Just over a year ago I made a decision about my next spinning wheel.  Don't get me wrong, I love my Ashford Joy but I found myself wanting to explore areas of spinning which the Joy wasn't so suited to.  In particular I wanted to try double drive and higher ratios which the Joy doesn't have the capacity to do. I wanted my next wheel to be capable of double drive and also from a manufacturer whose bobbins and flyers are compatible with their travel wheel offerings as well.  I got particularly interested in Schacht wheels, but there are only two dealers in the UK and neither are close to where I live so it was hard to test-drive them.

Fortunately I was working in America a lot at that time and there was a Schacht dealer very close to work (Purlescence Yarns, Sunnyvale) so I asked if I could try out the Ladybug and Sidekick (the Sidekick doesn't do double drive but if I wanted to look at their portable offering for future reference).   I'd pretty much confirmed that the Ladybug would be my next wheel when the store owner came over to see how I was getting on.  "Have a go on the Matchless as well if you like," she said.

Dammit. I knew I'd been avoiding trying it for a reason.  It was akin to spinning butter.  And in the UK it costs nearly £1,000.  Waaay out of my price range.  I convinced myself that a Ladybug would be great, not mention more affordable, and I bought a couple of high speed bobbins to go with my eventual purchase.  The plan had been to buy one shortly after returning to the UK, but that was before I discovered I was going to have to move house and money for moving expenses became more of a priority so the Ladybug got put on hold.  In the meantime I had time to think about it.  Which is always dangerous.

The Matchless is one of the ultimate workhorse wheels.  It can use all the drive systems you could ever need (Scotch tension, double drive and Irish tension), has ratios from 4:1 to 22:1 and is a precision-built, solid wheel.  Every review or owner comment I read pushed me a little more in that direction.  I decided that my next wheel might as well be my lifetime wheel and that's worthy of a little investment.  I could probably afford a Matchless in six months or so if I really set my mind to saving for it.

Fast forward a few months. I was on holiday with my family in the Lake District and after a week of walking up as many mountains as possible, we decided to spend out last day checking out some craft-related shopping options. My stepdad does wood turning so we visited G&S Specialist Timber, next to the Alpaca Centre.  The Alpaca Centre was disappointing from a 'maker' standpoint.   It's full of pre-made items with one little bag of alpaca fleece (to be fair, it's way past shearing season) and a few skeins of alpaca yarn but nothing I couldn't get elsewhere and the alpacas were tucked up indoors so not much to see there either.
G&S on the other hand was pretty fascinating even for someone with no practical wood turning skills.  I loved their tree trunk sofa and they have a lovely selection of different woods so I picked out a beautiful bit of olive wood for my stepdad to make me a surprise object with.

Having been disappointed with the Alpaca Centre, the next stop was The Wool Clip, which I'd heard a lot of good things about but never managed to visit.  What a total joy this shop is.  There's something for every type of fibre artist, much of it locally-sourced and it's run as a co-operative.  I particularly liked their hand dyed fibre and yarn, handmade drop spindles and cute felting kits. Unfortunately they don't allow photos in the shop.  A decision I completely respect but one which means you'll have to go there yourself to witness how truly awesome it is!

As luck would have it, the member of the co-op running the shop that day was Cecilia, who was spinning on a Spinolution Bee.  Of course we got chatting about it as she was ringing up our purchases and the inevitable question came up: "So which wheel do you have?"  When I said I had a Joy but wanted to get a Matchless at some point, Cecilia said "Oh, I have a friend who might be selling one of those."  And so it began.

As soon as I got back to the apartment I Ravelry messaged the friend who confirmed that yes, she was selling it and she'd like... how much?!  BARGAIN.  I have to have this wheel.  Only problem was we were driving home the next day with a car that was already tightly packed with all our stuff and there was some debate as to whether we could get the Matchless to fit.  On the up side, we were passing within an hour's detour of the wheel's current home and my Mum appreciated how much of a lucky break this was and was able to persuade my stepdad to do the detour on an already very long journey.
 And that was how I ended up coming home from my holiday with my dream spinning wheel that I absolutely hadn't intended to purchase while I was away.