Two Wonderful Gently Used Spinning Wheels for Sale - SOLD

by Penny Nelson February 27, 2020

Some people find the perfect tool and keep it always. Me, not so much. I have bought and sold a rather remarkable number of spinning wheels. Some of them I kept only long enough to decide they weren't for me. Others I have kept and loved and used for years.

I truly believe you need to own several spinning wheels if you are going to spin different things. I have a lovely little flax wheel made by Rick Reeves that is perfect for the flax I love to spin. It doesn't matter if I spin flax everyday or only occasionally. That wheel stays. It doesn't hurt that it's small and doesn't take up much floor space.

But my much larger Norwegian style wheel, also by Rick Reeves, has to go. I love this wheel but it sits out in my studio, in part because it has a larger footprint and I only use it when we have tours come through here. I will sit and spin on the wheel while I'm talking about spinning. It's easy to spin on, looks wonderful and I love it. It's also pretty impressive to people who don't know anything about spinning. But I just picked up my new Wyatt wheel which is about the same size and also looks wonderful and spins like a dream. It's time for the Reeves wheel to move on to someone new who will love it and use it.

Like a lot of spinners, I'm always on the lookout for the perfect travel wheel. Even smaller spinning wheels tend to be rather ungainly and take up space. They aren't as large and difficult to move as a loom but are not necessarily going along with you on your vacation unless they are compact and easy to transport. That is the exact definition of the Ashford Joy wheel.

I bought my first Joy wheel way back at the beginning when I first learned how to spin. The Joy folds up and goes easily into a padded bag with a long strap so you can sling it over your shoulder and go. Unfortunately, that first Joy wheel had the smallest bobbins in the world. Well, I don't know that for a fact, but I do know that as a beginning spinner who was still spinning thick chunky yarn it only took me a few minutes to fill up each of those bobbins. That drove me nuts. I sold that wheel and moved on to wheels with larger bobbins. I missed that wheel but loved the ones with big bobbins.

I bought the second Joy wheel just a few years ago when they redesigned the wheel to take larger bobbins. Apparently, I was not the only one who thought those first bobbins were tiny. The Joy 2 also has a bulky flyer and bobbin available for spinning thicker yarns or for plying onto. Perfect! I bought it all.

As time has passed, however, it has become apparent to me that I'm just not dragging a spinning wheel onto an airplane with me. I've done it a few times and it's a lot more work. These days I travel with several knitting projects and my drop spindle. There's much less to lug around and if I get to the end of my vacation and didn't spin or knit it's OK. Those things didn't take up much room in my luggage anyway.

So that's the two gently and lovingly used wheels I have for sale. The Rick Reeves Norwegian wheel is $1500. The Ashford Joy 2 wheel is $800. All the specifics are listed on the website. If you want the Ashford Joy shipped to you, I can do that. You will pay for the shipping. The Reeves wheel will have to be picked up. I'm not taking it apart to ship. Let us know if you're interested. These wheels should be used and loved. They will love you back with stunning yarn.