Holly, don't forget that it's great to keep at least one ball of your first
handspun yarn so that you have it to show other beginner spinners you teach
to use as both a tool to show them what not to do, and to show them that
even an accomplished spinner once spun just like they did. It is a great
teaching tool and gives the beginning spinner incentive to keep going. Some
of those beginners are really hard on themselves and give up when they
cannot spin like you do and not taking into account that you've been
spinning for a long time. I've seen too many perfectionists do things like
this in other crafts, not just spinning, but in knitting, crocheting,
felting, etc.
Gabrielle, just remember that when people live in an area their whole life,
many people have not seen some of the most visited landmarks. I have a
friend who lives in Brooklyn and yet he's never been to the Statue of
Liberty or to Coney Island. I have a friend who lived in CO (now lives in
Costa Rica) for his whole life and never went to the top of Pike's Peak.
Another friend who grew up in SF and never went to Coit Tower, Fisherman's
Wharf, Ghiaradelli Square or down the street of flowers or even to China
Town or Oakland. I think the saying about "familiarity breeds contempt" is
probably more true than you'd ever guess is possible. I grew up with people
in WI and they have this wonderful city called Wisconsin Dells where they
have a MUCH better amusement park than Disneyland (at least it used to be)
and there are tons of people who've never been there (I can't tell you how
disappointed I was in Disneyland--not just the rides, but the fact that
they lines were so long it took nearly all day to get into places to see
what you wanted to see). The whole city is the Amusement park and I'd
recommend it to anyone who lives in or in any state surrounding Wisconsin.
So, it doesn't surprise me at all that he had never been there. I grew up
in Wisconsin and 1/2 of my family still lives there and only 4 of us (I
have nine siblings--three younger sisters, four steps, one adopted, & one
deceased--he's traveled further than any of us), including cousins, have
moved outside the state and only 1 sister and I have actually travelled to
other states though she still lives in Wisconsin. The rest haven't traveled
but maybe about 2-3 hours away from where we all grew up--maximum! I loved
living in big cities until we bought 16 acres of land just outside of
Nevada City, CA, and then we moved to Walla Walla. Nevada City had under
3,000 people and Walla Walla has approximately 30,000. I liked Nevada City
better because there were so many creative types there and I would have fit
in a lot better. Walla Walla doesn't have the amount of creative types here
as did Nevada City, but it's still not too bad for peace and quiet.
In a short time, we're going to be moving from our 2.3-acre farm to a
20-acre farm with water rights, of course. I want more animals and we have
about the maximum right now, but there's no place to grow and this is going
to become city limits soon because they need to expand their tax base.
We've had a severe drought here over the last few years and it's getting
worse. I had to start feeding the animals hay in July to make sure they
were healthy and happy because they cut back on watering even for farmers
to once every 3 days...if that tells you anything. I have 21 sheep and 5
alpacas, so things are going well, and I've been selling the sheep for both
spinners, butchering the culls for our own meat or to sell the culls
outright. I'm learning a lot about selling as much as I can and using every
bit so the pelts, the horns, the bones are going for buttons and clothing
or for rugs (not necessarily in the correct order), but it's nice to be
able to stretch things as much as you can.
I hope that someday I can say I've been to all the United States, all of
Canada, Mexico and the rest of the world, both in big cities and in small.
I've wanted to do this since I was a child and have been, so far, to 33 US
states, 1/4 of Mexico and 1/2 of Canada, so I've already gotten a good
start. I want to visit the rest of Canada on the next vacation we have, as
well as all of the NE states. Then all I'll have left are the Gulf states,
Alaska and Hawaii. I've already been to both Virginias, both Carolinas,
Georgia, and up through Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri and over to Texas. I
love traveling to not only see the sights, but to sample the culture, how
people talk (their accents are so fun) and the sites/sights. It's too much
fun to travel and it's what I want to do. I want to visit Ireland and Kiss
the Blarney stone and go to England to see Stonehenge, and visit places of
power (not necessarily governmental power but lei lines, etc.). There is
more to this world than the physical aspects, and I want to see and
experience everyone and everything or as close as I can. Those are my major
goals though I have lots of minor ones.
I just finished a nice shawl out of Romney for a Xmas gift for my sister
back in WI. I've got almost all the nieces' and nephews' hats finished. I
have my mothers and my other two sisters' gifts left, then my steps and my
adopted bro. It's getting awfully close to Xmas already. They had the Xmas
decorations and cards in the stores already... I can't believe it. When I
was a kid, that stuff wasn't in the stores until just before
Thanksgiving...and now it's so early.
Oh well...
Take care and keep fibering,
Jet
Jet Tenley: Fiber Artist & Instructor
Celtic Crossroads Alpacas, Finnsheep & Icelandic sheep
1887 W. Highway 12
Walla Walla, WA 99362-8529
Phone: 509.522.0348
Cell: 509.240.2231
URL: http://www.celticxroads.com (parked at the moment)
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Yahoo email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Yahoo Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/spinning_diva/
& http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BlueMountain-FiberCircle/
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