Okay, so I was saying things were going worse for me as the night went on. I didn’t know what I was doing wrong. So in the morning, I downloaded the Ashford Traveler instructions which go through step by step on putting all the parts together. There is also a section that tells you typical tips or the typical whats going wrong. I made a few tweaks to get it back aligned, mainly my spool and flyer weren’t straight which made it difficult to treadle, and I really didn’t understand how the tensioning worked. Anyway, a few tweaks later and I was back in business! Ghetto Wheel pulled through! I know with practice I will get better and more consistent. And I’m excited to get a few spools done so I can practice the Navajo plying that Schelli taught us. We plan on doing this once a month or so. I find it so relaxing to spin. Sometimes, if I have nothing I really want to knit or crochet on, it’s daunting to start a new project. So spinning will be a great in between projects fiber art for me. I just love it!

And Thank you SnB girls, now my Sit-n-Spin friends for making my first house party a success! I had so much fun and we will definitely be doing it again soon!

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

Well, I’m done with my Boulder project and my commute. I just completed my project and started my first day back in the Denver office. I have to say it felt a little odd to leave Boulder, much like it did leaving Denver six months ago. Everyone says they will miss you and you say your goodbyes and promise to keep in touch. It’s leaving a job on good terms, which I expect for the majority of people doesn’t happen too often. I felt sad saying goodbye. Of course that is such a silly feeling. I’m still with the same company, I will get to see everyone at the company parties, and keep in touch via email. It’s not like they aren’t going to call me with questions. But, I won’t see my team everyday and dodge flying rubber bands when I have my headphones on like I did when I sat right next to them.

I got lots of compliments and people telling me I was a joy to work with and they would love to work with me again. This was the best news, and such satisfaction to hear. Honestly, I am beaming with pride. I told my boss that I would love to work with him again and I want to be first on his call list if he every needs anything. And then in Denver, people were so happy to see me back and trying to grab me to work on their projects. My boss in Denver heard great feed back from my work in Boulder and is happy with me. Word got around that I was returning this week and a few people were begging for me to work on their projects in the staff meetings. I felt bad that I couldn’t help them out because I’m fully booked on another job. And in our business, this is how to keep your job! If you aren’t known for working over 40hr/wk, being thorough, and getting the job done well, or if people aren’t requesting you then you better do something to change that!

I thought the commute from Denver to Boulder would be such a drag. I took the bus at first and got lots of knitting done. But taking the bus takes its toll. There were some snowy days where it took 4 hours to get home, only to wake up to another 4 hour commute back to work. Add that to your 8 hour shift and I was exhausted. So, I started to drive myself. I had one bad day of car trouble where I barely got the car started and had $1200 of repairs for things I didn’t know existed and couldn’t explain for the life of me. For my car being 11 years old, I was worried it wouldn’t hold up. I have always lived within 5 miles from work so I wouldn’t put the strain on my car, or I could take alternative transportation if need be. But after one big repair, it did fine and honestly was much better than the bus. I was bummed I missed my first Bike to Work day. I signed up thinking I was going to be back in Denver, then my project got extended and I thought I could take the bus to Boulder, but it turned out to be my last day and I needed my car to haul my computer and boxes back to the Denver office. Oh well, I plan on riding my bike now, from my NEW house to my old-new again office.

Well sorry to go on and on about work. I usually never blog about work. But I am proud of myself and the job I did, so I wanted to share. This ends the Yay for me blog! Back to Irish crochet, Yo Yo Afghans and fixing up my house.

You can check out the rest of the goodies in my flickr.