04 December 2010

Reverb 10, again


Reverb 10 for December 3 – Moment.Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail (texture, smells, voices, noises, colors).(Author: Ali Edwards)
The day: 15 September, my first time at a meeting of the Long Island Spinning Guild. Meetings are held in an historic barn in Smithtown with unpolished wooden floors that feel soft, somehow, as if cushioned by all of the memories layered on them. The large room, filled with people (mostly women) of all ages, with wheels of all types, was a little dizzying for me to take in at first, introvert that I am, so I sat with my friends, settled in with my Bee wheel  (Gidget), and listened to all of the humming from her, from other wheels, from voices. The colors of all the fibers being spun contrasted with the drab floor and vibrated against the hand-knit, hand-woven, hand-crafted things most of the people were wearing, from scarves and hats to sweaters, vests, jackets, and socks that were showcased on busy, treadling feet. 
December 4 – Wonder. How did you cultivate a sense of wonder in your life this year? (Author: Jeffrey Davis)
One of the wonders of this year was the ease and rightness I felt as I really focused on learning to spin. Buying the wheel helped, but I have found more wonder and awe while using my (ever-growing collection of) spindles (it's becoming a sickness, people). Friends have given me freshly-cleaned fleece from sheep that they own, and bright-hued bits of silk; I have spun batts and fibers in colors I never before would have considered beautiful -  orange, for example, or cotton-candy pink. Working with these colors while spinning and knitting has opened a window back to a part of myself that hasn't been open since the sixties: the sense that colors do not, can not clash, they only can enhance and beautify each other. As a not-primarily-visual person, this re-opening has been, truly, awesome. 

3 comments:

Carrie K said...

It's a collection.

That does sound like you've used your sense of wonder this year.

Carrie K said...

I meant, it's a collection not a sickness & where are you?

Anonymous said...

I simply cannot get the hang of spindling. Of course, the year has been beyond stressful and that has probably had a negative effect on my ability to focus.