Life Interferes - but we go on.

Sometimes life interferes with our plans.  Several things happened that interfered with my plans to start the commission quilt. But life goes on.

I was going to get started on it today, but as I was stretching before arising this morning, my text message alert dinged.  I still did not get up immediately - but I should have done so.  When I did get up, I found that a very close friend had gone to the Emergency Room with chest pains. I decided that I needed to be there as probably, he would be alone.  I called a minister (who is also a friend and happens to be much closer in distance) and told him what was happening. He went to stay with my friend until he stabilized.
I packed the car in record time and headed on my trip -which is just over an hour and a half.  I sang, I prayed, I tried to remain calm and focused.  When I got to the hospital, and got back to the bed, I saw that he was awake and relatively alert.  The doctor came in and gave results - all good ones.  The labs showed no signs of a heart attack, but he suggested a full cardiac follow-up. I will be spending the rest of the week and the weekend with my friend -just to be sure.

I used the time sitting in the hospital (waiting time) to spin some yarn.  The drop spindle is great for that as it is very portable.  I had my original Ashford student drop spindle in my backpack so I used it. I was spinning this lovely hand painted wool roving.

I was told by other spinners that "if you can spin on that spindle, you can spin on anything!"  As you can see, I can certainly spin on that spindle.  The whorl - the round  part at the top - is about 3 1/4 inches across and is somewhat heavy. 

I was spinning when the nurse or tech came in to remove the IV.  She asked what I was doing. I think she was amazed that people could do such a thing.  She thought it was all done on big machines in factories. 

On Tuesday, I received the lovely red "dragon's blood stone" drop spindle that I ordered on Etsy.  The seller kindly included some Norwegian wool roving to get started with. Having never tried the Norwegian wool, I had to use it first. As you can see it spins well. 

 I put the quarter in the photo for size reference.  This spindle only weights 1.25 ounces. It is very light and spins freely.  The only issue I have is that the stone is so smooth that the yarn tends to slip. I am thinking that a dot of hot glue on the edge to form a bump will help.   Say, did you know that you can use "bumps" of hot glue on the back of your quilting rulers to make them slide less?

This stone spindle whorl is so pretty, I just enjoy looking at it. But it will be getting a workout this weekend while I "patient sit."


My blog is http://blog.geneblack.com
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