{"id":71,"date":"2017-05-05T10:52:47","date_gmt":"2017-05-05T08:52:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/?p=71"},"modified":"2018-01-21T18:55:31","modified_gmt":"2018-01-21T17:55:31","slug":"how-it-continued","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/how-it-continued\/","title":{"rendered":"How it continued"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have told you in previous post about how it all began<\/a>. This is how it continued.<\/p>\n

The last few summers, my family and I have spent a week in the countryside in Austria, hiking and visiting family. Up until then, we had been going by air, but for climate reasons we decided to take the train. My first thought \u2013 and I know those of you who are as profoundly nerdy as I am will recognise this \u2013 was what craft I would bring on the journey<\/em>. When flying, I had only brought a nalbinding project. No security check\u00a0can see any harm in a blunt wooden needle. But 24 hours on trains and stations! The crafting opportunities are almost endless! I had seen Fleegle’s<\/a> beautiful video where she spins supported, and I decided that’s what I wanted to do. This was in the fall, so there was plenty of time to learn. I bought a spindle from Maine fiber tools<\/a> and started practising. I usually sat in bed at night just before going to sleep. I badly wanted to learn to master the continuous supported spinning I had seen on the video. And voil\u00e1, in February I got it. And I had entered the magical world of supported spinning.<\/p>\n

\"A
My first supported spindle, wrapped in sweet alpaca.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But I wouldn’t settle for just knowing how to. I wanted to explore supported spindles, see what was out there and what I liked. So I posted a question on Ravelry. I wrote about my upcoming journey and that I was looking for spindles that would suit my needs. I got some answers, but none that I really could do anything with. Someone told me to go to a fiber festival and try some of the spindle makers there. Well, there may be fiber festivals and supported spindle makers in every bush in the U.S. but there aren’t in Sweden. Then I got a personal message. It was from S in the U.S. She said she was willing to send me a few spindles of different kinds. Truth be told, I was a little suspicious at first. I mean, who would just send expensive spindles across the pond to a stranger? But she did. She told me to look upon\u00a0it as a random act of kindness, and pay it forward.<\/p>\n

The package\u00a0arrived, and when I opened the beautifully wrapped content, I found no less than eight (8) supported spindles, and over 100 g of BFL\/silk fiber. That is a true act of kindness.<\/p>\n

\"Three
Some of the spindles in the RAK<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Five
The rest of the support spindles in the RAK<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I started thinking about how to pay it forward. I wanted other people to be able to try out different kinds of supported spindles and find one that suited them, just as I had wanted. So, I started the travelling spindle library. I kept some of the spindles for myself and added some of my own\u00a0and some fiber and sent the package to a spinner I didn’t know but who was active on the Swedish spinning Facebook page. The instructions for the travelling spindle library were\u00a0simple: Try the spindles for as long as you like. Keep the ones you like, add some if you want to and send the parcel to another spinner. And as far as I know, the travelling spindle library is still travelling around in Sweden, looking for new spindle librarians.<\/p>\n

What about the train ride? Well, we did go to Austria by train. And I did spin. It was almost a spiritual feeling when I took out the spindle from my backpack and started spinning in my seat. This was the moment I had been preparing for since november! My son filmed the moment, somewhere between Copenhagen and Hamburg.\u00a0A Neal Brand<\/a> spindle from the package (see picture above), and a lap bowl from Kerryspindles<\/a>. BFL\/silk fiber from Vinterverkstan<\/a>.<\/p>\n