Knit One, Spin Two: July 2009

I have the best friends and family in the world, and I'm lucky enough that many of the people who mean the most to me are both family members AND friends at the same time. Like my sister-in-law. I'd love her because she makes my brother happy, but Tara is the most incredibly awesome, generous, fun, caring and wonderful person I've ever met and she has just enough tough-girl edge to keep things interesting (both she and my brother are Border Patrol Agents). Tara and my brother Mark have come through for my husband and I over and over again the last few years. They were a tremendous help when Bear and I got married, we have spent time at each others' houses enjoying great company and great food (Tara is Italian and makes the best from-scratch spaghetti sauce in the WORLD), and Bear and I were able to help them out for their own wedding a year later. I love them both dearly.

Mark and Tara constantly amaze me with their generosity - and last week, they did it again. They both knew how badly I want a spinning wheel, and for my birthday sent me a check for the entire cost of a brand new wheel. I was floored. I would never, in a million years, have ever asked or expected or even wanted them to do this for me. As soon as I saw the check, I burst into tears. I called them and tried to tell them it was too much; that they weren't allowed to do that. They of course were having none of it. Tara said that it was something they both wanted to do and I was to put that money in the bank and order the wheel that night (I wouldn't have, but my husband took the check from me and deposited it before I could mail it back to them. He was in cahoots with them the whole time!). After much convincing, I tried to be gracious and do what they asked:

Introducing Bronwyn, my first spinning wheel. It's a Kromski Minstrel. Kromski is a company from Poland, and they do incredible work. Originally I was going to get the clear finish, but the company I ordered from (The Copper Moose) was sold out of those so I got a FREE upgrade to the walnut finish which was the one I secretly wanted the most. I'm finding spinning to be both easier and harder than I thought it would be, and will post all about that soon.

For now, I have to attempt to write a thank-you to Mark and Tara. How do you thank someone for making your dream come true??

A list of three beautiful things to share today:

1. Washed locks from my Shetland fleece. I'm about halfway done it, thanks to weeks of unending rain, but I'm getting there. I ordered some Indigo Hound Viking combs and am trying to stretch out the fleece washing until they get here. The washed lock is on the right, the unwashed is on the left.
2. I've decided to join the Tour de Fleece challenge on Ravelry. The task? To spin every day of the Tour de France which runs from July 4 to the 26th. I've chosen to focus on my spinning WIPS so that I can add more to the FO pile. This should also clear up my stash for when I get my spinning wheel (sometime this fall). My first fiber WIP I'll finish is this 2 ounce braid of 100% silk from dyeingforcolor on Etsy:
3. Finally, here's the finished skein of June's SAL fiber from CJ Kopec Creations. It's BFL, colorway "emerge". I navajo plyed it in order to get a three-ply that didn't have muddied colors. The pic is terrible, but the yarn is fabulous: