Arlene has been surfing the Boston area Craig’s List since we bought the house in Maine, first looking for furniture we needed and more recently just because she likes to. She’s been noticing spinning wheels every now and then. This weekend there was one posted for sale in Topsfield. We go through there on our way between Newton and Casco. The picture looked good, the posting said it had worked, so it seemed worth a stop. OK! As far as I can tell, from what little I know, it seems to be in good shape. The woman who sold it to us said it belonged to the grandmother of the person she bought it from, and she thinks it’s from the 1950s to 1970s. Judging from the condition of the wood and the nylon bushing on the bobbin, I think that’s reasonable. So I’m getting set to learn to use it. The belt was broken; I have it running on some cotton mason’s twine that I spliced together. The treadle was connected with a length of very coarse jute twine that broke after a few seconds of treadling; I think some good nylon twine will be a good replacement for that.