I GOT A NEW TOY!

  I went to the antique store down the street last Saturday and found this:

  That is an antique spinning wheel with most of it's parts and no broken pieces for $120!  I told God if He wanted me to have it He would 1) have my Wonderful Husband be okay with me getting it, and 2) it would still be there for me to buy when we got paid next, six days later.
  Yesterday, with ten minutes before the store closed, I went to the store and bought it!  Thanks, God!
   I am so happy I can barely restrain myself from using all caps!  I feel like the little girl in Despicable Me who shouted, "IT'S SO FLUFFY!"
   I am no expert on spinning wheels, antique or not, by any means, but I am pretty sure this one is only missing the hooks on the flyer and a drive belt.  There is no maker's mark, so I have no idea who made this.
   First thing to do when I got it home was to get out the Murphy's Oil soap and clean off the bit of mold/mildew/whatever that was on it. This is the after picture.  Such a beautiful color of wood!

   Do you see the holes in those top and bottom arms? Hooks go in those to guide the yarn onto the bobbin. Fortunately, really small cup hooks will work on there. Below is what it should look like.  That is my modern spinning wheel, an Ashford Kiwi.
  The drive band on my Kiwi, which connects the wheel to the bobbin to spin it, is made of a clear rubber/plastic that is just stretchy enough to work but not too stretchy that it doesn't move when the wheel does.  I'm pretty sure the antique wheels had leather drive bands, so I tried to make one.

  It doesn't work very well.  The leather band keeps popping off the wheel after a few turns. As much as I love this new wheel, I'm putting it aside before it vexes me too much and coming back to it later.
  I have some spinning to do on my Kiwi so I can get the shawls done on the loom.  But first, I'm pretty sure my girls want me to feed them. Kids, always wanting food!