If you’re looking to add a more consistent handspinning practice to your lifestyle but think you’ve got no time to spin for even a few minutes a day, maybe what you need is a stronger motivation: peer pressure, a reward system, or a constant reminder of your goal. These 4 tried-and-true practices have helped many a spinner—including me—work my craft into nearly every day.
4 Tips for Finding Time to Spin
1. Join an online spinning challenge or a spinalong (SAL).
Find a group of spinners who share a goal (haps, anyone?) or a particular area of interest that complements your own. Whether you’re online on Ravelry, Instagram, or Facebook, there’s a dedicated group for every spinner, including those interested in breed studies, processing fleece, knitting or weaving with handspun, using of a particular style of wheel or spindle, and those committed to spinning for just 15 minutes each day. Simply search for keywords or hashtags, choose a lively group who post a lot, and get to spinning!
2. Use spinning as your dangling carrot/reward system.
For those of us who need no help finding the desire to spin each day but could use some real-life prioritizing (or self-control), there’s the good old work-and-reward system. It’s surprising how much a person can accomplish when she doesn’t allow herself to spin until x, y, and z are accomplished first . . . or so I hear. Getting your chores out of the way will help you enjoy your spinning time more, but don’t assign yourself a list of tasks so long that you never get to spin!
Have a minute? The tools are ready to go! Photo by Deborah Held
3. Create a dedicated spinning area in the hub of your home.
Some spinners grab precious moments of spinning whenever they can—while waiting for dinner to cook, while watching the evening news, while kids work on their homework—and find that these snippets of time add up to finished skeins of handspun. That’s never going to work unless your wheel is easily accessible. The same is true of your fiber stash. If it’s a hassle to get to your wool and blending tools, odds are that you’ll put off starting that next spin. If space is an issue, stash a few favorite “next up” braids of fiber near your wheel setup.
4. Carry a big stick—a spindle.
The amount of spinning a proficient spindle user can accomplish using this modest tool is mind-blowing. What I like most about using any of my spindles is not just their portability—a Turkish spindle can go anywhere—but how easy it is to grab one and draft a few lengths while on the go. These actions definitely add up throughout a day of use. Spinning with a spindle is so direct and unfussy—no adjustments, no tweaking, nothing but spinning.
What’s your best tip for incorporating spinning into your everyday life? If you’ve got one to share, let us know in the comments! Debbie
The hashtag #spin15aday is the creation of @the1764shepherdess on Instagram.