It's from here, by a designer called Andy Paiko. You can click through several pictures of the wheel, and he has other amazing glass objects.
But the wheel is the best. (I would say that, no?) He says you can spin on it, but I'd be terrified to try! Nope, this wheel should be used by a beautiful princess with silver gilt hair down to her knees, wearing a white dress embroidered with silver threads and crystal. In the top chamber of a tower made of ice, of course. On the other hand, I'd give it a go if he would let me. What would you spin on a wheel like this?
Yeah, go on, we'll make it a competition, okay?
What would you spin if you were allowed to try this wheel? Spinners and non-spinners alike may enter and suggestions can be as fantastic as you like. Unicorn fibre blended with moonbeams or whatever!
I'll try to find a suitable prize for whoever wins, but it will be a choice of either fibre (a specially created batt of something fabulous) or something knitting-related. Winner to be judged by my own six year old Princess and myself. Answers in the comments before midnight (GMT) of Saturday 17th.
47 comments:
Maybe the princess could spin unicorns hair into a yarn so fine but so strong she could abseil off it out of her ice tower ;)
Oh, it's a flax wheel (that little glass cup gives it away), so it'd have to be straw into gold.
Or flax into silver.
Really, it makes me want to write and illustrate a fairytale, centering on the wheel. Maybe about how it takes the spinner's motivations and turns the fiber into either trash or treasure: greed spinning silk into rusty wire slubbed with rotten straw, laziness spinning wool into a beautiful but useless cobweb thread that disintigrates when touched, vengefulness turning flax into coarse rope no matter how delicately spun, love turning nettles into the smoothest silken cord, selflessness making the spinner's own hair into the finest silver-wrapped silk.
Five sisters, maybe, or five girls from different social strata in a renaissance town, somewhere in the Alps.
It's make a good story, for sure.
Marg. should win, and i'll have a signed copy of the book please :o)
OH! And the wheel is totally amazing, i would love to see it "in real life" - awesome!
I'd just like to add a comment of my own...I like to read other blogs and if you leave a comment I'd love to read yours. But if you haven't ticked the box that makes your blog profile accessible then I can't click back through your names to see your blogs, alas.
Of course, I respect your privacy, but sometimes folk just forget to tick thenecessary box when setting up their profile, or don't realise they have to.
Oh, great story, Marg. Sign me up for a copy too! But plenty of time for more comments, peeps....and the contest is just based on fibre suggestions, remember.
Awww, i know there will be more comments, i was just so impressed *blushing*
I'm guessing that the profile comment was aimed at me too since i am a newcomer to your blog, i am sorry, i hadn't realised that it was unsharable, i've remedied it now i hope :o?
Bl***y stupid blogger just ate my comment!
So the princess is spinning super fine cobweb silk to be knitted into a wedding gown during her long imprisonment in the tower, or alternatively she is spinning silk into a net to capture the horrible old witch and a rope to escape from the tower, cause who needs a prince anyway!
I am Clotho.
I collect, draft and spin the void into the thread of life. My older sister Lachesis measures my threads and weaves them into the cloth of life. My eldest sister Atropos cuts the threads that they do not become too long and tangle.
This is my favorite spinning wheel; made of glass. It was given to me by my eldest sister as a reminder of how fragile life can be. I must be gentle in spinning on it, lest it break; I must take my time and give my spinning due diligence. The threads of life I spin on this wheel are the finest yet strongest, and I am proud of my work as I see them enter the tapestry of life.
It's too early here for me to come up with any well-put fanciful tale.
But....
The wheel should be located in northern Europe (preferably far northern Scandinavia), in a run-down cottage in the woods, and guarded by an enormous bear and two cuckoos. It only spins for one woman. When the fated woman arrives (preferably disheveled), she knows better than to touch it, but the bear and cuckoos urge her on. She sits and spins the aurora borealis.
Then the cuckoos take the thread (colorful and changeful), harness the bear with it, and urge the woman (preferably confused) to take the reins. She does, and the bear and cuckoos lead her to a prince (natch), whom she frees from some enchantment, and then goes on to marry.
