The Gift of Spinning: Beginning Spinning on a Wheel

Spinning natural fibers is a gift indeed.

I received my first spinning class as a gift. Amy Clarke Moore (former editor of_ Spin-Off_) had known me for about a week when she offered me the spinning for beginners class with Maggie Casey that she’d won in a benefit auction. She’d been game to take it herself, years of spinning knowledge and all, but she suspected that I would benefit from the class.

Boy, was she right. In addition to a six-week class, Amy gave me an opening into the most wonderful craft I’ve had the good fortune to pursue.

Regular readers of Spinning Daily have probably received your own spinning gifts (or acquired them for yourself!), whether it’s a tip from another spinner, fiber, a tool, or an eye-opening experience. I’m guessing you know the joys of a working spinning wheel or and spindle, natural fibers, and the pleasure of spinning yarn.

Kate Larson has another gift: for teaching. With a kind and gentle manner perfected over years of teaching (and no doubt with her flock of beloved Border Leicester sheep). Her latest video, Beginning Spinning on a Wheel, is a great resource for spindle spinners looking to make the transition to spinning yarn on a wheel or brand-new spinners to start spinning yarn.

Kate Larson sits ready to share the gift of spinning yarn on a wheel.

What are the best gifts spinning has brought you, either tangible or more ephemeral? Here are some of mine:

• My first low-whorl spindle, presented to me by Abby Franquemont

• Opening the envelopes of Your Yarns submissions and reading the stories from our readers

• Maggie Casey handing me an inscribed copy of her book Start Spinning, the first spinning book I ever worked on

• Receiving the new copy of Spin-Off four times a year

• Sitting with Judith MacKenzie in Rhinebeck, turning the pages of her manuscript for The Intentional Spinner

• Sitting at Linda Ligon’s dining room table (probably not the same one at which she founded Interweave) and dreaming up new ideas for the magazine

I’m a very “gifted” spinner indeed.

—Anne Merrow