there's a spider on my leg!

It's kind of hard to take a pic of your own lower leg. It was only just done yesterday, at Gatlinburg Ink in TN. Still very red, a bit tender. Mostly from ramming my suitcase into it, I think. This was my second, got the Kanji symbol for "eternal" on my left shoulder blade about three years ago.

Susan, Nic and Les watched through the window and asked how much it hurt. It doesn't really hurt, sort of feels like a pen pressing into your skin at first and then it gets a little burn-y warm and a couple spots made me twitch a little. Some people say it feels like bee stings but it doesn't, bee stings feel waaaay worse! Or maybe that's because I'm allergic to bees.

Now, the next day, it feels like I scraped my leg. I just finished washing it and put Neutrogena hand cream on it...feels better. Nic was giggling because I kept telling this big, heavily tattooed guy (Earl, shop owner) that I don't like spiders but I want one on my leg...I just don't want it to be a SCARY spider. He put a little heart on my spidey's back...awwww. Hard--and funny--trying to explain the drop spindle to this guy.

I really love it...except for one thing and it's entirely my fault. I didn't sketch it out very well. I actually just realized what I wanted to get while I was in the bathtub a little while before we went into town. I was thinking of this design I put on spindles.

I totally forgot the spider should have been higher up, further away from the spindle, at least. On the final drawing, I actually did have it further up but, while he was doing it, he asked if it was okay to drop the spider down just a little so there'd be more of a natural arc in the back thread. I couldn't see (my hip was killing me because of the way my leg was bent so I was leaning back and away) and didn't realize he didn't drop that whole part down (which totally would have been cool to have the spindle down toward my ankle more). As it is, the spider's drafting awfully close to the spindle. I realize why he didn't think about there needing to be more yarn between the spider and the spindle--the spindle I brought to show him only had a bit on fiber on top...d'oh.

update: Within a few days, I realized my body does not like the little red heart. Though everything else is healing well and the redness is gone, the spider is very angry.