Members of the spinning police are here, telling me what I am doing wrong.
I have spun pounds of 5-ply gansey yarn that looked just like the mill spun.
If I want to spin something that looks like mill spun, I do. If I want to spin something different, that solves a problem, I do. Mill spun 5-ply has its virtues-- and it's vices. Sometimes I want something better, and I am not afraid to break every rule in the book to make something better! Or, Cheaper! Or Faster!
I have spun pounds of 5-ply gansey yarn that looked just like the mill spun.
If I want to spin something that looks like mill spun, I do. If I want to spin something different, that solves a problem, I do. Mill spun 5-ply has its virtues-- and it's vices. Sometimes I want something better, and I am not afraid to break every rule in the book to make something better! Or, Cheaper! Or Faster!
There are no spinning police - just spinners rolling their eyes at your behaviour.
ReplyDeleteYou're making yard you like, that is suited to the sort of projects you prefer to knit. That's fantastic! By all means, be excited and proud about that.
Other spinners live in different climates and have different hobbies and make different wardrobe choices, and they make choices about how they spin based on their preferences, not yours. Consequently, the yarn they produce is better for their purposes, just as your yarn is better for yours. Comparing yarns spun with different intentions in mind is rather absurd.
If you would devote less blog space to insisting that everything about your approach to spinning is inherently superior to everything about everyone else's approach to spinning, you'd probably find the larger spinning community more receptive to you.
In other words, be less condescending and rude and people will engage more positively with the content of your posts rather than reacting negatively to your unfortunate tone.
Lots of people tell me to be nicer, and that different spinners have different goals.
ReplyDeleteI know about goals. My goals are to spin yarns for fabrics, that are warm, durable, with a better hand and more drape. My approach is spin spin yarns based on finer singles.
To make this approach useful, I must spin faster.
I like my goals - or I would discard them.
I like my approach - or I would discard it. If I saw another approach that was better, I would grab it.
People point out problems with what I am doing, but they do not offer a better path to fabrics, that are warm, durable, with a better hand and more drape.
Mostly, when people tell me that they have a better way, they are not talking about spinning as fine and as fast as I already spin. There are things that work for spinning fat yarns slowly that do not work for spinning fine and fast.
I do not expect the many to take my path. Likewise, the many need to understand that I am not on their path because I want fabrics that are better for my purposes.
Certainly, my mentor was Alden Amos, but today, I (hand) spin finer and faster than he ever (hand) spun. I stand on his shoulders. I use his research into wheel design, to make better wheels.
Stephenie Gaustad uses AA designed equipment for her hand spinning. And while SG is, over all, a much better spinner than I am, I have tools that facilitate spinning fine and fast. Thus, I can spin fine wool singles faster than she can - and part of that is she changed my spinning position a couple of years ago - for which I am eternally grateful. That evening, she was running her flyer at ~1,000 rpm, and I was running my flyer at ~2,000 rpm. Today, she still runs her flyer at ~1,000 rpm, while today sometimes I run mine as fast as 4,500 rpm. I can assure you that most flyers will not tolerate such speed.
Your attitude towards others has nothing to do with your goals. Are you truly incapable of understanding that? Your language toward women belies a complete disrespect. You tell us that you cannot or will not respect those who do not meet your expectations. That does not engender others to respect you. Perhaps you need to learn that respect is earned and you have shown that you have not earned the respect that you believe is due you.
ReplyDeleteYou do not know what my goals are.
ReplyDeleteFor you to talk about my goals is inane.