The Meaning of Vacation

So, I was able to get out to the shop with me crutches, and J.B. helped me move one of the tools to a lower table so that I could sit at a stool for part of the process of making spindolyns. When I sat down, I had an overwhelming sense of..."ohh, I do really like doing this" I do really enjoy working with wood, it was good to be back in my shop (crummy as it is)

It got me to thinking about that feeling you get of happiness and contentment when you reunite with the familiar after a seperation, even if you had been ragging on it quite a bit before you left.

And isn't that what a vacation is all about? we think of it as the activity itself, the trip, the tour, the leisure, but when it is all said and done a good part of the lasting effect is not the memories, but the coming home and appreciating where we left off, we see the familiar with a fresh and newly affectionate look.

If we come back to a job or place and we only feel revulsion, then it is probably a wake up call that it is time to move on.

My accident provided me with an unexpected vacation in the dictionary sense; "time away from work devoted to rest or pleasure" Now, my planned vacation (kayaking near Chattanooga) won't happen this year because of the resultant medical bills, but I am amazed that the time of rest (ok, not so much pleasure) had the same after effect as a real vacation. My woodworking and crafting seems rosier and I feel more motivated all the way around after my unplanned period of rest.

So I looked up the origin of the word vacation, and I especially like the reference to "empty"

Word Origin & History

vacation

late 14c., "freedom or release" (from some activity or occupation), from O.Fr. vacation, from L. vacationem (nom. vacatio ) "leisure, a being free from duty," from vacare "be empty, free, or at leisure" (see vain). Meaning "formal suspension of activity" (in ref. to schools, courts, etc.) is recorded from c.1456. As the U.S. equivalent of what in Britain is called a "holiday," it is attested from 1878.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

We get empty, so we can feel that satisfying feeling of filling up again.

          So, lets all raise our rested spindles in a toast and fill them up again!

testing a prototype spindolyn

Emergency! knitting and spinning.. OR making sure we are prepared

Please note: if you are waiting on a spindolyn shipment, I apologies most sincerely for the delay, I am still unable to walk after the accident, but hope to be out to the shop by the end of the week (more info below this post)

My sis in law and I talk often about what I think of as "girl scout orta's" 
Habits we "orta" keep that can make us more prepared in the event of an emergency.
There are your basic emergency kits, then there are your "emergency fiber kits"
Their house fire taught me that a person aught to keep their purse on a hook right by the exit door. If you have to go to your safe place in the event of a tornado or flash flood, you will know where it is to grab it to take it with you. To have to replace your drivers license, glasses, etc is a drag. But even worse, if your car keys are in your purse, and you can't find it as you rapidly exit the burning house, then you can not move your car and it burns up with the house.

BD and W keep a "bug out bag" or "zombie apocolypse bag" handy by the door with survival stuff in it.

My mother kept a "hospital bag" that she could grab if someone went to the emergency room and she had to go sit. It had clean undies, socks, her own non allergenic soap and toiletries, something to read and write with and her knitting.
This was not her regular knitting, but a ball of dishcloth yarn and appropriate needles, just left there, waiting for the next emergency.
The last time S.i.l. had to go to the emergency room after the tractor accident, when I called to ask her what I could bring, she said; "please! something to knit"
And it got me to thinking I aught to get together an emergency bag, with toothbrush, knitting, spinning, etc. But I did not follow through with my plan, and in this last emergency, there I was, waiting and waiting, because I did not grab my current spinning or knitting project as they were to big, bulky, hairy, messy or disorganized to take along.
And that leads me to the point of this post.
 A person should plan their emergency fiber kit ahead of time, and decide if they are going to make it an entirely separate project from your current project, so that you can grab it and go and it will have everything you need and you won't have borrowed out of it or scrambled it.
I realize that some organized and tidy person's current project is perfect and complete and ready to go at a minutes notice, but mine is never that way as I am a  little scatterbrained and scatterproject. In addition, some of my projects are just not appropriate for public (no, not adult oriented, but as mentioned previously too big, bulky, hairy, messy or disorganized)
So, for myself, while I am confined to this position with my foot up, I am pondering what this emergency fiber kit should contain...and when I get mobile again, I have made myself  a promise that I will make it's assembly a priority. I am thinking......

• 1 spindolyn, but which fiber would be easiest and most contained? what fiber is best for a stressfull or sad situation?
• 1 small, simple knitting project; complete, simple, contained. But what? Mom always took a dishcloth, but what if my hands are too tired for cotton? is there a stretchier cotton out there? what else is mindless small and comforting...maybe just sock blanks...wristers?

I will think on this some more, when I can think straight.

Ok, here is what happened, if you are faint hearted, stop reading here, and know that I am recuperating as fast as I can, and am trying to rustle up some help to get back orders out. WARNING! graphic details below.





You might not want to  look at the photo of big old dirty nail in the barn that I stepped on which went all the way through the ball of my foot  to the top between the bones and tendons that operate my toes.