Flying by the seat of my pants.

Whew. This week has flown by. My Dad and uncle went to Scotland for a visit with their oldest brother who lives over there. He said he had a smashing time and is very tired and so has gone home to go to the grocery store and get some sleep. He's been on a plane all day long, as one would expect when flying across the pond, no?

When he went over there, I asked him to please look around and see if he could find a small shawl pin for me. I was expecting something much less fabulous than what I got. I was floored. Can you see why?Holy sweaty Scotsman, batman. The picture isn't so good, but it's a solid silver antique plaid broach with Celtic knots, a dog, and a ship. It's resting on a scarf(for my mom) made of the Russell family plaid. Of course I'll bring it to knit night, did you think you'd have to ask? He also brought some fat pills in the form of Scottish Tablets. Sounds innocent enough, except that they are almost pure sugar with a little butter and evaporated milk mixed in. I'm gonna have to find a recipe 'cause these things are not lasting so long around here.

I've been off all week to take care of mom and my darling little brother came in from Arizona to help out. Here he is displaying his usual sunny disposition:Isn't he cute? He's always waving that finger about. What a little ambassador for the family. He hates having his picture taken, poor dear.

Anyhoo, some projects finished this week. Pictures? My pleasure.

To start, my double treadle kit came for my Ashford Traditional wheel. Ed and I stained it and installed it in no time flat. And there is a trick about taking the wheel off, it's so simple, you won't believe it. All you need is a nail and a hammer and ping, it's off. It's more of a visual aid thing, best shown in person. Will do on request.

Here's my "new" wheel. Ain't she pretty? We chose a cherry stain, and I have to say it's hardly distinguishable from the original finish.
Tah-dah!

In other news, I took a crappy, old cabinet that had been Scott's grandmothers and refurbished it. It was originally red, then painted white. I took the (installed backwards) hinges off and painted the whole thing. It's beautiful now. I am so happy with the way it turned out. Here's the outside:
And I painted the inside something the paint chip said was Japanese Fern. It's really more like screaming parakeet green, don't you think? And yes, it's brighter in person. I love it. Seeing it finished makes me want to hop up and down.
And of course it is being used for what? Say it with me, folks. Yarn/fiber storage. Yeah, baby, life is good. I now have a place to keep my fiber from getting, shall we say, other additives. Namely cat hair. I think I'm going to devise some kind of system on the inside of the door to put my straight and circular needles so I won't constantly have to look in three different places for them. That should save me a lot of hassle. Nothing like getting organized is there?

Speaking of organization, I also went through the clothes and got rid of 7-8 bags of stuff. It's good to get rid of crap once in a while. Who needs stuff that doesn't fit anyway?