I’ve been handspinning and weaving for years; I don’t know how to link directly to my posts in this thread but several other people and I have some neat discussion about our wheels and background in handspinning, too.
My auntie in Blairgowrie gave me about 5 kg of cashmere to spin; she had so much of it she would stuff pillows and use it as packing material in shipping boxes!
I have spun a variety of wools (I have a preference for British rare breeds), but also like cotton, angora, different silks, dog, cat, and other exotic fibres. I used to make a number of novelty yarns involving feathers, seed pearls, metallic threads, etc.
In addition to my Great Wheel, Jensen, and Spin-tech, I have a charka and a wide variety of drop and supported spindles. I live to demonstrate drop (hand) spindles in my ancient history classes; I’ve prefer top whorl spindles, especially as how you can give them a kick with your feet to increase the length of the spun yarn before you have to wind it up on the cop.
When I had my house, I had a weaver’s garden, mostly just for plants to do natural dyes.
I will sometimes hand card, and I have wool combs and a hand-carder from Louet, but I prefer using my Patrick Green triple-carder to make blends and roving.
Oops – I meant to add, GingeroftheNorth, I’m not sure where you live, but if you are anywhere near Maryland, you might want to check out the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. It’s just gone by as it’s usually the first weekend in May, but I used to work for one of the exhibitors and also compete there, and you’d probably find it a really great opportunity to find loads of fibres, books, and things related to spinning and weaving.
edited to add the Maryland info