Some days spinning is very upbeat.  I put on happy music, pick bright colors and shake off the funk of a crummy week.  Other days, it’s meditative.  No need for music.  The wheel and spindle make their own sounds to pair up with the feel of the fiber moving across my hands.  My thoughts drop away, and I am completely absorbed in the act of watching the yarn appear .

Spinning is incredibly cool on so many levels.  Each time I take out some fiber and a spindle, it hits me.  I’m about to play with something amazing that came from a living thing- a sheep, an alpaca, a cotton plant.  Magical things will happen in the interplay between with my fingers and the fibers, and at the end of it, I have beautiful yarn to play with!   I also know that while I spin, I will shake off all sorts of ugly thoughts and baggage that I’ve been carrying around during the day.  I’ll replace the yuck with the smell of the fiber, the look of the colors coming together, the sound of the wheel or spindle, and the feel of the fiber moving over my fingers.

My breathing will fall into sync with the rhythm of spinning.  On one level, the world becomes very small and immediate. While I spin, I’m apart from the million little thoughts pecking at me during the day.  On another level, I become a part of the long tradition and history of fiber arts that is at the core of societal development. I feel a tie not just to the people who have developed the craft but to the community of people who continue to find new ways to express themselves through fiber.

When I step away from the wheel, I take that feeling of peace and connectedness into the rest of my day.

Fiber: Malabrigo Nube Piedras
Spindle:  Turkish Spindle from Snyder Spindles