Quick break

Yes, I've been knitting/editing furiously, despite having come down with the flu (better now, though) but I have snuck a few moments here and there to do other things "just because."

For instance, I made a spindle!

It spins GREAT-- and for a loooooong time. Here's what I did:
Materials: An old size 11 bamboo needle (from a Suss Cousins shawl kit I bought years ago on clearance at Barnes and Noble), a round, flat stone with a hole in the center, about 2 1/4" in diameter (bought at Michael's for about $3 in the bead department), some stretchy illusion jewelry cord (had lying around, but originally bought at Michael's) and a small cup hook.
What to do: 1. Slip the stone over the needle, leave up at the top near the cap. 2. Beneath the stone, at the point you want the whorl to be, start wrapping the illusion cord TIGHTLY, narrower at the edges and thicker in the middle, about 1/2" wide in total, until the center of the cord wrapped part is a bit bigger than the hole in the stone. 3. Tie off the cord. 4. Gently force the whorl down over the cord wrapped part. It should be nice and snug. 5. Screw the cup hook into the cap of the needle.

That's it. You might want to put a dab of glue where the knot was tied to keep it secure (I did).

Also, I learned to Navajo ply on my spindle:

(The wool is some Blue Faced Leicester I bought at Knit Michigan from The Spinning Loft).

And here's the sock I haven't been knitting much lately:

That's it. Guess I'd better get back to work... especially because a really exciting thing is arriving on Thursday (my birthday is coming early this year!!) and I want to be able to play with it.