Why "The Spinning Daisy"?

Short answer: My spinning wheel is named Daisy.

Here's a not so great picture of her a couple of days after I got her:

A couple of her parts were broken, so I had MacGyvered it together into working condition while I waited for the real parts to arrive. She's a Lendrum single treadle, and she makes me happy. Really. Friends and family say my face changes when I start spinning, and I just look happier and calmer.

Longer answer: For many years I lived in neutral colors. Almost all my clothes were black, brown, beige, khaki, or gray. This was during my first career and a period of unemployment and underemployment, and I didn't really notice the lack of color. I had a few bright colors, but mostly just tried to blend in to the background, I think.

During my unemployed time, two things happened - I needed some way to pass the time, and I got married. Planning a wedding and the temp and part time jobs took up some of the time, but not enough.

My then-fiance suggested I learn to crochet from his mom, so I did. Around the same time, I started thinking, maybe I could make some of the things for the wedding and save money that way. I designed and made (with my now-husband's help) the invitations, programs, pew bows, table cards, centerpieces, bridesmaids' jewelry, my jewelry, and probably a few other things I can't remember. I also crocheted bags for my bridesmaids and made some scented bath products for them.

So, in the space of less than a year, I picked up crochet, cardmaking and papercraft, beadwork and jewelrymaking, and whatever you call making bathstuff. Some of that may eventually show up in the shop, but not yet.

Our wedding colors, by the way, were ivory and navy blue, the closest to a neutral color I could bring myself to include in a wedding.

Then I got a job. A coworker who started at the same time always had color in her outfits, and I rarely did, and my lack of color started to bug me. So little by little, I started adding color into my wardrobe. Some of that was done with crochet, as I got more skilled. I've now got several handmade sweaters in different colors.

And then, suddenly, I had an urgent need to learn to spin - not for a need to pass the time or to save money, just to know how to spin. It turns out I absolutely love it, far more than I expected to.

My spinning history will be another post, but Daisy, my shop name, and the bright colors in my logo represent not just the joy I find in spinning, but my attempts to bring color into my life.