The Virtual Knitter

I broke down and ordered a Schacht Matchless Anniversary Edition spinning wheel.  The Schacht Spindle Company is making around 100 (possibly up to 150) of a special cherry wood version of their popular Matchless spinning wheel.  “Matchless” is a good name for this wheel, because in it’s class, it really is unmatched – I can’t think of a castle wheel that gets better reviews.  The wheels are set to start shipping in June (rumor has it that they may not ship until July), but they’ll be sold out long before that date, I’m certain.  I ordered mine from Woodland Woolworks in Oregon – one of my favorite spinning equipment suppliers. 

I’ll have up for sale both my existing Schacht Matchless and a HitchHiker wheel (that I bought on a whim).  My Matchless has some minor cat “dings” since Lily left a few tootmarks in the spokes before I realized she liked to chew on wood.  Also, it’s got a very faint green spot on on treadle, where I dropped some green Koolaid when I was dyeing some wool.  Both very minor things though, and otherwise it’s in perfect working order.  A new Double Treadle Matchless now costs over $900 (a little less from the right dealer) and ships for free.  I’ll be trying to sell mine in the greater Seattle area to avoid shipping, although I do still have the original shipping box.  Shipping will still be a hassle and expensive so I’d rather deliver it in pereson.  I expect I’ll ask about $750 for it.  I’ll be asking about $225 for the HitchHiker.  It’s much easier to ship, but I’d still like to sell it locally.  And finally, I’ll have about 8 matching bobbins for the Matchless that I’ll want to sell for about $30 each.  All these things combined, will still not quite pay for the new wheel, with it’s premium price of over $1100, especially once I buy matching accessories for it, but they will come close.

Please leave a comment if you’re interested in buying any of these items.  I won’t want to let the Matchless go until closer to the time I will receive the new one, but the HitchHiker can go any time.