Health & Fitness
Spinning Club: Trish Tsoiasue
My foray into the world of the Great Wheel, otherwise known as the Walking Wheel.
It's hard to condense the spinning wheel fun I've been having...
I joined a spinning club, GLASG... not the bike kind, the kind that uses spinning wheels (yes, like Rapunzel). Modern spinning wheels are pretty hi-tech, and they can be expensive. They run in the $500+ range. It's fascinating! The room was full of ladies and one or two gentlemen, with their portable spinning wheels whirring. The wool they used was mostly either natural or personally hand-dyed. I wanted one!
I got the opportunity at a family gathering with my sister's sister-in-law. She was getting rid of her antiques, including one... beautiful... spinning wheel! I picked it up for $200.00. The wheel is about 4' across, so I had to borrow a minivan to pick it up. That only happened when the cotton talk that I'd arranged with the 4th grade class was imminent.
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I stayed up all night to figure it out and the next day, took it all over to Lowell and talked about organic cotton in the US, showed the kids how to use a spindle to spin wool (they got to try it out), gave out samples of organic cotton and wool and several were able to try spinning on the great wheel. The wrong way.
I found out later, that the wheel must spin backwards, not forwards, when spinning. I'm still finding out that the assembly with the pulleys seems to be incorrectly put together, and I'm making up some helps so that the band doesn't slip off. It's all wood, so I must be careful not to break the wooden screw.
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I'm still figuring it out, but I took my wheel to the spinning club meeting. Yes, I borrowed the minivan again... I knew it was a success because all the ladies and one or two gentlemen were fawning over my lovely Bess (yes, it has a name).
I really knew it was a success when one of the ladies, as she was leaving, said "I don't know what's got into me, but I've got it into my head that I need one of those."
One of the gentlemen wants to make one.
It makes a nice conversation piece in my living room.
My husband would like me to find another place to keep it.