Spin, Spin with Me!

First Spun and Plied Yarn

It's so interesting how simple activities can become practices of mindfulness and put you in a meditative state.  Two of my favorite practices are...Spirit walks...meditative walks where I am open to receiving signs from Spirit in the form of messages from the animal kingdom or from my elemental guides and Barefoot Breathing...deep breathing while my bare feet are firmly grounded on Mother Earth.  There's really something to being here now...in the moment, open to all that is.

Lately, I've found how Spinning yarn can be a practice

Hackle Fiber Processing Tool

in Mindfulness...a sort of Meditative practice. What is it, that draws me to the spinning wheel night after night? It's almost addicting.

Let me back up a minute though...as of about 2 weeks ago...I would say..."I'm not the spinner, my husband is, cause I can't spin".  I was convinced I would never be a spinner.  I tried a few years back when hubby and I began our journey to have a self-sustained/self-sufficient homestead.  After hubby learned to shear our Alpacas, he learned about the tools to process the fiber.  Then started handcrafting them and offering them in our Etsy shop.  Shortly after, he decided to purchase a spinning wheel, so we could spin up our processed fiber.  But for me it was a mission impossible.  I didn't have the patiences for it and just gave up.  But he...well, he turned into an amazing spinner and so...I'd say "I'm not the spinner, my husband is", when ever I was asked.

But that no longer stands true...

First Single Ply Spun Yarn

about 2 weeks ago, hubby gifted me a spinning online eCourse.  I watched the first 3 lessons...which were mostly about the different wheels and types of yarns...with the third being about getting to know your wheel and starting to spin.  My first go round was horrible...as expected but still, I didn't think I could ever get a hold of it.  I had thick and thin spots. incredibly over spun and under spun parts and the yarn kept breaking and I just felt incredibly frustrated.  All the while my hubby was encouraging me to keep going, reminding me that his first time was the same.  When I'd watch him pull out the wheel and spin...making it look so simple...I was motivated to try again and again and again.

Before I know it, it all came together...

one night the spinning just clicked into place.  I was addicted...every night I would sit in front of my wheel and spin for a few hours.  The yarn started to look like spun yarn...my hands and feet were able to work independently, I became more focused on the now, the very moment the fiber moved through my fingers vs how it was turning out. 

What I found was that Spinning much like Meditation was about doing.  I mean, you can't learn to Meditate by reading about how to Meditate...you have to do it and practice, practice, practice. Likewise with Spinning...the more I did it
the better the yarn came out.  And though they both seem like a simple practice...they are hard to do, let alone master. In my Meditation practice, I still have days where I struggle at quieting my monkey brain.  Much like when I Spin and my thoughts wonder...that's when I notice my yarn becomes lumpy or breaks.  It seemed the more I practiced, the more I became in tune with the yarn. Becoming fully present and not zoning out, allows me to be mindful and at one with the now and the yarn.

Spinning has become another form of Meditation for me...

there is something soothing about it...it's another way to quite my mind, to connect with my inner peace.  I read that even Gandhi, found Spinning to be soothing to the mind, bringing peace to the spirit.  I'll take it...and in the meantime I'll become a better spinner and have something else to offer in our shop.  Looks like I've found a new Spiritual Practice...Spinning.

Mahatma Gandhi spinning yarn in 1942.
Gandhi believed in a life of simplicity and self-sufficiency.