Because the World Needs Hundreds of New Spinners

January 11th has been a date I have held onto for several weeks. If I could just make it to today, then all will be well. The prospect of preparing for the exhibition in Peterborough followed immediately by leading two days of workshops at Wave Hill was sometimes a little more than I wanted to think about so I would imagine the leisurely feeling of January 11th. I did sleep in and enjoy my morning cup of tea but many tasks await in addition to the usual schedule of activities of a Monday so we move forward, ready or not.

I did manage to accomplish most everything I intended over the past couple of weeks, thanks, in no small, to Dan stepping in and taking up all the things that I would normally do. Partnership has its advantages. As an added bonus, Finnian admitted to feeling a new sense of appreciation for me after two weeks of Dad Time. You can't buy that kind of thing.

Over the weekend, we had well over 200 people come through the workshops and many of them actually learned to spin on a spindle and/or fingerknit. They were nearly all very enthusiastic and genuinely excited about learning about spinning and all things wooly. I don't think I will ever tire of seeing children become enthralled with how a spinning wheel works. In the age of Wii and iPhones, keeping a child interested in something like a spindle or a wheel for more than 20 seconds feels like victory. I think children liked to learn that spinning was something that children have always done as an important contribution to family life. They want to contribute in a real way and there are so few opportunities these days. And it amuses me to no end to see the dads get juiced about how the wheel works - I had to shoo a couple of them away so the kids could try it.

I have long maintained that we humans have been too clever for our own good in inventing all sorts of automated stuff. I know we can't help it, in a way, but in doing so, we have denied another aspect of our nature - the need to use our hands to make stuff. We need to do it and our lives are better, richer, when we do do it.