Spinning it on its head

My favourite places for spinning are sitting outside on a warm, summers day, or in front of the fire when the skies are clear and promising a morning frost. I need the warmth.

Last year I didn’t spin much. I was working my way slowly through a bag of beautiful green/blue merino. So slowly that it had all but ground to a halt. I just wasn’t loving the fibre.

Then this weekend, I had a Eureka moment. Bizarely it concerned organizing my kitchen cupboards, rather than spinning, but it definitely applies to my spinning. Both activities were stuck in a rut. I needed to step back and think about it in a different way.

(Feel free to skip next three paragraphs. Just me confessing.)

I’ve been struggling to declutter and re-organize the house. Every job seems huge and daunting. So nothing gets done, or, not a lot, at any rate. This weekend, I realised that I’ve been thinking about it in the wrong way. My mind set was acting as a barrier to action. I should be thinking that if something doesn’t have a place in our home, it’s time to move it on.

How is that different? I am a crafter. A resourceful crafter and also a mother. I hang on to things just in case they might be useful at a later date. In the back of my mind, I know a week after I throw something away, I’ll need it. A thought that’s hard to let go and is stopping me from achieving my goal. (step back) But do I need it all. Simple answer is no.

Take my jam jars for example. Some are better for reusing in jam making. Some are big and useful for storing dry stuff, but I don’t need as many as I am storing. Some have not seen the light of day for a while. I have a habit of adding every single potentially useful jam jar, without seeing how many I already have. Without judging whether the new addition is a useful size or shape. I need to keep as many useful ones as I need and have room for, and add no more. I can repeat this with the rest of my collection of useful, reusable stuff.

(back to the point)

Like all Eureka moments, the call to action is impelling. Before I knew it the first big cupboard in the kitchen was decluttered and organized. The homeless bits and pieces either recycled or binned. Access to useful items, improved.

So where does the spinning come into it? Well I stepped back and realised that I needed to change my fibre. Go back to the fibre that I like to spin. I removed the merino and pulled out a Jacobs fleece. A good decision. I was up and spinning again. A dog at my feet.

This is my older dog. She always turns up when I get into the rhythm of spinning.  Deerhounds are listed in spinning books as having suitable fur for spinning, although I’ve not yet tried. Well, not intentionally. She could do with a brush. This wet weather is not kind to her fur. Maybe I could give her a brush, slip a bit into my spinning and see how it goes. Maybe I should view it as acquiring spinning material rather than brushing the dogs.

So, here’s to stepping back and seeing life from a slightly different angle.