Certain flaws are necessary for the whole. It would seem strange if old friends lacked certain quirks. ~Goethe
I’ve learned something about myself recently: I really hate starting something, or working on something, when I don’t have the “perfect” tools. I also frequently hold off on starting things when I don’t feel all the elements are in place to make it “perfect.” It’s annoying, and I never realized it was a procrastination tool until I thought long and hard about it.
Anyway, about a year and a half ago, I bought a spinning wheel from a friend. It’s a good wheel, an Ashford Kiwi, unfinished. It’s perfect to spin on for a beginner, and I have a high speed attachment for when I get to that point. (Which isn’t “when I get to that point, technically” but “When I get to the point where I remember where I put it”). I spun on it faithfully until I got too pregnant for words, and put it away until I could spin comfortably again after the boy was born. Interestingly, between the time that I put the wheel away, and the time I got the wheel back out, I became obsessed with getting a new wheel. Totally obsessed.
I did some “research” (i.e., looked at the pretty pictures) and picked out a wheel, but financial surprises (we decided to redo the downstairs, etc) made me hesitate in buying it. But I thought about it. I looked at my Kiwi. I grumped (in my head) about my Kiwi. I thought long and hard about the amazingly wonderful yarn I would make when I got this new wheel. I thought about all the fiber I had in my stash that I would spin when I got the new wheel. At no point did I decide to spin the fiber on the Kiwi.
Then, several months ago, I realized that I had this thing. Call it a habit, call it a failing, I call it a tendancy toward perfection. I like a clean journal. I would edit my letters before sending them to penpals in high school. I’d have to clean my craft room before knitting. I’d….obsess over spinning wheels I didn’t yet have when I had a perfectly good wheel, which I still haven’t made full use of, sitting in my house.
So I pulled out the Kiwi, did some Google-fu, and started spinning again. I’m not going to categorize every spinning post I write as “A Trip Around the Wheel,” but I’ve decided as I learn new techniques, and, er…take my wheel out for a spin (sorry), I’ll post a wee bit about it. My goal is to learn something new about it every month, so that at the end of this year, when I do decide to get that new wheel (whether its the original one I wanted or not), I’ll know what I’m looking for.
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