the magpie strikes again

Last year I learned how to spin, and quickly picked up several spindles and a wheel.  As I have magpie like tendencies, and some disposable income, this collection has grown quite a bit.  I'm up to about a dozen spindles, and yesterday my third wheel arrived - a Schacht Matchless double treadle, in the cherry special edition released this year for Barry Schacht's 70th birthday.  I'm a serious sucker for pretty wood and anything marked "special edition," and I'd been looking at a Matchless since last fall...and that's that.

 

Jadzia supervised the photo session after I was done playing with it for a while.  You can also just barely see Martok in the background by the patio doors, he was very interested in the wheel and nearly got his nose clipped by the drive wheel prior to this photo!

Special edition medallion - it says Special Edition - Barry Schacht - 2013 - 70th on it.  With a sheep!

The treadles had to be attached to the wheel when it arrived, which while not difficult was definitely interesting.  The wood of the treadles even has a bit of chatoyance, which can be seen when I'm using them to drive the wheel.  Really pretty, even in indoor lighting!  Also, those are dog toys on the floor behind the wheel, because we've got a house that's classy like that.

View of the back of the wheel, showing more of the beautiful wood and fabulous craftsmanship that went into the wheel.  The leather portions of the footmen needed oil already, so the break-in period is well underway!  I'm glad that I got "free" fiber with my purchase, however, as the double-drive wheel is definitely going to take some getting used to before I'm good to go with it.  I saw improvement with just a little time yesterday, as the wheel breaks in and I get used to working with it - plus, if it turns out I don't like double-drive, I can always switch it to Scotch tension.

Another shot of the back of the wheel, with more detail on the beautiful wood.  So, so pretty!

And finally, a shot of the serial number - which indicates that the wheel was made on May 16, 2013, and it was the 2nd Cherry wheel made that day.  Very cool!

Another miracle happened yesterday - Ezri let Martok lay down on the same bed that she was occupying, and even stayed there long enough for me to grab my phone to take a picture!  She's slowly starting to warm up to him and accept him, although he's still got his puppy annoyance moments where I'm pretty sure she wants to knock him through the wall.  She played tug with him a few days ago, and he was well tired last night without any energy to be annoying, so she let him snooze next to her.  Martok and Sirius both had their first shots yesterday (parvo vaccine), and they got to play together for about five hours worth of tug, bitey-face, chase, fetch, and running, so both boys were very tired by the end of the evening!

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My memorial locket finally arrived on Monday, and it is so beautiful I almost cried.  I found the artist on Etsy, and she sets a bit of fur/hair/cremains in resin inside this small locket (it's about the size of a quarter) and then makes the nametag and crystal for embellishment.  She accidentally attached an orange crystal and is sending me a red one in replacement, as red was Curzon's color and is my strongest association with him.  It's not much, but it's something, and it's given me some comfort to wear it this week.  It's not strong enough to wear every day permanently, so I may end up hanging it next to my bed after a while and only wearing it on special occasions, but for now it's often worn all day at work.

I still miss him so much it's like a hole in my life, but the emotional gut-punches are slowly starting to fade.  The framed studio photos from about 2005 up on our hallway wall caught my eye last night, especially the adorable one of Curzon licking Chris' face, and I was able to study the photo and smile a bit without crying.  I still want him back so badly it's ridiculous, though, and I don't know if that will ever change.  *sigh*