The New Man in My Life

I have a new love in my life. He's unfinished, rough around the edges, stubborn, infuriating, migraine inducing, and my latest obsession. I've loved him from the moment I found him, and that love only grew when he showed up on my doorstep.

Meet Karl, my new love.

So, okay, there are no actual Y chromosomes involved in this, but still, he's so much fun. This was my Christmas present this year. I convinced Necropolis that all I really wanted was either a wheel or a really good camera, and since the wheel was the lesser of two bank account evils, that's the one I received.

Karl is an Ashford Kiwi model, double treadle (that means it has two pedals, Dr. Lucy) with scotch tension. Karl came in a box, dismantled, and MUC and I had a great time putting him together. Dispite a slight mishap with a flathead screwdriver and my left thumbnail, we all arrived at the finish line with no major difficulties. I immediately began to figure out the whole spinning phenomonnon, and promptly decided my wheel was definately a man in a former life. Oy vey!

Ashford is based in New Zealand, and the only New Zealander male I could think of at the time was Karl Urban, the actor (probably best known as Eomer from Lord of the Rings). Hence, the wheel was christened Karl. The more I thought about it, the more I decided it was appropriately named. Karl Urban has this sort of unfinished, rough look going, and so does the wheel. It's kismet.

And, I've actually somewhat conquered the mechanics of spinning. I'm not fantastic, but I can produce useable yarn. Here are some of my first attempts.

And, Lucy, you can stop humming Gretchen am Spinnrade now.