I got my wheel! Jason tried to trick me and told me we couldn't afford it until January, and he had it waiting for me to open at my mom's house, which is where we spent Christmas :) It's an Ashford Traveler, double treadle, single drive. Remember how I said I was making yarn in mere seconds at the spinning shop when I test drove some wheels? Turns out it's not so easy when someone hasn't made all the adjustments for you. I keep going from breaking the fiber into little bits (underspinning?) to super-overspinning and not having it even wind onto the bobbin it's so overspun. I got lots of fiber along with it, and my MIL gave me some as well, along with a set of hand carders. I did, however, already purchase a little more fiber from Spunky Eclectic and Crown Mountain Farms. I couldn't resist the hand dyed pencil roving-- they say it's good for beginners!
I also taught my mom to knit while we were down visiting! She mentioned a month or so ago that she needed a hobby, so I jumped immediately into setting her up, and gave her a beginner embroidery kit, a cross stitch kit and some yarn and needles with free lessons (from me of course). After proclaiming that she'd never be able to learn, she caught on quickly and knit a few inches before we had to leave. She even told me that it was easy.