Yesterday was a public holiday in Germany (hence the blog silence) which I had totally forgotten about and was only reminded Wednesday afternoon (hence the unannouncedness of the blog silence).
I spent the day in the most wonderful if exhausting way. It started with a little stroll through the garden and a bit of weeding in the morning sun, then a nice breakfast together with the most patient of all husbands and a friend (and no, that was not the exhausting part). After this, the friend and me and our upstairs neighbour all found ourselves in the basement - just the thing to do when there's lovely early summer weather outside - and did various woodworking stuff. Planing, mortise-cutting, drilling, sawing, neatening... which meant that I made very, very good progress on the spinning wheel, in lovely company and while lots of fun were being had.
And the work culminated in me successfully steam-bending the first of the wheel rim parts around the completed form, with some help from our friend (who made the steaming box and has done steam-bending before). Now the next part for the wheel rim is in the water, soaking to be bent during the weekend, and then, soon, it will be time to put all things together and find out whether it works as well as intended...