aemcdraw.com

Karma, I think I love you!!

• Posted by aemcdraw on June 30th, 2008 filed in Crochet, Knitting, News, SnB

I am so happy right now! Karma, I think I love you! My weekend started out with a early morning free compost class with Denver Recycles and Denver Urban Gardens. I then went to the Lambshoppe (The BEST yarn shop in Denver!) where I got a free pizza from the neighbor Dominos without asking! Then I went to a Nintendo party and got a free Nintendo DS!! Actually, I am giving it to a friend, but I have to admit I was tempted to keep it for myself.
Then Sunday morning I woke up and went to the office because I knew there were free wooden pallets in the alley and I wanted to get started making my compost bin. I can only fit one pallet in my station wagon, but managed to fit another 1/2 pallet, and I knew I already had one at home (You need at least 3.). I then went to the alley by the Lambshoppe because I knew there was wire from a pulled ceiling system by the dumpster to wire the pallets together. I love driving through the neighborhood near the Lambshoppe because they always have a garage going somewhere. I bought a few items, like a shovel and a cute metal wall hanging basket for the mail. I started to drive toward home and saw a sign for a garage sale. I thought the home was one I had previously bid on (and lost) when I was looking to buy, but it was two doors down. The house is on top of a hill next to a park and the person just had stuff sitting out front at the top of the stairs. I think I stopped because anytime you see large pieces of furniture out front, you know it hasn’t been picked over by the Saturday crowd.

I saw this spinning wheel sitting on top of a desk and thought how ugly. It was painted red and green and the wheel part was painted with green circles and red triangles. Ugh! Then I thought, hmm I wonder if it works and has all its parts. I pushed the pedal and the gears started to turn. It had no sticker price and no one was around to ask, honestly I almost walked away. I then decided, well at least find out how much it is selling for and maybe that will help me decide if its worth taking home. I walked over to the door and knocked. No answer. Then a young teenage girl with a cell phone to her ear asked what I wanted. I asked is this your house? She said it was her cousins, and I heard her say in the phone tell Auntie to come to the door, some one is asking for something out front. I told her, ask how much is the spinning wheel. She kept talking and knocked on the door a few times. Probably 5-10 minutes passed, she is still talking on the phone and not telling me anything, and I’m startin’ to get testy. But I’ve run garage sales before and it’s difficult to run a one woman show when you have to go to the bathroom and all your possessions are out front for people to steal (and they DO steal believe me!). So I kept waiting. Finally a man came to the door looking like I woke him up from a 12:30 “morning” nap and I asked how much? He said eh, hmmm, well, $5.00. Trying to keep my smile under control and my eyeballs in my head, it hit me! I’ve got no money with me!! Crap! I thought of my last garage sale purchase and the change I received. I thought I had $3 and asked him if that was ok. He said yes! I flew down the stairs to my car. I had $2.50!!! I looked in the glove box, I looked on the floor, I looked in every cranny of my purse. I walked back up with my change and said this is all I have, is that alright? He said yes and before he could change his mind I ran it back to my car and got out of dodge. Well I did smile and say thank you first (I think, I hope).

It wasn’t until I got it back out of the car and up to my front door that I looked down and saw the Ashford Made in New Zealand mark! (I think it is the Traveler Single Drive version.) I nearly passed out! When I saw it at the garage sale, it was sitting on top of a desk and so I didn’t see that mark. I bought it thinking well it works, it has all it parts, its ugly but it will do the job. I’ve been wanting a spinning wheel, but brand new can cost anywhere from $300-600 dollars and then add shipping! I had to call someone who would appreciate such a steal. I called Moxie the HBIC of the Downtown Denver Stitch and Bitch. She said “You better blog the hell out of this!” And so I hope I have made her proud!

Honestly, the more I look at it and think about what I paid for it. It has gone from the Fuggly wheel at the garage sale to the most beautiful thing I have every seen. I’m going to take better pictures of it when the daylight is better. I built my compost bin and weeded the yard today, so I missed the daylight photo hour. This thing will be traveling with me I’m sure. I’m going to take it for a walk in Wash park, take it the Lambshoppe to be admired. . . kidding, kidding. But I will be giving it a proper photo shoot for sure. I am definitely going to try to strip the paint on the wheel and may paint the other parts something more in my color scheme (turquoise! or probably the left over Rocky Mountain Blue that I painted my dresser). This is hands down the best garage sale find of my lifetime and turned out to be the best week ever! Thank you Karma, I think I love you!
Ashford Spinning Wheel Flickr photoset