Spinning a Yarn

Why do I feel guilty when asked and I have to admit that I don’t paint every day?

I used to to worry about this, but not any more! I know that I love creating lots of things , and that painting is just one of those. I’m also a keen gardener (challenging up here) , enjoy cooking and have just taken up spinning again after a break of about 20 years.

When we built our house 14 years ago I tossed my spinning wheel into the attic, without considering that it gets very , very cold and very, very hot up there. So when we got it down a few weeks back it had burst apart! The hub had exploded sideways, the spokes had all popped out and it certainly didn’t go around any more. My wonderful Man has carefully taken it apart and reassembled it and it’s slowly coming back to life. In the meantime a kind friend has loaned me hers .

I decided though, that this time I would learn properly. Last time I taught myself, and somehow missed the bit where the book advised me to ply in the opposite direction to spinning. If you ply and spin in the same direction then your finished yarn will only have stretch in one direction. Which explains my beautiful jersey which got longer and longer and is now down to my knees 🙂 It’ll be ideal if we get ever get snowed in and have a powercut or if I need to camp and don’t have a tent.

This time I’ve put myself in the capable hands of the same friend who’s loaned me her wheel, who is also a sheep farmer and used to run her own carding and spinning business – an expert. I’m delighted to find that I can do it, with only the occasional hysterical ‘bobbly’ moment, and have proudly finished my first two plyed hanks.

I know that everybody has creative genes, you just have to discover what you like making. it could be writing poetry, playing a musical instrument, baking sourdough or embroidery .or it could be painting. whatever it is, you need to commit to learning to do it properly, even if you them toss the rules out the window. you can avoid a lot of distress and disappointment if you listen to someone who has already made the mistakes and learned from them !

Not everyone who comes to learn from me carries on painting- but they all go on to be creative in whatever way they choose. it just gets them thinking about the joy of making something from scratch, something thats unique to them.
I gain a great deal of pleasure in helping them on their journey.

I’d love to know what floats your creative boat – please let me know ….
Jan

PS. I have just one space left on my beginners workshop here on 15th/16 July. Please let me know if you’d like to join us. I’m also planning to run a workshop at Mapua, so just get in touch if you’d like to know more about that 🙂