A foggy day…
Yippee, I’m back from my mini spinning wheel research trip to San Francisco! You might be delighted to know that I passed through security three times with two pairs of Addi’s in my purse. No problemo.
Of course, trips never go exactly as planned. Our Friday morning WestJet flight was cancelled because of all the fog in Vancouver — I made whimpering noises and my furrowed brow indicated that I might cry, so the WestJet staff pulled some strings and got us on a direct flight to San Francisco on Air Canada. We got in three hours ahead of schedule. Marvelous. The way back, of course, our WestJet flight was delayed by two hours — again, because of the fog — so I guess it all evens out in the end.
But while I was in San Francisco, I visited only three (super stocked to the ceiling) shops: ArtFibers, Carolina Homespun, and Deep Color Studio. Each shop is unique and amazing. And of course, I spent way too much money:
From Art Fibers
- Golden Siam
- Saje
From Carolina Homespun
- Superwash Merino x 1 lb
- Organic Cotton x 1/2 lb (Peace of Yarn)
- Merino/Tussah 50/50 handdyed by Blue Moon Spinnery
- Merino/Tencel 50/50 handdyed by Blue Moon Spinnery
- Corriedale blend from Ashland Bay Trading
- Six old issues of Spin Off from the early/mid-90’s
- Mabel Ross’s Advanced Spinning video
- Mabel Ross’s book, “Essentials of Yarn Design”
From Deep Color Studio
- Merino/Mulberry Silk 50/50 x 1 lb (Peace of Yarn)
- Cashmere/Silk 50/50 x 3 oz (Peace of Yarn)
- Merino blend from from Ashland Bay Trading
- Michele Wipplinger’s natural dye instruction booklet
Hmm. Yep. I think that was it. I should have brought a larger suitcase.
Spinning Wheels
Happily, I got to try spinning on the Schacht Matchless. Three of them, in fact. One double-treadle version that squeaked quite a bit, but was smooth nonetheless. A single-treadle version that had a broken tensioning knob and another single-treadle version with a wobbly drive wheel. Even with all these quirks, the wheel still worked very smoothly and relatively quietly. My main impression was that this wheel was quite sturdy and stable — it did, however, need a ton of oil. I don’t think it necessarily lived up to it’s end-all-be-all sort of reputation.
I did try it side-by-side with the Majacraft Suzie Pro and, by comparison, started to find the delta flyer kind of annoying — if you don’t hold your yarn exactly perpendicular to the point of the delta flyer, you get lots of vibration. This is likely why the flyer head needs to be able to move to the left or right sides on this wheel… otherwise, you’d have to spin directly in front of your body leaving you only with short draw techniques. Just my observation!
There was a Louet S10 there as well that I played with for about 30 seconds. Hmm. The drive wheel on this wheel was floppy as well. I don’t know if it was just that particular wheel, or if they are all a little unstable.
But finally, I got to spin on Morgaine’s (owner of Carolina Homespun) wheel — a Lendrum Saxony (28″ wheel) in cherry wood. I couldn’t help but continuously blubber, “Awesome, just awesome.” while I spun on this. The drive wheel has great momentum and just keeps going and going on its own — it felt like I barely had to treadle at all. She has a right-flyer saxony and I found that I could sit perfectly in front of the wheel and spin without twisting about. It makes sense for someone who spins with the fibre supply in the left hand.
This is really one of the only big saxony wheels I’ve tried (I did try an Ashford Elizabeth 2 and my leg started to ache after only a few minutes — the wheel is heavy, sure, but it’s hard to treadle and keep it going. Definitely, not the wheel for me!), so maybe that’s why I’m so enamoured with it. I guess in the end, there may be no “end-all-be-all” wheel out there but I’ll try again in May when I go to the Maryland Sheel and Wool Festival…
Eating
Of course, we also visited friends and family in the city. Richard’s childhood friend, Anne and her husband, Joe, took us to Gary Danko which is a restaurant with the same Relaix & Chateau designation that Lumiere has in Vancouver. To me, that translates to amazing cheese course.
