Wheel Love

Black Sheep Gathering 1998.  I arrived mid-afternoon on the Thrusday before the Gathering opened.  Having found a good camping spot and gotten set up, I decided to head to the vendor halls and barns to see if anyone needed a hand setting up their stuff.  Someone did, and I spent the next hour or so helping one of the vendors haul stuff in.  

I was leaving the vendor area when I saw her.  She was standing alone in the middle of a booth, surrounded by lovely dyed silk blends.  An empty folding chair sat at her side, her cherry wood turnings seemed to glow  and piece of wool dangled enticingly from her flyer. "Take me for a spin" she whispered.  I resisted.   After all, the Gathering was not open for business until the following day.  "But you have a workshop in the morning and she'll be gone by the time you get here" whispered a voice in my ear.  I caved and took her for a trial spin.

She was good, she was great!  Smooth treadling with her double treadles though I only needed to use one.  Great take up, Scotch  tension and easy to adjust.  She had finials and turnings and a drive wheel mounted above the flyer.  Then there was that gorgeous factory finish on her cherry wood plus she came with extra pullies and bobbins.  I took a peak at her price tag.

Hmmmm....not too bad though obviously well used, she did come with extras....hey wait....I ran out of practice fiber!  Well, since I had spun up the vendor's entire supply of practice fibers before the Gathering even opened, I figured that I had to buy the wheel. 

There being no one around, I left a bit "SOLD" sign on the wheel along with my name, contact information, and when I would be by to pay the bill.  As things turned out, this is one of the best wheel buys I ever made because the wheel is so smooth that it went to the rehab hospital with me after my stroke.  She's a Jensen Tall Castle wheel and is made of cherry wood. 

Sick and Tired

2010 brought three more trips to the hospital for carotid stenting, pancreatitis, and breathing problems.  By the end of the year I decided that I was sick and tired of being sick and tired and I simply was not going to put up with it any longer.  So I made a New Years Resolution to put health problems behind me.  And so I have.  Because I have some physical limitations, I've had to find new ways of doing things but since the alternative is not doing things that I enjoy, finding ways to work around limitations seems the best option.

And that is enough blather about health problems.

A Recap of Ancient History

Back in October of 2009, I had a major heart attack while attending SOAR.  Much to my chagrin this caused me to miss all of the Retreat sessions due to being stuck in the hospital.  Three days after arriving home from the hospital, I had a stroke and - gee, guess what?  Yup, right back in the hospital again but this time it was followed by a month of physical therapy in a rehab hospital.  Rehab was necessary because the stroke left me paralyzed on the right side.  That meant I could not spin!  Or knit!  Or do most anything else for that matter. 

Taking matters into my own hands, I asked my husband to bring one of my wheels to the rehab hospital.  I chose the Jensen because of the ease of treading and the fact that it is a double treadle.  My right foot could ride along while the left did the work and with the PT and the treadling, I learned to walk again.  The Jensen had one other advantage and that is that I fitted it with a WooLee Winder back in '07 and had just gotten two extra bobbins for that in '08.  Because I control the fiber supply with my left hand, this meant that I could draft.  I could spin - sort of.  My attempts did not produce viable yarn and rethreading the orifice every time the yarn broke was a major challenge.  Hey, try threading your orifice with only one hand and the one you don't normally use at that and see how well you do.  :)

I finally got out of rehab and went right into yet another hospital for surgery.  One week, two illiac stents and two cardiac stents later and I finally got to go home.  But to a new house.  My husband moved us while I was in the hospital - well, we were in the process of slowly moving before I became ill but completing the move became a medical necessity for me.  The problem was heat - I simply could not have handled feeding the wood stove. Moving our stuff was the hard part as it all had to be packed and hauled and I was totally unable to be of any help since I was basically stuck in a wheelchair at the time.

2009 ended with a bang for us when I got to go back to the hospital because of a gall bladder attack.