This post is a special treat in the form of a guest post by James Shillman.

James reached out after purchasing a Kromski Fantasia Spinning Wheel from us and wanted to share his experience, to which we said, “Sure, be our Guest!” ; )

So without further ado...

Hello everyone!

My name is James and I’m excited to be sharing my wheel experience with you! Last month I ordered and new Fantasia Spinning Wheel from Revolution Fibers, and I couldn’t be happier with the entire experience.

Let me back up..One year ago I would have never imagined that’d I’d become a spinner, and I still have friends struggling to understand my strange (to them) new obsession but in short, I’m totally hooked.

I’ve found that for me spinning is a great way to unwind my own stress and help put my daily burdens into better perspective (similar to a runners high….minus the whole running part). The unconsciously repetitive hand motions combined with the creativity of making something out of nothing eases my mind while piquing my creative juices. And what’s more, this can all be accomplished while watching a good TV show or listening to an audio book. The elusive multitasking at it’s finest!

I had been vaguely familiar with spinning thanks to extended family, and during Covid I decided to give it a try myself. I first began with a drop spindle, (p.s. Revolution Fibers has simply amazing handcrafted drop spindles HERE). I love their drop spindle so much that I included an image below...just for fun! 

I thoroughly enjoy spinning on a spindle, but when I do things,my personality requires that I do them all the way, so naturally I had my heart set on a spinning wheel.

After a few more months of spindle spinning, I began my search in earnest for my first spinning wheel. Spinning wheels can get very expensive, almost all of them are between $500 - $3,000 and being that I was still relatively new to spinning, I was looking for a durable, sleek wheel at the cheapest price point I could find.

In my search I landed upon the Fantasia Spinning Wheel manufactured by Kromski. I really liked the unique, modern design. It was every bit as masculine as its name wasn’t… This became my choice wheel and the fact that it was near the bottom of the spinning wheel price range definitely helped to solidify my decision.

As I had already purchased my spindle from Revolution Fibers and was familiar with their fast shipping and super friendly customer service, I opted to purchase my new spinning wheel through them as well.

Guess what? It shipped to me the very same day of my purchase! I had it setup in my living room within 3 days of my order.  I could not have asked for a better purchasing process and I am very pleased with my wheel choice so far. I will fill you in on some of the details below.

The Kromski Fantasia Spinning Wheel comes in several different stain/finish options. There’s an unfinished, finished, walnut, mahogany, and now the new black, and mint finishes. Of course I chose the unfinished wheel, not just because I intend to put my own uniquely styled finish on it eventually, but mainly because the unfinished version was $200 less than the finished options. What can I say, I like to save money!

Delivery & Assembly

As I mentioned above, my wheel was shipped immediately and arrived to me within 48 hours (day 3). I opened the box excitedly like I was a child on Christmas morning. First thing I did was to carefully lay out each piece. The wheel comes with an instruction booklet that at first glance looks…daunting. However, once I mustered up the courage to open it, I found it was incredibly easy to use - Kromski did such a great job of describing each step in the setup process. 

  

 

 It probably took me longer to read the instruction book than it took me to assemble the wheel. And after doing it, I found it so simple that I’m confident I could have assembled it just by looking at the pictures. Certainly one of the best assembly booklets I’ve seen for a product this large. The entire assembly process took me about 15 minutes.

Wheel Experience & Review

After I finished assembling the wheel of course I had to give it a spin, literally. A quick test spin turned into several hours of pure bliss.  I think the Fantasia is a fantastic wheel. It’s incredibly easy to use, and it’s so quiet and sturdy that I wasn’t even sure I was actually spinning at first! The pedals were easy to get accustomed to and starting and stopping seemed to happen without any effort at all.

In my research leading up to my wheel purchase I was reading that scotch tension can be very difficult and took some learning initially. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Fantasia made getting the tension correct just as easy as pedaling. The gear and wheel placement makes getting the tension right very obvious.

After completing my first bobbin on this wheel I was stunned at just how fast it was and my yarn was much more even than I had ever accomplished on my drop spindle. I’m loving this wheel and considering the price range and learning curve, I would highly recommend it as a great choice, especially for beginners. 

 Last, I want to thank the Revolution Fibers team for the fantastic service and experience. I’ve emailed their customer service more than once, and it’s always been a pleasure to talk with genuinely nice and very helpful people. I’m so glad I found their shop and would highly recommend them to any fiber artist or crating extraordinaire! 

 Thanks for taking the time to read about my experience and now, I must get back to my wheel!!