Some Assembly Required

There comes a time in every woman's life when she will be confronted by a flat-packed box of 40+ parts, an Allen wrench and a set of instructions that indicate that "some assembly may be required."  Usually a certain Swedish furniture company is involved.

This weekend is was this.  An Ashford Kiwi spinning wheel.

I don't know why, but when I finally ordered a spinning wheel after two years of saving and wishing, I, for some reason, thought that it would show up on my front steps, fully assembled, oiled up and ready to go.  All I would have to do is gently place the drive band on the wheel, touch foot to pedal and be creating beautiful, even, perfectly plied yarn almost immediately.

Not the case.   I had to wait in line at my apartment building's office to pick up the package.  Open it up to find...

...a million little parts and instructions entirely in pictures (helpful pictures with a cute little Kiwi bird leading the way, but pictures nonetheless) and a suspicious lack of tools in my household.

I managed to scrounge up a hammer and a screw driver and, knowing that I could either study for a ConLaw exam or become a do-it-yourselfer spinning wheel style, I tackled the project.

I messed up a couple of things, but fixed them.  Once, I was absolutely stumped.  I couldn't find the answer online.  YouTube has NEVER failed me like this before.  So I called my dad.  He suggested I just "hit it with the hammer."  Unlike when I have computer or toaster problems, this really did do the trick.

As I was finishing up, the lovely Laura stopped by (also avoiding ConLaw, I suspect) and rewarded my efforts with the perfectly appropriate amount of enthusiasm.  Taught her the basics of the wheel (the very few that I know...) and she spun a little yarn.  Perfect!

Now if only I could figure out how to keep the wheel from distracting me from work...