Let the games begin.

So, on Friday I got an email from the company from whom I bought my spinning wheel.  They wanted to let me know that the distributor had accidentally drop shipped a Kromski Sonata to me instead of the Kromski Fantasia that I had ordered.  

They told me that I had three choices: 

1. When the wheel came, I could refuse it and it would be sent back to the distributor. Once they got it back, they would then send the correct wheel.  (In the meantime, I would have to exhibit patience of epic proportions.)

1. I could refuse the wheel when it came and in the meantime they would send me the Fantasia right away, but they would have to charge me for it and then they would refund my money once they got the wrong wheel back. (Initially thought this would be the way I would go, but then what if something happened to the wrong wheel on the way back to the distributor and it never made it?  I would then be on the hook for two wheels. No thanks.)

1. I could keep the Sonata (a $600 value) but only pay the Fantasia price ($478).

My mind immediately began to race. This third choice intrigued me.  The Sonata wasn’t even on my short list, but could it be that someone was trying to tell me something?  That the Sonata was actually the wheel I was supposed to get in the first place?  Or should I really be second guessing myself, since I had done quite a bit of research before finally deciding on the Fantasia.

My gut instinct was that I would refuse the wheel and just wait for the Fantasia, and I even emailed the company to tell them so.  But in the meantime I posted about my dilemma in the Kromski Owners group on Ravelry to see what others might think.

The overwhelming response was to keep the Sonata!  So, after a little more thought, I wrote the company again and asked if it was too late to change my mind.  Luckily, they said it wasn’t too late, so I told them I would be keeping the Sonata.  I felt good about the decision!  It’s amazing what the universe will tell us when we open up and listen. (Okay, that might be a tad dramatic for this particular situation, but it’s good advice nonetheless.)

And I didn’t have long to wait, because yesterday I went to the post office in hopes that the salted caramels I had ordered had arrived (from Be Sweet: go ahead and order some. You seriously won’t be sorry, but you’ll be addicted.)  I DID get my caramels (I ate 1/4 lb of them while I was setting up my wheel and immediately went into a shame spiral about it), but I also got a slip in my box that had ‘LA’ written on it.

My pulse began to quicken. I knew what those letters meant.  LA stands for Loading Area, which means that the package waiting for me is too large to pass over the counter and you have to drive your car around back to pick it up.  This could only mean one thing:  my wheel was here!

I practically skipped out to my car, whipped around into the alley, and pulled up to the back loading doors.  I handed the slip to the lady and happily took into my possession my very own spinning wheel!

I got it home and immediately ripped into the box. I was a little nervous because there were some pretty big puncture holes in the box, so I photographed everything just in case something inside had been damaged, god forbid.  

But I was pleasantly surprised that everything was just as it should be!

I savored every moment of meeting my new wheel, and I even took a couple shots along the way.  It’s such a beautiful piece of work. Even the bobbins are pretty!

You know what was a bonus about keeping the Sonata?  It comes with its very own carrying/storage case.  It's really nice and will certainly come in handy when I need to pack the wheel away for a bit (although I can't even imagine I'd want to do that in the near or distant future!)

Everything came fully assembled, so it was a quick set-up after reading through the simple and thorough instructions.  The actual spinning, on the other hand, was not quite as easy.  In fact, it was really freaking hard.  I'm sort of used to picking things up right away and I kind of had a bit of an idea in my head that spinning would come easy to me.  Think again.


After some difficulty and much cursing (and some almost crying), I was finally able to make something that resembled yarn.  But it was way overspun (I think).

Do you want to see a picture?  Are you sure you won’t laugh?  Positive?  Well, okay, I guess you're trustworthy:

I think I know that I’m doing wrong.  I think I’m treadling too quickly and things just kind of get away from me. I need to remember when I start to get all panicky and can’t keep up with what’s going on with my hands that I really am truly in control and just have to stop moving my feet to make it stop!

I really don’t have any scrap roving I could use to practice, so I’m using this really pretty red BFL (seen here waiting to be pre-drafted).  

I’m sure I’ll be able to make something out of the yarn once I’m finished, or maybe I’ll just hold on to it and put it someplace where I can look at it in the future and laugh at myself see how far I’ve come.

I’m excited to keep trying and getting better.  But I’ll definitely hold off on spinning up my FiberOptic and Blue Moon stuff until I get decent, because they’re way too pretty to waste!

Okay, that’s it for me for this weekend.  Hope your spring forward didn’t mess you all up too much!