Thursday, November 20, 2008

The Rose

Santa came early for me. This was delivered yesterday. It came from Shuttleworks* in Calgary.

It's a new Majacraft Rose spinning wheel!

I love both of my Ashford wheels, the Elizabeth 2 and the Joy. They do a very good job of spinning. However, I was finding that plying was a struggle for me, no doubt mostly due to my fibromyalgia. So I did some online research to find out which wheels are easiest to treadle. One name kept coming up; you guessed it, the Rose. I feel very fortunate to be at a place in my life where I can indulge in the luxury of owning three wheels!

Here she is all set up with the flyer on the right.

Rose is very versatile - her flyer can also go on the left.

She comes with two whorls and two flyers for an amazing range of spinning ratios and options. Here is the delta orifice, no hook required.
The bobbins are very large, light plastic. I like them.

The support arm swings to one side and a handle pops up to carry the wheel. I wouldn't consider this a travel wheel though. It's pretty heavy and I've read that the lovely wood is somewhat soft so I'd be worried about damaging it by carting it around.

All in all, she's absolutely lovely! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some spinning to do....

*I highly recommend Shuttleworks!! Cal is great to work with, the prices are amazing (the Rose was about the same price (Cdn) as the best online price in the US that I found on the net - with the current dreary exchange rate of the Canadian dollar, you can't beat par), and the shipping is inexpensive and very fast (2 days)!

5 comments:

Lovs2Knit said...

She's gorgeous! Enjoy the new wheel. :)

Anonymous said...

Congrats! I LOVE my Rose!

My Qi and Me said...

Very cool toys, Susan. You are a lucky girl! Enjoy your wheels.
XO

HaveFaith said...

Okay, now I want to see the results of all this spinning you're going to be doing. I had the opportunity to spin on a Rose once and I thought it was excellent. I also have fibromyalgia and found that for me yoga each morning allows me to sit at the wheel a little longer. If you can get US television I suggest looking for the program called Namaste. A great program for anyone young or (ahem) old. Please post a picture of some of your new yarn.

Yosemite said...

Congrats on your new wheel! I bought the Suzie Pro from Cal and as you said, he is just a joy to work with. You will have many wonderful spinning hours together.