How do you fit spinning into your work life?

How do you fit spinning into your work life?

An out-of-state friend came to visit recently, and she gave me a DVD set of Downton Abbey seasons one and two as a present! I had a "Squee!" moment. I had only managed to catch half of an episode (from season three, no less) rather recently (it airs after my bedtime) and since I had seen it, I was eager to start watching the series from the beginning.

Then I caught a cold—not a bad one, but bad enough to make me want to keep my germs to myself. What would have been a busy weekend ended up quiet, and I got to thoroughly enjoy (except for the cold part) being curled up on my couch spinning and knitting while contemplating the working life of people in England about a hundred years ago.

It got me thinking about the work we do to put food on the table—both literally and figuratively. And the freedoms we enjoy in this day and age. My grandmother was born in 1912—the year the series begins—and while she grew up in a very different setting (in the American west as the daughter of a miner turned peach farmer), the stories about the World Wars, economic hardships, and changing social and gender roles were her stories as well.

	The Spring 2013 issue of Spin-Off takes a look at how a spinner can make a living doing something that she loves.

While it is fun to fantasize about an ordered life revolving around mending seams, starching linens, and polishing silver, I'm thankful for the amazing variety in my working life. All this thought about occupations (and working on the Spring issue of Spin-Off, which takes a close look at what it takes to make a living spinning), made me wonder what our readers do when you aren't spinning and how you make a living? And I don't mean only typical nine-to-five, paycheck type jobs, but the gamut—working at home raising kids, running a household, caring for aging parents—whatever it is that occupies you. You can take the survey here or leave a comment below.

Happy Spinning,