#tuesdaysareforspinning

There’s something magical that happens after participating in Spinzilla. It’s not only the nice sized donation made to NAMP, but the result of spinning regularly over the course of the event. All during that special week you spin more than you ever have before … and when it’s all over you find yourself needing that spinning time more regularly, at least I did.

One thing that has happened mostly regularly since Spinzilla is something that goes back to the early days of Stephanie Pearl-McPhee’s blog, when she wrote Tuesdays are for spinning. For me… it stuck. Well, it didn’t really. I wasn’t a spinner back then, but the concept struck a chord with me. I could do something once a week for a few minutes. Having a day chosen as the day for that activity sounded good to me. This year, I’m working on building an improved social media presence and getting back into a writing grove with an editorial calendar. As an added bonus it’s something I can post & write about without having to think too much about coming up with a general topic.

Using the hashtag #tuesdaysareforspinning and posting to instagram, I feel that I’ve finally begun to create a routine and accountability for spinning at least a little bit every week. It is a reason I packed a spindle as a travel project. Yes I returned home late last Tuesday, but I knew I had some downtime before I left San Diego.

I hope by October and the next Spinzilla event to be a more confident spindle spinner. I try to rotate through my modest collection, each has different fiber. My pet technique du jour is to chain ply on the fly. For now I’ll tease you with yes it’s possible on both regular drop spindles (I prefer top whorl) and turkish spindles. I’m putting together a post of my favourite tutorials and a few tips I’ve picked up while getting more comfortable with this technique. I’ll see if I can work out a tripod & remote with the camera so I can show how I spin.

While I was at TNNA, a braid of Anzula fiber, baby camel in the earth colour theme, told me it needed to be mine. I watched it the entire weekend and while I wanted a shop to purchase it, I hoped I could adopt it. Hours before the show closed, I made my move.

Camel was one of the first fibers I spun at a friend’s apartment (on her Journey Wheel (!!)) when she taught me the secret to drafting back in 2007. I’ve not spun camel since. There were a few other braids I was eying, but let’s be honest, I have a colour theme going. I stayed up late in my hotel room spinning that night and snuck in a few minutes before I checked out the next morning.

After I returned home, there was a small update to the Akerworks Etsy shop and I snagged a coveted mini spindle (note: they’re hoping to get them up in the main shop really soon!). It arrived today.

It’s even more adorable and tinier than I expected. I’m not sure we could have made a more penny-happy spindle if we tried!

It’s grey (ok cool grey). It’s small and the fits in my hand. It spins like a dream. It can pack flat if I wanted (and probably fit in my pencil case, I’ll have to check).

I paired it with that same baby camel and it was difficult to settle back into work after spinning for my 15 minutes this afternoon. Sorry for the poor winter afternoon photos. I’ll take better ones soon!

Are you trying to spin more regularly? Join me with #tuesdaysareforspinning!