The Hardware Shop.
In years gone by, when your grandad needed a sprunkle or a grapstick, he would have gone to his local hardware shop, wonderful places full of everything from washboards to ladders and tiny brass screws to tin baths. Nowadays we have B&Q.
I have always thought I was in the software business. Sure I have the odd set of dpns tucked away behind the counter, but for the most part I am not selling the hardware components of knitting or spinning.
Today, a large red Parcel Force van drew up outside the house and delivered something new for The Yarn Yard.
So many knitters have caught the spinning bug that I have decided to offer a little equipment to get you started. I'm not going to be selling wheels. There are other people doing that. But it seemed to me that offering beginner spinning kits might be a nice thing to do.
So, if you are considering spinning... how about one of these?
This is what they will arrive in.
A sturdy box, not a jiffy bag which could get buried in a parcel heap under Great Aunt Mary's new food mixer or Tommy-next-door's jumbo sized train set.
It's like Christmas, isn't it?
This (not including the coloured braid) is a full kit.
An Ashford top whorl spindle, not the huge one which is rather heavy, and not the student one which I feel you would outgrow in a day or two (and which is also heavy). This is the 37g, 1.3 ounce one, 65mm wide with a groove underneath which distributes the weight around the edge of the whorl and makes it spin for longer per "twirl". This is the spindle I started with three years ago, and I still have it.
An Ashford Mini Niddy Noddy. An ingenious design which packs "flat" when not in use, but fits together in an instant. It's robust (no snapping timber) and has a rather elegant simplicity, I think. It's made from ply for strength, and is laquered for smoothness so there is no sanding or varnishing needed. The ply makes pretty stripes up the sides too.
A Wraps-per-Inch gauge. It's funny but the WPI gauge has never made the transition to WPcentimetre, but there you go!
The kit comes with undyed BFL superwash fibre to get you started - and if I have leftovers of other dyed fibres I'll pop them in too. There's plenty of room in the box for a braid of fibre as well if you would like to add one, don't buy it in the shop, just let me know and I'll take it off the shelf for you and add it to the invoice.
These can also be bought individually.
The niddy noddy is about the length of a pencil when it's assembled.
You can see those pretty stripes up the sides in this photo.
Perfect for spindle sized skeins (this is the fibre I spun the other day on a spindle).
Also great for little sample skeins, perhaps a couple of grammes of new Club fibre you want to experiment with to see how it behaves before you decide on a full project. The skeins are just 24 inches long, so they twist up into something less than the length of your pencil, and stay neat and secure where a larger skein can be floppy and catch on things. It could also be used to rewind leftover sock yarn on to keep it from being over stretched in a ball.
Now, as you know the postage on the website is flat-rate, because it was set up with blue squishie bags in mind. Boxes cost ten times as much! So, instead of putting them on the website, for now at least, if you would like a kit which includes a spindle, (or a spindle alone, including the BFL) the P&P will be £3.00 instead of the usual £2.00. I can send Niddy Noddies alone in blue bags with lots of bubble wrap so the P&P on those will be the usual £2.00.
Prices?
Spindles are £9.30, with free BFL fibre to get you started.
Mini Niddy Noddies are £10.80
WPI gauges are £2.75
If you buy all three then that comes to £22.85 (plus P&P) and remember you don't need to buy fibre (unless you want to, of course) because there's enough included to get you started.
And if you already have a spinning addiction passion and you are about to go on holiday and breaking out in a cold sweat at the thought of being away from your wheel, this is the answer.
I have already "sold" four spindles and two niddies, so I have some left but not lots... if you would like to join the spinning community, send me an email using the Contact Me button in the sidebar and I'll be happy to help!
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08-08-08