Evil, I tell you.

I don't think I mentioned one thing that Darcy taught me during our visit to southern VA. After years of stating that drop spindles were Bad and also Tricksy and possibly Evil (the internet can teach you a lot, but spinning ain't one of those things that is easily taught from text and photos, and I had a bad experience), she took me in hand and, well. She taught me how to actually use the damn things. Then the words "And you can do this in the airport, if you want a change from knitting!" fell from her mouth.

Surely you can see where this is going. If you guessed "Wendi was using a drop spindle in the airport on her way to C14", you'd be right. It also led to an amusing discussion in regards to the varying meanings of "spinning", especially when talking to a DJ. You can bet I'll be taking it with me to D*C, too. Because, yanno, sometimes it's nice to switch things up a little.

Another feature of the drop spindle is that if one has, say, a little chunk of left over roving that had no other plans for it, one can lose half an hour going *WHEE* *SPIN* *FEED FEED FEED* *SPIN* *WHEE!!*, repeat ad nauseum.

Clearly, portable spinning is Dangerous and Evil. (But really fun, of course, like all dangerous and evil things.)