jeblog

spinning a blog entry

Time for another "coming out."

I'm a spinner. No, this isn't a chic term for someone who takes a strange new drug or does wild and crazy things or is a modern dervish: I spin yarn. Yarn made out of wool, flax, and alpaca (so far).

I find it to be nearly narcotic in its ability to calm me down. When I've been slaving away at the computer for three or four hours and am about to put my fist through the screen, I step into the next room, get my spindle and a strand of roving (cleaned up fiber), and start spinning. In this way, a very old technology keeps me from destroying a relatively new technology.

Even better is when I take my spindle outside, find a nice green spot and a nice tall tree and spin there. In fact, I take my spindle with me wherever I go, and when I have a few free moments, like waiting for a metro train, I take it out and start spinning. People stare, but in a curious, friendly way. Sometimes they ask me what I'm doing and I tell them. It can be a nice, small-towny ice-breaker in the big, anonymous city.

Spinning also makes for a good meditation practice. You have to pay special attention when your spinning, in how much fiber you draw down, in how you control the twist, etc. It helps keep the mind anchored in the present moment.

I'm very aware that the more invested I become in digital technology, the more I feel a need to use my hands for things other than pushing keys and buttons. That's why I drum, and why, now, I spin.

Of course it helps to have another fiber artist in your life if you spin. Otherwise, you're making a lot of yarn and it's only a matter of time before you fill up your room with it (and I don't know if having a cat to play with the yarn would help or not--probably not). Luckily my boyfriend Wallace (who got me hooked on spinning in the first place) is a terrific fiber artist and uses the yarn I give him. Either that or he's too polite to tell me to stop.

I suppose eventually I'll start knitting or crocheting, but right now the spindle is enough for me. Knitting seems too much for me to take on right now. I'm more likely to take it in another direction: incorporating the traditional story-telling role of the spinner ("yarn-spinner").

If you want a high-tech (with video) introduction to a low-tech craft (tho, like any craft, it's as low or high tech as your skill level), here's a URL:

http://www.joyofhandspinning.com/HowToDropspin.html

Posted by jeb at July 11, 2005 8:29 PM | TrackBack