After my post a week or so ago about being nervous to get back in front of the lathe, I did so yesterday.

Had a friend come over who is interested in turning, went over the process of preparing the wood (marking centers for spindle turning, mounting, checking tool rest distance to wood, etc) as an intro for him and as a way to remind myself of everything that needs to be done to be safe and not cause otherwise-preventable accidents.

Turned a small spindle for a while - at first just for the sake of doing it, without a product in mind. Happy to say that I started to feel the anxiety dissipate along with the wood shavings while rough turning, and by the time I was finished it was something I was enjoying and looking forward to doing again.

Thank you all for sharing your experiences, I've got a few things on the go for the next while, but I plan to just do a few more of these "whatever" pieces before I try for something "real".