Just When I Swore Them Off...

one of them caught my eye as I drove home yesterday from work.

It stood by the glass window of a local thrift shop and this morning, I remembered it and called to inquire if it was still available.

And if it was within my price range (after all I'm under a strict budget these days), and lo and behold, it was!

So off I went for a little drive back to the direction of work to check it out, and after twenty minutes of deliberating and figuring out whether everything was there (it was sorta disassembled and masking-taped together), and after a quick text-back-and-forth with fiberfreek about it ("buy it" - of course, what else would he say??? He has, like ten wheels or something!) I handed them the money (it all goes to various charities anyway so I was doing something good - right?) and packed the thing in the SUV.

One of the things that was interesting was that the little old ladies who volunteer at the store were talking about the spinning wheel and it went like this:

"They're collectibles, you know. I think for the price, it's a good buy." One of them said.

"We had to change the price after we checked on the internet that people collect them," added the manager. "I think this is from the 60's."

"I don't think people spin anymore." Said the first woman.

"Oh no," I said. "People do spin."

"Do you spin your own yarn?" Asked the manager.

"Of course," I replied. And at this point I had to tell her that I may be getting the wheel since it looked like she now thought the asking price was a tad bit low.

Leo, who's been breathing a sigh of relief each time I destashed an extra wheel to make room for the baby, surprisingly was very positive about my purchase. I think the price helped. He helped me load it off and while he tended the garden, I got it all assembled and found that it indeed was missing the footman as I had thought back in the store.

So without further ado, let me introduce my new wheel!

The flyer and teeny-tiny bobbin. Which means that once I get it oiled and working (and it does spin!) with its missing footman, I may have to find someone to make me a few more bobbins just like it.

The flyer does look inverted (most wheels have the flyer facing the wheel, not facing away from the wheel like this one does) but when I try to do it the other way, the drive bands fall off because it's way too loose and I really don't want to mess with drive bands right now.

With this wheel now taking residence in the garage or the house (to avoid it getting dinged in the garage!), it means we have to move stuff around again since the house is small!

Speaking about "small", this morning, while having breakfast at a local restaurant, I read about an Echo Park couple who live in a 390-square foot place with their 9-month old toddler. If they can do it in a place that small, I thought, it shouldn't be too difficult to do the same in a 1000-give-or-take-square-foot "mother-in-law" house, should it?

On the pregnancy front, I'm now 28 weeks pregnant and recently diagnosed with gestational diabetes (which sucks because now I can't have anything sweet, like those yummy chocolates and cake that seem to crop up everywhere during the holiday season!). The baby's moving like crazy and it's fun to watch my belly move - talk about belly dancing, right? I don't even have to work my own belly muscles for it to move...