Transcript for

Episode 92:

From The Guild: The Benefits of a Regular Spinning Practice

I asked guild members to tell me how spinning regularly benefits them. In this episode you'll get to hear some of their inspiring answers.

Hello there darling Sheepspotter! Welcome to episode 92 of The Sheepspot Podcast. I'm Sasha, and my job is to help you make more yarns you love.

To round out this month's focus on cultivating and maintaining spinning habits, I thought it might be interesting for you, deal listener, to hear from someone other than me about how spinning regularly improves their lives. I've talked a lot in many episodes about the differences between Spinning Sasha and Isn't-Spinning Sasha, and Spinning Sasha is definitely more relaxed, happier, and more creative than Isn't-Spinning Sasha. In this episode I'm going to pass the mic to some members of the Guild so you can hear how their lives are different when they are spinning consistently.

Hello, my name is Nancy Richard. In former times, women spun fibers to clothe their families and make necessary household goods. I think in my case, had I lived long ago, I would have happily spent a good part of my life gathered gathered together with other women, spinning, knitting, and weaving, watching the children gathering and gardening, stirring the pot. I imagine we spinners as a bridge between the past and the future, each touching the hand of her ancestors on the left and her descendants on the right, when we create useful and beautiful things with our hands and teach others how to do the same. I feel as though I've been doing this for generations. Spinning every day connects me not only with myself inside, but with a larger community, sometimes in a modern way on Zoom calls, and sometimes in a traditional way with my local spinners guild. We learn from each other. We talk about our lives and families, our dreams and what we create. We are a community. It is, for me, my happy place.

Hi, my name is Mary Homan. Spinning and knitting help keep me balanced though my balance may have tipped towards doing them, i've had knitting in my repertoire for years and agree it is so portable it has been a huge contribution to my mental health so much so that my husband backed off after i expressed the hours of therapy it provides me when he had commented on how much a skein of sock urine cost spinning Spinning has been a relatively new addition to this, and I'm only just starting to weave. I love to feel the fiber between my fingers and experience it in this way. I've been impressed by the joy I experienced when recently prepping fiber. It is also meditative. I love to learn about different fibers and fiber prep.

This is Marcy George. Spinning allows me to take risks in creating with no downside, because I'm always happy with what I've created. Admittedly, sometimes more than others, but always happy. And being in community with like-minded people is so inspiring.

Hi, my name is Sherry Zapadka, and I'm a Guild member. I've been a member for going on two years now, and spinning since about about 2021. Spinning for me is a step back to a simpler time. I have a job where I'm never caught up. There's always a list to do and often deadlines that feel impossible to meet, like many others I know. Spinning and other crafting, including fiber prep, weaving, knitting, crocheting, sewing, gardening, and making bread, allow me to imagine I live in a slower-paced world where the value you was placed on trades and skill, not on instant gratification achieved from buying something. Don't get me wrong, I love it when my fiber arrives ready to spin just days after ordering, but creating my own items to keep or gift gives me an overwhelming sense of pride, accomplishment, and satisfaction. These feelings are all the mental health benefits everybody talks about, but sometimes we can't find the words to express that warm, content feeling spinning brings. Spinning is joy.

Hello, my name is Manuela and I'm from the Netherlands. Spinning is my happy place. It brings my body in harmony and calms down my mind, especially after a busy day, winding down for bed. It gives me the joy of beauty. It's this little swab that I've held in my hands many times now. Nothing special, yet something magnetic about it. It keeps pulling me. I was there when the sheep was sheared. I I know the flock, the owner, and I cart it a bit, spun it, and there it is in my hand. I'll let you know when I know what is so magical about it. Due to the way I live, there are many days when my range of motion is my home and my garden. Preparing wool and spinning, trying out something, a new type of wool, a new method, mixing colors, they fill up my tank with adventure and wonder. Last summer I went through a difficult time and for comfort and support there was always a pot on the wood stove where some magic of mushroom dyeing happened. It gave me so much joy to see the colors and thinking of creating something with it later on. I could go on oh let's not forget how lovely it is to be making something for a beloved so they're all warm wrapped up in such such a beautiful material. I think it's amazing what we can do with our hands.

Hi, I'm Janelle. I find spinning to be grounding, especially when the world is moving very quickly. In its own quiet way, making yarn by hand is rebellion and resistance against the frenzied pace of 21st century life. It isn't about getting shit done, and it isn't about doing anything fast. It's saying, nope, I'm not buying into whatever capitalist productivity scheme you're selling today. I'm just going to make some yarn from this ancient and sustainable material. And when it's done, I might make something else with the yarn. And all of this will be on my own flexible, self-affirming timetable. At least that's what it does for me on my best days. Sometimes I get caught up in wanting to finish a project by a certain date or feeling that I have to get a certain amount done. but then I try to give myself a loving little lecture about what this is for me in this life.

I would love to hear your answer to these question: How is your life different when you are spinning regularly? How are you different? I've got the perfect spot for you to do just that. There's a post in The Flock, Sheepspot’s free online community for inquisitive hand spinners, where you can answer these questions and discuss this episode with other listeners. I'd also love to know whether you enjoyed hearing from Guild members. I'll link to the thread in the show notes, which you can find at sheepspot.com/podcast/episode92.

That's it for me this time. I'll be back next time with another episode, and a new theme for the month of March: working with handspun. While you're waiting, spin something! You know it will do you good.