Spinning: Intuitive or Technical? Part 2
© Suzanne Griffith
"I think that counting treadles, understanding the differences in whorls, getting a basic feeling for wpi is good for anybody who is learning to spin," said Carol from North Carolina. "If you count treadles and get over-twist, why you just cut down on the number of treadles . . . all this counting opens the door! It's a safety net."
Verna in Forney, Texas, like many independent-minded spinners, has her own approach: "I tend to learn by reading about it first, imagining myself actually doing it, then, when my brain has it figured out, I teach my hands. That's how I learned how to weave, spin and knit. It helps if I can watch someone do it, but that's not really necessary."
Since I started spinning about ten years ago, The Ashford Book of Spinning by Anne Field has been my main spinning reference book, and I've been looking forward to reading her later book, Spinning wool: beyond the basics. I'm very pleased to include some of Anne's remarks from her SpinList post:
She describes herself as a 25-year "seat of the pants" spinner who had no lessons and as a "natural rule-breaker." Her attitude toward rules changed a bit, though. "When I began to teach, and to write books on spinning, I had to explain why I did what I did. I found it fascinating, as usually there were very common sense reasons why I did things the way I did, even if I hadn't known that."
Sometimes, Ann notes, "when I am trying to produce something for a specific project, I count the twists and treadles for a short while, and find after a few minutes, I have the size and twist sort of set in my mind/hands, and can do the same without concentrating. But often I just spin for the fun of it, doing what the fleece sort of tells me to do, then decide what to do with it afterwards. So I guess I am sometimes intuitive, and sometimes technical. But the enjoyment and relaxation I get from spinning is what has kept me at it for 38 years."
When Anne speaks of "mind/hand" and Viki (quoted in previous article) speaks of herself as "very intuitive, meditative even," I start thinking about the creative and spiritual aspects of spinning. Valerie Musselman commented:
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