Oh Joy!

Yesterday, when I traveled to Groningen for the Dutch Knitting Days, I was checking Ravelry on the train (no, I’m not a Ravelry junkie, just really interested in what’s going on ;)), when I saw that one of my friends there had bought a new spinning wheel: a Sidekick! Great for her, that’s a very nice wheel! And… she also wrote that her Ashford Joy might turn up in the “For Sale”-thread soon…

So, my immediate reaction was “CLAIM!”, but I nuanced this reply a bit, and I sent her a private message, asking if she had a buyer yet, and explaining my interest in buying her Joy. You see, lately I haven’t spun so much, mainly because my S10 has two “problems” (or rather, the S10 doesn’t really work with me): it’s noisy, especially when spinning fast (could maybe be solved by taking the wheel apart, cleaning everything, greasing it, and putting it back together) and the position of the pedal is not good for me. The second argument is the most important one, and is also the reason why I didn’t try the first solution yet – I was already doubting if this was worth the trouble if I still wouldn’t spin. You probably know that I injured my knee two years ago, and when spinning with the S10, the position and movement of the pedal kind of stresses it.

So, secretly I had already been looking for a replacement. A new spinning wheel is quite expensive, so I already knew that I would have to be patient, saving up until I could buy one. The other option, a second-hand wheel, also requires a lot of patience, since the nicer wheels are not for sale very often, and if they are, they are snatched up with the speed of lightning. I was looking at the Ashford wheels, and both the Kiwi and the Joy looked promising, although I preferred the Joy. The wheels from Schacht and Majacraft also appealed to me, but those were even more expensive, and quite out of my range for that reason.

I added the Dutch spinning forums to my “Daily Read” tab on Ravelry, so that if something turned up, I would have a chance to see it. I did however not expect my next wheel to turn up in the NKS itself! Judith replied to me that I was the first to react, so that if I was still interested, and if I would agree on the price, I could have first pick! OMG, I totally didn’t see that one coming! Here I was, happily and quietly dreaming about a Joy, and *poof*, here she was, up for grabs!

I talked to my husband about it and he agreed to go for it, so I answered my friend that I would gladly give her Joy a new home. She was happy about that too! And she told me that she also had a Freedom Flyer and extra bobbins to go with it, if I was interested. I was, so we closed the deal. Now, Joy is on her way to my place via another friend (where she is staying tonight) and the son of yet another friend will take her on the train. That is called karma-relay! If all goes well, Joy will be with me tomorrow!