And he buys her three Norm Hall wheels.
hmm, i vote for spinning silk threaded with diamonds (take *that* tili tomas!)
I think that fairies wings are spun on this wheel. Diamond dust covers the egdes and they glitter in the sun. That's what me and my eight year old princess think anyway.
I'm sure that a wheel like that is used for spinning happiness out of sunbeams, smiles and the pleasure and beauty of the act of spinning on it!
I'd spin dove-white cashmere on the wheel, and then weave a scarf for my beloved. Is he planning on a glass loom next? (pretty please!)
Wow beautiful!
Sitting by a babbling brook stream I would spin the dew on the leaves with the silky webs of the spiders as well as soft corn silk. For color I would add drops from flower blossoms as well as a bit of fairy dust for sparkle. I would then knit many blankets for all my loved ones to sleep under each night, peacefully.
I think that the Princess sits at the top of the castle tower pulling sunbeams from the clouds after the rain has fallen. She blends them with rainbows to make magical cloaks for her ladies-in-waiting, and she uses the gold from the end of the rainbows to add a little sparkle dust.
The cloaks are all the colours you would ever want them to be and as you twirl they shimmer with the golden dust.
The Princess should spin wishes into dreams and ply those dreams into reality.
I would spin a supersoft yarn and knit a beautiful pair of mittens for each child here...
(You have to read the post:
http://hissyknit.blogspot.com/2007/11/up-to-my-garishly-dyed-hair.html)
It would be a good cause to spin yarn so children everywhere will have warm hands in winter...
I am picturing the little fairies in the Cinderella movie spinning glass to make into the glass slippers.
Spider silk into cobweb-weight (duh!) to knit fabulous lace shawls with - certainly beautiful, probably magical, definitely possessed only by those beloved of the sidhe.
But I am humbled by Marg's suggestion for a story. I, too, want to read that!
My favourite so far is spinning the Aurora Borealis.
I would spin mountain water with that wheel. Cool, clear water into the limpest smoothest silkiest drapiest yarn ever. Clean pure water is well on its way to becoming very precious in this world, as precious as diamonds.
Or I would spin memories, pulling them out of my head a la Harry Potter, except feeding them into the wheel instead of a penseive. They would make a fine, long, textured yarn, with some smooth spots, some sparkly spots, some rough spots, some wet with tears, but all of it fit to weave into a blanket for when I'm old.
Jacquiebean
jacquiebean (at) hotmail (dawt) com
I would spin wisps of the Milky Way with the softest cashmere to make a yarn that would sparkle softly in the night with it's own light.
If it were me for pure pun's sake I would spin a big old batt of that insulating fiberglass. Get it? Fiber...glass?!
Yeah, it was a lot funnier in my head.
I wouldn't spin anything on it. I'd break it, no doubt!
The Lady Nienna*, however, uses it to spin the Tears of the World. She gently gathers sorrow and pain and spins from it shimmering strands of Hope. Then, on her Loom of Compassion, she weaves a delicate but strong fabric of Love and Wisdom which she distributes freely for the making into Peace.
*Many thanks to JRRT's bit of inspiration!
:)
What a lovely wheely thing!!
I'd want to spin a mother's tears and prayers into a rope strong enough to save a wayward child :) Daydreams are fun aren't they?
That looks like the kind of wheel that could spin colours into yarn - one where you could take whatever you had and end up with a yarn that matched it.
Somehow it doesn't seem like that would work properly with "textbook cover magenta," or "computer monitor gray," or even "Imported Japanese Mandarin orange" (although I bet the last one would be fine if I was there). So right now I'd end up with the dark green of spruce branches, the gray and blue of the sky, the sparkly white of frost, and maybe the red of the few rosehips that are still holding on.
I'd like to try it early on a summer morning, or on a moonlit night, or during a thunderstorm.
I think I like the Aurora Borealis one best, too.
But I'm still going to write mey story :)
I want to spin a beam of light and watch the tiny diamond rainbows go flying around the room, like wishes for a happy-ever-after.
