I am a process spinner and I spin because I love the process of spinning. The rhythm, the motions, the feeling of the fiber in my hands and the crafting bubble I enter when I spin – all of these aspects are part of my love of spinning. I do spin for the project too, but I don’t make shortcuts to get faster to the project. In this post I will try to break down the process and investigate what it is that makes me feel so good when I spin.
For some cimematic inspiration connected to the theme of this post, watch my video For the love of spinning.
Rhythm
There is a rhythm in spinning, regardless of what tool I am using. I treadle with my feet, feed the yarn into the orifice and move my hands. Or I set a spindle in motion, draft the fiber and roll the yarn onto the shaft. You can see the rhythm in the preparation too – loading combs or cards, processing the fiber and arranging the fiber in spinnable chunks. From the first step to the last and back again. There is a rhythm and a predictability – if everything goes as it should, I know what is coming next.
I find a sort of security in the rhythm. I can focus on the steps in the process and and be here and now. Stress stays outside of the bubble and allows me to breathe and think more freely.
I have been under a lot of pressure lately with course launch, article and pattern deadlines and new courses to prepare for. But through this I have had one spinning project that was just for me. There was no deadline or pressure with that particular fleece and I made room for spinning for a little while every day. It helped me find peace when in the crafting bubble and balance when outside of it.
Dance
Sometimes I see spinning as a dance. The fibers and tools are the dancers and I am the choreographer (the fiber is also the artistic director). My hands follow each other, back and forth, towards and away from each other, leaving the fiber in a new shape. Fiber hand drafting the fiber for the spinning hand. Spinning hand introducing twist to the fiber and smoothing the newborn yarn, guiding it onto the bobbin or shaft. My eyes follow my hands, watching the fiber, assessing the result and planning the next step.
The combs or cards follow each other, allowing the length of the fiber to gently dictate the choreography. I make dramatic moves for combing long locks and gentle motions, gently caressing the fibers for carding short fibers. I listen to the music of my tools for guidance in the rhythm.
The moves in the dance are linear and simultaneous, gentle and bold, planned and spontaneous. Often in basic step but every now and then a new figure is introduced.
The dance works with the rhythm and helps me find my pace. I get lost in the moment while at the same time focusing deeply on my work.
Sometimes I feel disconnected from the spinning. Something is out of step and I can’t find my way in the spinning. Then I look for the dance and find it. I am the choreographer again and the steps fall into place.
How do you dance your spinning?
Memory
When I spin (or knit or weave or nalbind or… well, you get the picture), I spin the context into the yarn. If I listen to a podcast when I spin I can hear its echo the next time I spin that yarn. If I knit at a fika break at work I remember the conversations the next time I pick up the knitting. Spinning on the train can save the view from the landscape in the yarn. The sensation of the crafting enhances the auditive or visual memory of what happen when I craft.
If I have been happy, sad or emotional when spinning, my feelings are gently stored in a protective shield of wool. It feels safe, like my yarn protects my most secret thoughts and emotions. I can look at the yarn and reconnect with particular moments and contexts.
A collection of finished yarns from a fleece allows me to remember and cherish all the things going on in my life when it was created. Good things, bad, happy and sad. They are all there and part of me.
Creativity
Spinning is a creative activity. I need to be creative. My whole being needs to express itself creatively. When I spin I feel more balanced, I can ground myself and be at peace. When I am in the creative bubble all the white noise around me fizzles out and allows me to see the world more clearly.
I can also use spinning to ignite creative thinking. Sometimes I may be struggling to find words for a blog post or an article. I stop what I am doing and start spinning instead. After a while of spinning the doors to my creative thinking open and I can take a fresh creative breath again. The connection between the brain hemispheres is strengthened and I can think more efficiently.
Touch
One of my favourite parts of the spinning process is feeling the wool in my hands. The notion that every single fiber has gone through my fingers hundreds of times through sorting, picking, washing, preparing, spinning, plying and knitting warms my heart.
Touching wool gives me a sense of security. It will do me no harm. I will receive the gift of warmth, safety and kindness. It is like I was meant to feel the wool. I think we as humans need to feel natural materials.
Oxytocin
Recently I read a book about love, Kärlek. The author and therapist Eva Sanner writes about touch as an important part of a relationship. Touch releases the hormone oxytocin, which makes us calm and content. It has importance for bonding between partners and between mother and child during nursing. The release of oxytocin also strengthens our immune system.
One of the most effective ways to release oxytocin is through massage. When pace and pressure are right, it can give a lot of pleasure for both the giver and receiver of massage.
A spinning hormone?
The book also mentions the release of oxytocin when we pet our pets. Scientific studies show that people with pets have better health than people living alone and that oxytocin can very well be the cause of that. The author writes that we have lots of oxytocin receptors in our hands. When we stroke our pets we take pleasure in it, just like the masseur. At the same time our immune system is strengthened.
This made me stop and think. If oxytocin is released when we stroke our pets, could spinning also lead to the release of oxytocin? The warm wool – not on the hoof anymore but more often than not smelling faintly of sheep – goes through our hands in all the steps of the process. During spinning we handle the wool between our fingertips, one of the most sensitive parts of our bodies. Is the release of oxytocin during spinning part of the feeling of serenity when we spin?
I got so excited about this thought that I emailed the author. I described the spinning process and asked her if she thought that oxytocin was released when we spin. She replied after just a couple of hours and said that it was a very interesting concept. She thought it was very possible that oxytocin could be released during spinning.
My next thought was, comparing to pace and pressure in massage, is the pace and pressure in the spinning when it feels the best the moment when the most oxytocin is released? Do we have a personal spinning pace that is the most beneficial for us?
The thought of oxytocin as a spinning hormone and beneficial for our immune system gives me goosebumps. And a warm and wooly heart.
Do share your thoughts about this!
Happy spinning indeed!
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