Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Tour de Fleece

Each day during the Tour de France spinners across the globe have joined in on the action with their very own online Tour de Fleece. I signed on to Team My Favorite Sheep and have been busy doing spinning related things since it started.

The first day I stopped into an antique mall on my way to visit friends. There were four different antique spinning wheels.  With all the willpower and determination I could muster I walked away not purchasing any of them.

Then I went back the next day.

Well, I just couldn’t leave the poor old girl lying there in the corner neglected now could I?

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(Pathetic dog and soda can for size comparison.)

She won’t win any beauty pageants.  She’s short and not exactly in her prime but there was just something about her I loved.

I gave her a quick sponge bath and took her for a ride. You know what? She started spinning right out of the gate. No questions ask. She’s clearly a working girl.

After further inspection I came to realize she’s remade out of an old chair or stool. Some inventive farmer probably made her for his wife.

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It is customary for a spinner to name her wheel. I’m not sure if I want to call her June Bug because of her unique color or Scarlet. Scarlet seems appropriate if you recall the scene from Gone With the Wind where Scarlet rips down the old green velvet drapes and remakes them into a gown, yes?

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She clanks a little as she spins but I can’t blame her for that. In my old age I’m starting to clank a little too. I’m not sure we’ll make the full run of the Tour de Fleece but we’re going to give it a shot. Be prepared to throw some water on us once we get in our groove!

christinesig

15 comments:

Gone Country said...

What a great find! Scarlet would be a lovely name! I'm curious to see the final results of the spinning!

thecrazysheeplady said...

I vote for June Bug. Well, actually she's more the color of Japanese beetles, but let's not go there ;-). Is she maybe a child size wheel?

I LOVE HER!!!

Kathy said...

I had a wheel just like that when I lived in Holland. Same color, even! Unfortunately, she was missing the mother-of-all and the tension wheel, so she was just for show, but she made me happy anyway.
A very nice find. I'm glad you went back and adopted her.

Anonymous said...

I vote for Scarlet too!

I have a little workhorse Saxony that I named Grace after my great grandmother.

Happy Spinning!

Karen Anne said...

I'm liking Scarlett. Plus, on my monitor at least, she's the color of the drapes Carol Burnett used in her Gone with the Wind scene.

Well worth watching again on youtube, Burnett and her writers were geniuses.

Unknown said...

Are you sure it's a she? If it were a he, I'd call it Kermit. ;D

Christine said...

Sara, yeah I'm thinking she might be a child's wheel since there doesn't appear to be any way to remove the bobbin.

Karen Anne, that is one of my all-time favorite Carol Burnett scenes.

Nancy K. said...

I like June Bug! She's little (like a bug) and you found her in the summer ~ even if it wasn't in June.

Scarlet brings 'red' to mind for me. I would wonder why someone would name something green, "Scarlet".

Then again, that's just me...

;-)

Happy Spinning!

Mary, Windy Meadows Farm said...

I love her! I have an old one that needs a little love (one or 2 missing parts). She sits next to a walking wheel...if only I could find someone to teach to use them well. Maybe I'll find a video? Enjoy your new find!

Rayna said...

I vote scarlet! :)

Penny said...

Very cute!

Dianne@sheepdreams said...

That's the cutest little wheel I have ever seen! What a lucky find. I think I like June Bug.

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Sassafras and Winterberry said...

Loving that little Scarlett June Bug! I would have had a hard time leaving her in the lurch too!
Courtney

Anonymous said...

Very cute little wheel-
Realize I'm kinda late chiming in on the name game, but I'm thinking Robin. Kermit the Frog's little nephew.