One half of the yarn has been spun and plied into a skein of 2-ply, about 150 yards total. It is multi-hued and mottled with the plying.
The remaining roving should make about the same yardage.
For artists, artisans, and creative community-minded folks in Columbia, SC: Shortly after Labor Day 2007, I will advertise a Request for Proposals for the use of this yarn in a Community Handworks project. My hope is that I can generate more than one idea.
Since this project so far is entirely my own - and there will be no monetary award of any kind - I will be the one deciding whose project receives the yarn. But if I receive some good ideas, I will publish them here. I have no idea what will happen.
Check http://www.communityhandworks.blogspot.com/ for the concepts of this project.
Email me a communityhandworks at yahoo.com with questions.
I will finish the second skein during the spring-summer of 2007. Start mulling over creative community-building ideas!
A note from my journal of the spinning:
I’ve been thinking about that skein of yarn. It is out where I can see it every day. At first I was sort of disappointed with it. Colors are nice – but the roving did that, and I purchased the roving.
I would look at the skein and see the exploded cop of singles and the exploded cop of plied. I would look more closely and see some strands of the skein nicely, evenly spun and plied and some under or over spun/ under or over plied. Not the way I want my yarn to turn out. (I'm not used to spinning in public, moving around, answering questions, having my focus directed to things other than the spinning. You can tell.)
But the more I looked at it, the more I realized that as a Community Handworks project, it is wonderful. The spinning didn’t go exactly the way I wanted it to, but it went together. Yet another metaphor for community: it is not easy; it is not neat; it has flaws and frustrations, weak points, and fuzziness. But it spun together and holds together as a community of fiber.
There is very little more we can ask, no? Our communities are never perfect, easy, or without frustration. But our hope is that we hold together and are stronger for it.
If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. -The Dalai Lama
The Plan So Far
I decided that spinning on the Statehouse grounds would be a nice symbol, not of political spin but of combining disconnected fibers of the community into a strengthened unit of yarn.
I began in February, 2007 spending some lunch hours and some weekend hours spinning with a drop spindle and chatting with folks who wanted to stop to ask what I was doing. I then decided that I really needed to get out and about town with this project. I have gone to the Southeast branch of the library a couple of times. I plan to try to visit as many parks (and other locations?) as I can.
The resulting yarn then needs to move the winning chain forward in some manner. Since this is the first project, my plan is to advertise for other creative folks who can brainstorm how this yarn might be used in a Community Handworks kind of way. In that way, I'll be able to share the idea of community building through creative work.
Right now, I am concentrating on getting the yarn spun - in public and in various locations throughout the community.
Sometimes when we are generous in small, barely detectable ways it can change someone else's life forever. -Margaret Cho
I began in February, 2007 spending some lunch hours and some weekend hours spinning with a drop spindle and chatting with folks who wanted to stop to ask what I was doing. I then decided that I really needed to get out and about town with this project. I have gone to the Southeast branch of the library a couple of times. I plan to try to visit as many parks (and other locations?) as I can.
The resulting yarn then needs to move the winning chain forward in some manner. Since this is the first project, my plan is to advertise for other creative folks who can brainstorm how this yarn might be used in a Community Handworks kind of way. In that way, I'll be able to share the idea of community building through creative work.
Right now, I am concentrating on getting the yarn spun - in public and in various locations throughout the community.
Sometimes when we are generous in small, barely detectable ways it can change someone else's life forever. -Margaret Cho