Between Anne and I, we got to try six cheeses off the cart… I can’t remember them all but I think there was Ubriaco, St. Agur, Point des Reyes, Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog and Manchego. We both fell in love with the Cypress Grove cheese and trotted off to Whole Foods to buy some for ourselves!
Ok, now I’m off to catch up on work, email and skeining up sock yarns for the shop!
Tags: San Francisco
Wow, what a fun trip. Welcome back!
Humbolt Fog and Manchego are two of my favorites. Now I think I’ll have to treat myself to some soon…
Sounds like a delightful trip!
Sounds like a very productive and fun trip! I need to go and visit those yarn stores myself. I’m excited for you that you’re going to the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival - I can’t believe that I lived in Maryland for a year and didn’t go!
I have heard great things about all those stores! Lucky you to go visit and try out all those wheels
Maybe I should get my butt in gear and go to THE festival this year.
It looks like you had a lovely trip. Welcome home.
Beautiful pictures of the yarn wall, and if you can only go three fibery places in the bay area, those are definitely THE places to go. I have an s17 and don’t find the wheel floppy at all. The can be wobbly if they are not adjusted properly in the first place though, so maybe that’s what was goin’ on. Impossible to know really, not having been there.
Glad you had fun. I have a suzie pro and you are right about the delta flyer - it has its advantages but it does keep you sitting straight at the wheel. There are other flyers you can swap in which have a traditional orifice as well, for lace or long draw.
Just FYI.
What a fun trip! Food, fiber, friends…. I’m jealous that you got to go to ArtFibers. I just got my package of Kyoto in the mail… it is such an amazing yarn. Yum yum.
Love love love the Cypress Grove cheese.
I can only dream of visiting shops with many wheels to test-drive. Sounds like a wonderful trip!
Wow, that seems to be a fiber paradise !! sight I’ve ordered the Lou?´t S45, but I’ve not tryed it before.
my fianc?© is going to SF around january, I’m gonna check those yarnstores out and maybe order something from him when he passes them. thank you!
Beautiful pictures, and what a trip!
I just had some of your LOVELY yarn sent to me by a friend. I can’t wait to work with it!
Sounds like great fun! And great fiber finds! Maryland S&W is wonderful. This year was my first and I’m looking forward to next year’s already.
Hehe, I love cheese too. Sounds like an awesome weekend!
Cypress Groves Humbolt Fog is one of my husband’s favorite cheeses. I can get it across the street from where I work at a bakery. Of course recently we discovered Maytag Blue Cheese from Newton, Iowa and it’s amazing as well, and priced nicely a 2 lb wheel for $24.95. http://www.maytagblue.com.
Sounds like it was a marvelous trip.
Dear Sweet Georgia.. Please go see this site http://www.fromageduquebec.qc.ca - sorry however no English version.. You will find a list of Quebec cheeses made of raw milk (cow and goat)some of which have won European prizes as well. I am recommending the “Riopelle” (as the painter) from L’Isle aux Grues, the Allegretto (goat)(reminds me of the Manchego), the Pied-de-Vent and la “Tome”.. I do not know from who distributes them outside Quebec but one thing for sure: they can easily match some of the French raw milk cheeses !!! If you ever come to Mtl - reach me and i will have you taste these..
I saw that first picture and it was like I was back in ArtFibers again! We went to SF for vacation last March, and that was the very, very first thing we did (we could walk there from the hotel). I bought the softest, most lovely recycled silk there, which is still waiting for its destiny.
Your trip sounded so much fun! Thanks for sharing all the pictures.
I’m glad that you had such a great time out here! I’m also very happy that you got a chance to stop by Deep Color. I spend quite a bit of time there myself and I am happy that you enjoyed it.
My friend Erika was running the shop when you went in. The only reason I know that is that she accidently undercharged you for the Merino/Silk and she was talking about how there was no way to get a hold of you because you were going back to Vancover. Such a small world!
Hi. I’m also planning to visit San Francisco, and want to get some fancy yarn which I cannot get here in Japan. So, your blog is helpful for me. When I read and saw the pictures, I cannot wait my vacation.
I always enjoy reading “sweet georgia”!