were not filled with timothy. (If you saw one timothy seed head in a fleece, you could be sure that there were another hundred in there!) They even had some imported fleeces from New Zealand and Ausralia! I bought a wonderful Perendale there once. And some Merino! Plus, a tiny metal takli spindle to use with it.

And it was all usually white. You might come across some brown fleece but it wasn't easy to find and it cost more when you did. If you wanted color, you learned to dye using the Ciba-Geigy acid dyes that were newly available in small quantities for the craftsperson's use. If I had bought 5 pounds of the four basic dye colors (yellow, red, blue, and black) back then, I'd still be trying to use them up now. And that after a couple of years of successfully dyeing rovings to sell.

So fast forward to today. I am annoyed daily by the number of people who ask on the Facebook group, Fiber Artists and Yarn Spinners, this basic question: "What is the best wheel for a beginner?" The answer is that there is no one best wheel for beginners. You have to go try a bunch of them out and then choose the one that looks nicest, fits your budget, and with which you feel comfortable. Their second favorite question is: "What fiber should I learn to spin on?" Wool. Definitely wool. No question. Flax is long and wiry. Cotton is short and waxy. Silk is expensive and slippery. And all of the others are somewhere in between. Wool is the only fiber that will try to spin itself, thereby helping you out as you learn to tap your foot, pinch AND pull with one hand, and try not to hang on for dear life with the other! Oh and keep it consistent while you are at it.

Which of the many, many wools? Something long and sort of shiny with not too much crimp and not too little. It should be a little slippery and somewhat open with nice little waves. Yes, I mean Romney or something close to it. NOT Merino. (That is a whole 'nother rant!) Roving is nice to spin from and you'll enjoy it more than having to skirt, sort, shake, pick, wash, dry, pick, and card your fleece, even if you can decide which one to buy. No, it doesn't need to have angelina in it for a little sparkle. 

Why are they asking us on Facebook?  Why can't they Google it themselves? Why can't they go read a book or a magazine to find out as I did back in 1979?

Last night, I had an epiphany. They are asking on FB because some of them are too dumb to think of doing their own research. Some of them are too stingy to put any resources (time, electricity, gas, $$, time, thought) into finding out what they want to know. Most are simply clueless and are relying on the herd - maybe I should say flock! - to enlighten them. They have had everything hand picked and hand fed to them their entire lives, so they expect it everywhere and from everyone. But the real nugget is that they have so many choices.

Too many choices. Spoiled for choice! Mind-boggled by choices!

In every state of the Union, you can buy a spinning wheel by laying down your debit card, picking it out, and taking it home. You can shop in your jammies online and have it delivered by UPS in a couple of days or less. There are many wheels from which to choose. Schacht, Schacht-Reeves, Louet, Ashford, Kromski, and many others, including the Babe's line of inexpensive PVC wheels. You can buy various e-spinners if you can't treadle, don't want to, don't have room for a big wheel or even a small one. You can buy flax wheels, upright wheels, great wheels, wheels with multiple flyers, charkas, bulky spinners, and even folding wheels. Do you want a bulky flyer or a lace flyer with that? How many extra bobbins will you need and what finish do you prefer?

And that's just the wheel. The choices of fiber are absolutely incredible! You can get a hundred or more breeds of wool in nearly any form you want or any color you like. Then you have all the other fibers and blends to consider.

So now I've gone from wanting to say, "Geez, you lazy brats! Go look it up!" They don't have any information or background to work from and they have an absolutely mind-boggling array of choices.

Maybe I should start a business that rents Ashford wheels and learn to spin videos and sells Romney roving by the pound.