“The New Spinners: Yarn Is the Least of It”

There is (according to Thursday’s New York Times) a revival of spinning going on, much as there was in the ’70s when I was growing up–the difference being that many of today’s spinners do not use the yarn they have produced for knitting, but enjoy the act of spinning itself as a means of relaxation.

“[M]any of today’s spinners are not concerned about turning their handiwork into fabric. Nor are they claiming to follow in the footsteps of Mohandas K. Gandhi, who spun every day to persuade Indian villagers to renounce imported textiles and resume making their own cloth.

Many spinners say they have no intention of making anything at all. They churn out skeins of wool, cotton or more exotic fibers like alpaca or camel, and pile up skeins, in their varied colors and textures, for display. Or they give them away to friends and relatives. It is the calming, rhythmic and even meditative effects of spinning that have won many people over.”

Unless, of course, you have to spin straw into gold!

This entry was posted on Friday, January 20th, 2006 at 5:28 pm and is filed under Games & Activities. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.