Spinning tools that you don't appreciate enough

I have officially finished half of my sock yarn. I'm going to be cable plying this (don't ask why I thought that was a good idea. There were reasons like "conserving bobbins" and "it sounds cool" and you know what? They're all shit because it took me FOREVER to ply this first bobbin and if this is the best sock yarn in the world its really going to suck because doing sock yarn this way will at least double my production time.)

Anyway. I'm quite proud of how the color repeats lined up. Not perfect - but I wasn't looking for perfect. I also made my first successful andean bracelet to finish off the end. Nice thing about 4-ply is there is very little waste singles.

Something I keep forgetting to blog about is my spinning chair. Because you don't appreciate a good spinning chair until you've both had one and then not had one for awhile. Nobody really thinks about having a spinning chair when they're looking for a wheel, but they should. A good chair is comfortable for long periods, encourages good posture and puts you at just the right treadle height. If you're really lucky it can do double duty as a distaff or toolbox as well.

My spinning chair kind of found me.

It is very old. It belonged to my great-grandmother at one point and wound up at my grandparent's house where it was being used to set boxes on for a long time. I commandeered it when I needed a chair to sit the wheel in front of during the last holiday vacation and when I found out how perfect it was (height - back - seat) I begged a little and was told I was welcome to have it.

Its not in the best of shape - several of the beams are loose and I've had to hammer them back into place and someday when I can stand to part with it for awhile it could benefit from a real repair job with nails & wood glue done by someone who knows what they're doing (not me in other words). It probably started life around a dining table of some kind and considering its age is also probably handmade.

It has really made me appreciate a good spinning chair.

It makes me sit up. It keeps my legs lined up just right. I can treadle for hours before I start wanting a break. It lets me lean back. Just enough that my shoulder's don't get tired, about as far as I want to be from the orifice, but not any farther. It has good places to drape fiber. Someday I'd like to attach some little tool boxes to the sides or maybe the back.

So yeah, its awesome. And people just don't think about that kind of thing.

Respect your spinning chair, peeps.