This week, I don’t have much of a wrap-up — somehow I escaped the week with few links to show for it. So instead, I’ll just focus on fun and crafts.
Last week, I attended an estate sale as an informed buyer. An organization sent out an e-mail that a member was going into assisted living, and her craft items (and various other household goods) were being liquidated.
In the living room, I found this:
It’s a Wee Peggy wheel, made in New Zealand in about 1981.
She didn’t quite look like that when we found her. The mother-of-all (the whole top part) was off, hanging cockeyed by the tangled-up drive band. Another spinner said she had tried to turn the wheel and it stuck, but I think it was just the band wrapped in the wheel. I was hesitant to buy it, but Mr. Cheap knows me well enough to know I would regret it if I didn’t, so he patiently untangled the band while I pawed through the boxes of yarn to bring home this:
It’s a collection of handspun yarn dyed with natural materials, rather old. I’m not sure what I’ll do with it, but I’ll think of something. It might be good for a learning weaving project — I’m wanting to abscond with Mlle. Cheap’s little loom to see if I like it.
I also found these among the homeowner’s (possibly home-woodworked) collection:
On the left is a niddy-noddy (yarn skeiner) that adjusts with a thumbscrew to provide different-sized skeins. On the right is a Turkish spindle, which lets you spin and wind up with a center-pull ball of yarn when you’re done (I tried it, but have not mastered it at all).
Immediately after bringing the Wee Peggy home, I sat down and oiled it up, tied a new drive band, tightened a few screws and started spinning. The online buzz is that it’s very good for fine spinning, and that is so true:
It’s a sweet little wheel, will be nice and portable, looks pretty in the living room, and best of all in Mlle. Cheap’s opinion, she is able to treadle it, unlike my other wheel. Just seeing it at home got her motivated to spin, so she picked up a spindle and cranked out yards and yards of yarn last week.
I also bought several cones of yarn (wool and mohair) and a 1/2-pound cone of a cotton or cotton/silk blend.
The timing was perfect, as I spent Saturday afternoon teaching a few people from my daughter’s school how to make yarn on a drop spindle. (The school auction focused on experiential gifts this year, so that lesson was my personal auction donation.) Then on Sunday, we traveled to the Estes Park Wool Market for some shopping, touching, animal-viewing and general crafty inspiration.
The cheap hobby question …
Coincidentally, given my focus (and spending) on hobbies this week, one of my online friends today asked, “What is a cheap hobby? Does such a thing exist?”
I’m not sure spinning qualifies as cheap, although it can be made so by choosing less expensive tools, buying raw fiber and processing it yourself.
Do you have an inexpensive or money-saving hobby? If so, tell us about it!
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Comments ( 8 )
I am soooo jealous! Awesome find! I love the finish color too.
aemcdraw added these pithy words on
Jun 19 09 at
10:37 am
Any hobby can be cheap if you use free materials! Of course the scavenging becomes a hobby in itself. For me, weaving/basketry is the cheapest because I can pretty much go out in my yard and get all the weft materials I like, and my frame loom and its accessories cost me all of $8 to make.
Kara added these pithy words on
Jun 19 09 at
10:54 am
Sweet finds!
Once you have the inital investment, which can be cheap or expensive if you go with new or used materials, a lot of hobbies can be cheap. My sewing machine was my mom’s handmedown so it was free, most of the notions I still had from middle school home ec class. I frequently swap fabric with other sewers so that’s free and TRY only to shop at fabric store when there’s a sale. I also have a fairly large fabric stash so I have done “free” projects. Of course, it can also get expensive when I go to the fabric store and go nuts buying fabric when there’s a sale. oops.
Condo Blues added these pithy words on
Jun 19 09 at
4:06 pm
@Anne, now, now, you already have two wheels!
The “freebie” mention is a good one … if you want tools for a hobby, spread the word that you’re looking. You never know whose grandma might have just what you need languishing in her attic.
Cheap Like Me added these pithy words on
Jun 19 09 at
4:25 pm
Susanna, that is gorgeous. I’m glad Mlle Cheap and you can sit and spin together — I wish I had done crafting with my mother when I was young. I found plans for a wheel on eBay but am wondering if the time/frustration I’ll surely experience in building my own is worth saving a couple hundred dollars.
As far as cheap hobbies, I love how “cheap” photography has become as a hobby — the initial outlay can be hefty, but with digital photography, it’s no longer a crap-shoot — where you have to develop a roll of film and pray that something fabulous is on it. In contrast as I improve with knitting, it’s becoming more and more expensive a hobby. Sigh.
Angelique added these pithy words on
Jun 20 09 at
4:40 pm
I’ve never done any spinning, but I’m curious to try it. That wheel is beautiful to look at. Does it work well (compared to other wheels you have used)? Can you tell us how much you paid for it? And how much would a comparable one cost new?
As far as cheap crafts, I don’t do much crafting, but I do knit dishcloths and scarves. I only buy yarn when it’s on sale, or there is a 40% off coupon at Hobby Lobby or Michael’s, or at garage/estate sales.
btw, I’ve only been reading your blog for a few weeks, but I want to say how much I like it.
uni.mo added these pithy words on
Jul 03 09 at
11:39 am
@uni.mo – I paid under $100 for this wheel. Many wheels (new) range around $300 to $400. I bought my other wheel used and saved about 60% over the new price, so it is worth hunting yard sales, Craigslist, estate sales, and telling everyone you know to keep an eye out. It works very well — I think it will be less “multi-purpose” than my Schacht wheel, which makes the Schacht both more useful and more challenging at times.
Cheap Like Me added these pithy words on
Jul 04 09 at
9:24 am
Great find. I bought my Wee Peggy the first of June, also only I had to pay about 4 times what you paid. She is my first wheel. I took a spinning class over a year ago and the yarn I produced was (to be nice) more like rope. I had not considered buying a wheel until I saw a Wee Peggy, I guess it was love at first sight. I searched and searched and finally found my Wee Peggy. She had been living in southern California on a goat farm. But no more, she now has a spot in my living room. The first bobbin I filled was thinner than any I had spun during the spinning class.
Needless to say I love my Wee Peggy. If you would ever decide to part with yours please let me know. Also if you ever find any additional bobbins keep me in mind.
Happy spinning
Debbie added these pithy words on
Jul 22 09 at
5:59 pm
