Rebirth!

Ok, first, let me THANK MY SP10 PAL -- she sent me a sweet little package with some goodies including lovely hand-made stitch markers, and with all the commotion I forgot to post about them. THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Now, let me tell you about SUNDAY. What an awesome day! I went with my good friends Joanne and Martha to the Fiber Studio in Henniker, NH (after a driving detour to the Vermont border! ooops!) to see the wonderful Nancy Benda of the Spinning Bunny for a class on everything Angora. We learned about the care, feeding, breeding, ailments, grooming, fiber prep, blending, spinning -- you name it! I neglected to charge my camera batteries, so I unfortunately have no pictures of the day, but believe me when I tell you that Nancy brought one of the sweetest little buns ever, a black Tort German Cross named Baby Ruth. She was sweet, alert, calm when being clipped, even with 9 strange women peeking and poking at her. I can't wait to see Nancy again at NH Sheep and Wool (where she'll have some little buns for sale!) and to have a chance to plunder her finer booth. What glorious samples she brought -- so lovely to spin. Good company, good fiber; definitely a top notch day.
As if that wasn't good enough, the wonderful Doug of Sandhill Crafts (look for his booth at the NH S&W, too) met me at the Fiber Studio to bring me my IZZY! For those of you who haven't been reading all that long, Izzy is my 100+ year old antique wheel I purchased from a local antique shop with the hope of getting her to work again, but if not just with a willingness to preserve a bit of the past of this art I have grown to love so much. And boy have I grown! When I bought Izzy I had only been knitting a few short months, never spun, never dyed, NOTHIN'. Izzy had no footman or treadle at purchase, but look otherwise in good shape to my unknowing but lucky eyes, as Doug confirmed her worthiness. He tuned her up, crafted a footman and pedal from maple, and made a fair match with the stain. Upon closer inspection, he realized she is actually a Saxony Flax wheel, as the hooks on her hand carved flyer are on the opposite side from the typical wool wheel. Sadly, there is no maker mark to be found anywhere on her, so an actual date of origin is beyond us, but we can only guess that she was crafted possibly in the Pennsylvania area in the late 1800's/early 1900's. And now she is born again! SHE WORKS! What a joy she is to spin on! With a lovely whir and soft click clack, she effortlessly spun an even and fine alpaca single -- thinner and more even and more delightful than any single I ever spun on the Ashford Tradi. I am in heaven. I heart her so! Doug is a fiber god.
And serendipitously, I sauntered out to my mailbox this afternoon to find my monthly fiber club installment from Amy! I'll post pictures tomorrow so as not to spoil the surprise for other club members but Oh! What great colors!
Tomorrow, a knitting update (yeah, there's been a bit of that)but first, some pics of Izzy and the alpaca...