Teaching spinning...

I love to teach spinning.  Peggy does too.  It's a wonderfully gratifying task.  Of course, we are enablers when it comes to almost anything associated with fiber arts.  We really do want to take over the world.  It's just magical to watch someone who is all thumbs to start with, begin to understand drafting our the fiber so you get the size yarn you want and learning to add the twist and make real yarn.  For most people, there is an initial frustration with the process.  It's hard to get your hands to do all the things they need to learn to make yarn.  Like any skill, it requires practice and initially patience to build the muscle memory that ultimately lets you spin without really thinking about it.  Just like riding a bike or skating or skiing.  I've been watching the Olympics and I am amazed at what those talented athletes can do.  I was a mediocre skater as a child and still am amazed that anyone can actually skate back-wards.  I've skied only twice in my life, both times as a full grown adult, and am in awe of the downhill racers who fly down the mountains.  These are, of course, the best of the best in their chosen sports.  But spinning is just the same.  You start out frustrated and with practice you get better and better.  I've been spinning for about 5 years and have learned enough to make pretty good yarn.  I'm no where near the best of the best but I love the process and I keep practicing to improve my technique.

We tell our students that you always start out with three days of swearing before the light comes on and you begin to understand and be able to actually do what you are trying to do.  There are exceptions to this, of course.  Our friend Willie is a spinning savant.  He was spinning better yarn in about ten minutes than I was after six months.  If he wasn't such a great guy, funny and creative, we would hate him.  This points out that everyone learns at a different rate.  Willie is a massage therapist, working on both people and horses, so he has honed his sense of touch to where he can feel the subtle differences in the fiber he's spinning more easily than most of us.  Anyone can learn it but it takes most of us more time to get there.

We were supposed to teach spinning at our local yarn shop, Yarntopia, tonight.  We've postponed it a week because of the winter weather advisory issued for tonight.  We are expecting cold rain changing to sleet and snow.  The weather changes quickly down here.  It was 70 degrees on Sun, 60 degrees yesterday, 40 degrees today until the cold mass of air gets here later this afternoon, then below freezing expected for tomorrow morning.    It's not horrible weather in the grand scheme of things but it could get ugly.  We have had more than our alloted three days of winter this year and I, for one, will be happy to have the temperatures in the 50's and 60's.

I'm off to the studio to try and finish the linen dresser scarf I'm weaving for my daughter.  I'll post a picture at some point so you can see what I've been working on.

Stay warm and safe.