I got my Spinning Wheel!!

I am in love with my new little wheel. Its an Ashford Traveller.

I ordered it after taking a class on Spinning on a Wheel the other weekend. I just knew it would come in this Tuesday when I was traveling for work and wouldn't be able to get it! It most certainly did. So Wednesday I snuck out of work picked it up on my lunch break.


It was packaged wonderfully. Carefully wrapped and stored in the box in such a way as to prevent any damage. I should have taken a photo when I opened it, but I was just too excited!


Three hours on day one, I had it almost finished, but it was midnight and I had to get to bed.

The box contained every single piece required for assembly as well as very good instructions. One thing I had trouble with is that some of the screws had really large cut outs, that were also very shallow and it was difficult to screw in without stripping the head, it took a lot of extra time to get some of the screws in.

The only other thing I wasn't pleased with is that you have to put a pin in the back of the wheel that goes through a hole in the shaft that goes through the center. In order to do this, you have to whack it with a hammer (as per the instructions). Well its such a cramped space and I whacked the wheel and put a dent in it. I initially tried with the rubber mallet, knowing damage was inevitable, and all I succeeded in was putting divots in my mallet. So I was forced to use a metal hammer.


About an hour and a half on the second day, and it is successfully assembled ... and works!

I have several rovings because I spin on a spindle, but I saw this one when I went to pick up my wheel. The owner of the yarn shop gave it to me free with my purchase of a wheel, she had some in some solid colors set aside for me to choose from, but asked if I would rather have this one since I was planning on purchasing it anyway. So free roving too!!


Initially I wasn't too keen on putting it together myself. I was thinking there are too many spots I could mess up and strip out a pre-drilled hole or do something completely unrecoverable. In the end, I am glad I put it together myself, it gave me a fundamental understanding of how the wheel functions and what parts do what and how they work together. I think I appreciate it more and feel more comfortable with it having put it together myself.