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March 14, 2003

As I was hemming a pair of Levi's on a late model Singer, my middle left finger got sucked under the presser foot and viola! the needle punched right through my nail and out the other side. It was a small needle, but the blood came quickly and damn, it hurt like crazy.

Lucky for me it was my left finger that was injured and not my right hand, my picture taking hand. I went to the kitchen to rinse off the blood, but spied my new digital camera there on the counter. Not thinking even twice what I should do first, I grabbed the camera and racked off a couple of shots. Unfortunately I had already removed the thread from my finger.

A few weeks later my finger healed up very nicely, no scar.

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Editor's Notes:

We were your first reaction to pain, I like that! Of course, that's because you were on your way to clean the wound. Don't wait around to clean wounds, especially piercings like this. We've seen what can happen when small wounds get infected.

Here's some stuff I didn't know:

• I.M. Singer invented the Singer sewing machine in 11 days with $40 of capital.
• When Singer opened a branch office in Paris in 1855 it became "the first international company".
• The Statue of Liberty was made in the likeness of Isabella Singer.
• The Singer Company has made several dozen butt-loads of money over it's 152 years in operation.

Eleven Days and the guy practically changed the world. If the Singer had never been invented you'd have been using a Lerow and Blodgett machine that moved a curved needle in a circular motion. Besides taking a twist out of the thread every time it went around, I think it would have eaten your finger whole.

All that information was gleaned from SingerShop.com but don't go there unless you have IE or Netscape. You'll get a pretentious message that says, "The Singer Shop Web site makes extensive use of JavaScript and Shockwave Flash 5. Please download a frames and Flash 5 capable browser and turn JavaScript on in your preferences to properly view our Web site. You'll be glad you did!" So a company world renowned for turning an expensive skill into something that every person can do at home won't let you look at their website without Javascript and Flash. That's stupid.

Sharky

Photos:
Dripping- labels do help
Healed- good as new