Where the hell have I been anyway? (A word on wheels)

Oh me? I've been playing with my new wheel, and not much else. Love love love. Not ready to really share any FOs with you at this point, but I love it.

Now having bought my first wheel, and having only my dear Twitter friends to guide me, it was a bit scary. But wouldn't you know it, now that my wheel has arrived, was easily assembled and I've been spinning for about a week, spinning and non-spinning friends have been crawling out of the woodwork to ask me things.

I don't promise to have any or all the answers, but I do have some research, and some information.

Picking out your first wheel
There are a ton of websites out there that will tell you about all the parts of a wheel, what they are, and what your options are. This is a good place to start. Just knowing what parts a wheel can have, what the variation can be, and what such variations cost will help you...if for nothing else than you'll be able to ask more questions.

The Woolery has a lot of good information--> http://www.woolery.com/Pages/selectwheel.html

but even this was a bit overwhelming to me. Here are some basics to help make it less scary:

+ Treadles: just like a sewing machine, this is how you power your wheel--with your feet. Your options are single or double. Some folks prefer to have a single because they're more familiar with sewing machines, while most who have injuries, arthritis, RLS, fibromyalgia etc prefer the double because it takes some of the pressure off a single leg, and has a lower overall impact on both legs.

+ Ratios: You're going to hear a lot about this. Every company/site will list the ratios each wheel can spin. The ratios tell you what sorts of yarn you can spin with it. It's usually presented as 4.5:1 for example, which would mean that the flyer spins 4.5 times for every revolution of the wheel. This ratio means you can spin relatively bulky yarn. For a ratio over 10, you're looking at spinning rather fine yarn, and over 15 it's safe to say you're spinning laceweight. Speaking of which....

+ Flyer: The flyer is that wishbone-looking thing that spins around the bobbin/newly made yarn. It contains hooks (usually) which allow the yarn to be collected on the bobbin in a specific place. So you move the yarn along the hooks so that the bobbin takes up the yarn evenly.

+ Add-ons: Most wheels have a lot of add-ons, like lace flyer kits, jumbo flyer kits etc. And of course, let's not forget additional bobbins, a lazy kate etc. In the price of your wheel, you may wish to consider this: Are you going to want to spin lots of lace, or super-bulky yarn? Does the wheel you're thinking of buying have that possibility when it comes to the standard ratios of the wheel, or will you have to purchase an add-on? Similarly, you can never have enough bobbins. How much do bobbins cost for the brand of wheel you're looking at? Bobbins range in price from $10-40, so this (at least to me) is worth considering.

As I have more time with my wheel, I'll be able to share my likes & dislikes, and perhaps have more of an opinion. As someone who seeks balance, and solutions, I definitely struggled with making this purchase. However, with a lot of legwork, and trying out wheels whenever possible, you'll end up with something you're sure to love.