I'd spin silence. Too many days are filled with noise; I think this wheel could take the noise and spin it into silence like that of an icy winter's night. Silence to enjoy another's thoughts, to enjoy my own thoughts, to read, to dream. The silece of the stars.
I'd spin the clouds into silver and white yarn to make blankets for the bed and the fog into a fine thread to weave curtains for our window and the rainbow into a lace weight yarn to make a shawl so I would always have the joy of a rainbow with me when I was out and about.
That's gorgeous. I think that if I could, I would spin...chocolate flavored cotton candy! Of course!
I think she spins wire wool into a strong thread, which she then crochets into armour for herself and the other women at court. Because even though she is proficient at all the fibre arts she's a kick-ass princess, who also defends her kingdom and manages all its affairs 9-5.
I would spin clothes for princesses locked away in towers. They would be miserable, of course, so I would spin and weave them beautiful dresses, made with moonshine and cat's breath, so thin and light and fine that it feels like nothing at all.
And the evil kings and princes and dragons would bring my dresses to the princesses, silvery dresses with frothy white lace, in an attempt to win them over with beauty. They hope that the princesses, tired of depression and loneliness, will finally fall in love. It never works.
And it's because what makes my dresses special is the feeling of hope that is imbued into them. The feeling that things can never be quite so bad as they could be, and that soon, very soon someone will come help them, or they will discover for themselves how to leave.
I would spin the early morning sparkling frosts that sparkle on trees and branches and intertwine them with the sweet song of the robin :D
I would spin the starlight on a chilly night into an endless glowing strand of flowing ebony to play with. I would sway in the breezes and maybe even fly into the next universe...
I would place this wheel in the Scottish Highlands. Then I would spin the plaintive notes of the Great Highlands Bagpipe together with the mists that blanket the moors, making the finest, softest wool to keep my loved ones warm.
I would also spin the happy sounds of the finest Scottish reel together with the first light of dawn to make a rainbow of cobweb silk for a shawl to wrap my dear wife in.
I would take the early morning mist and some frost crystals, spin the yarn and weave it into a scarf for the Snow Queen.
Oh I would spin the moonlight,,, with a twinkling of stardust thrown in for good measure. As I would sit spinning the glowing moonthreads,,, as the stars shimmer thru the fibers,,I reach up for some of the fire of a blazing comet going by to add in.
Why? Because I can!
I think the princess would be spinning childrens' kisses and innocence, making it sparkle with her own tears of sadness. When she finished, she would weave a blanket of love to throw over the bitter earth and bring happiness to all those who could not find it any other way.
I'm a non-spinner but would love to knit the yarn spun on this wheel - of course I'd have to use the glass knitting needles that I gained in Glasgow a few weeks ago and knit the lightest and airiest wrap to protect the wearer from all evils
Well, I reckon that wheel is only suitable for some heavenly body to spin, as its so flippin' delicate :)
I think it should spin a single of happiness, and a single of health...plied together and then wrapped around newborns as they emerge into the world....
Love
Sarah xXx
I would spin the golden downy coat of my aging dog - my best friend - to be made into a scarf to remember her by. I would ply with silk, for the strength to go on walks alone, with flax moistened with the tears of missing her, and with sparkling tail of a comet, so that instead of hanging my head when I think of her, I will look to the heavens and smile.
I would spin Love, Happiness and Hope into the most perfect yarn and give everyone in the world a skein, to make of it what they wish.
I would spin the Innocence, Laughter and Love into a crystal thread that is used to make snowflakes. Those flakes, dropped by angels, fall all around us and are filled with the innocence, love and laughter many adults have lost and gives it back to them again...making the world happy, too.
I would spin a spiderweb!
The most beautiful and fragile spinning wheel would have to be used to spin the most beautiful and fragile thread... the Thread of Humanity which binds us all together in peaceful harmony. Unfortunately the thread is too fragile and breaks before we can weave it into a better world for all.
I would have to use it to spin sugar into cotton candy.
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