I was thinking as I read that whatever we make - an essay, a sweater, a cucumber, takes time and the making is probably more important that anything else for the sanity of some of us!
Yes!!! And the work of the hands is so lost in our capitalistic world. When I give my kids something I have knit or woven, lumps and all, they say they love it more.
"But I have a secret: For all that I love to spin, I haven’t finished very many handspun garments. It takes a long time to create something from nothing, and in my 16 years of spinning, I’ve completed only five projects from fiber to finished object...but I treasure each handspun item more than any of the rest.
When I hold a handspun piece, I remember its origin, the feel and color of the wool as it flashed through my fingers, the specific way the fibers twisted into thread, the sometimes surprising characteristics of the finished skein after plying and washing, and the delicious energy it had during knitting that only handspun yarns possess. Each piece is a tactile reminder of when and where I was while I spun it, the stresses it soothed, and the pleasures it provided."
This is so beautiful. And as I was reading, as in all great pieces, I felt the energy move towards this realization of each piece as its own microcosm of the creative process, and of that moment in your life in which it was created. As a child, I was taught to spin wool from sheep's wool - first washing, and carding it, and all the way to the point where we knitted a scarf. Going through a process like that is such a huge illustration of so many of life's (and certainly creativity's) trajectory. I would say you have, in fact, created MUCH. Beautifully written, too.
Alicia, thank you for articulating so beautifully why I spin as well. It's such an affirmation of what is meant when we suggest there's value in a process. <3
I was thinking as I read that whatever we make - an essay, a sweater, a cucumber, takes time and the making is probably more important that anything else for the sanity of some of us!
Yes!!! And the work of the hands is so lost in our capitalistic world. When I give my kids something I have knit or woven, lumps and all, they say they love it more.
"But I have a secret: For all that I love to spin, I haven’t finished very many handspun garments. It takes a long time to create something from nothing, and in my 16 years of spinning, I’ve completed only five projects from fiber to finished object...but I treasure each handspun item more than any of the rest.
When I hold a handspun piece, I remember its origin, the feel and color of the wool as it flashed through my fingers, the specific way the fibers twisted into thread, the sometimes surprising characteristics of the finished skein after plying and washing, and the delicious energy it had during knitting that only handspun yarns possess. Each piece is a tactile reminder of when and where I was while I spun it, the stresses it soothed, and the pleasures it provided."
This is so beautiful. And as I was reading, as in all great pieces, I felt the energy move towards this realization of each piece as its own microcosm of the creative process, and of that moment in your life in which it was created. As a child, I was taught to spin wool from sheep's wool - first washing, and carding it, and all the way to the point where we knitted a scarf. Going through a process like that is such a huge illustration of so many of life's (and certainly creativity's) trajectory. I would say you have, in fact, created MUCH. Beautifully written, too.
I admire your dedication to craft and keeping a nearly lost art alive.
Alicia, thank you for articulating so beautifully why I spin as well. It's such an affirmation of what is meant when we suggest there's value in a process. <3