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knittin away
Seriously Hooked
880 Posts |
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lld
Chatty Knitter
USA
166 Posts |
 Posted - 03/20/2008 : 10:26:29 AM
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oooooh it's out!!! I've been waiting for this one, not that I need another spinning book of any kind, hehehe. I figure I'm lucky that her shop, Shuttles, Spindles & Skeins is my lys. I was thinking I should take a trip over and see if she had it in yet. I was only hesitating 'cuz I can never walk out of there without more yarn, fiber or both!
Lara |
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Gentle One
Chatty Knitter
USA
121 Posts |
Posted - 04/05/2008 : 06:42:30 AM
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If you see the author at your LYS, please tell her for me that I love her book! It is so clear, and so kind (when things go wrong, it is the wheel's fault), and so wonderfully detailed without being overwhelming!
Thanks ever so!
LJ
My goal is to become the kind of person my dog thinks I am.... |
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Kade1301
Permanent Resident
France
1426 Posts |
Posted - 04/05/2008 : 1:45:21 PM
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Thanks, LJ - your quote saved me some money... I'm a firm believer in it never being the wheel's fault: Either the wheel is working perfectly and the spinner just doesn't have the ability to get the yarn they want, or it's the wrong wheel for the job (not it's fault either - it didn't apply for the job), or the poor wheel has a problem and nobody has bothered to fix it...
Klara
http://www.lahottee.info |
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Gentle One
Chatty Knitter
USA
121 Posts |
Posted - 04/05/2008 : 4:44:27 PM
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Oh, my--Dear Klara, she doesn't really blame the wheel--what she says (and means) by it's being the wheel's fault is that you need to adjust the take up, or how fast you are treadling, or you may have a loose drive band, or you may have a death grip on the fiber--in short, something is amiss, and it needs attention--she avoids blaming the spinner, as that can be so discouraging. So, rather than nurturing the idea that the spinner can't ever learn to spin, she re-directs attention to the fact that there are a lot of things that can make spinning difficult or impossible, but can be easily remedied by altering whatever is making spinning difficult. If you don't have tension right, or your drive band is too loose, doesn't mean you are a bad spinner and can't learn, only that there are things that need adjusting.
It is a wonderful book, so please don't let my comment put you off. She doesn't say the wheel is bad or is to blame, only that it is more likely something about the wheel, or how it is being used, is what is causing the problem. Yes, that means the spinner is doing something wrong, or isn't doing something the spinner should, but her approach to that is that there is something needing attention, not that the person learning to spin is dumb or incompetent. My take on her approach is to look at the situation, and with her suggestions, figure out what needs adjusting/changing.
Do, if you can, take a look at her book in Barnes and Noble or Borders, or your local fiber shop.
LJ
My goal is to become the kind of person my dog thinks I am.... |
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Kade1301
Permanent Resident
France
1426 Posts |
Posted - 04/07/2008 : 06:00:58 AM
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LJ, you shouldn't do that;-) ! I was perfectly happy at not having to buy this spinning book (no more space on my shelf) - now you've undone everything! As I live in France there's no way to look at English books (and no local fiber shop until I'll open mine).
Happy spinning! Klara
http://www.lahottee.info |
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lld
Chatty Knitter
USA
166 Posts |
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Kade1301
Permanent Resident
France
1426 Posts |
Posted - 04/15/2008 : 05:06:09 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Gentle One
...-she avoids blaming the spinner, as that can be so discouraging. ... If you don't have tension right, or your drive band is too loose, doesn't mean you are a bad spinner and can't learn, only that there are things that need adjusting.
... Yes, that means the spinner is doing something wrong, or isn't doing something the spinner should, but her approach to that is that there is something needing attention, not that the person learning to spin is dumb or incompetent....
Amy Singer says in the Spin-Off interview basically the same thing, and while trying to produce a bulky singles yarn last night, I thought about that. And I wondered: Isn't there something very profoundly wrong with a culture where even a person learning a new skill can't be less than perfect, have all sorts of problems and make mistakes without feeling "dumb or incompetent"? On the other hand, isn't it perfectly normal that a beginner is "incompetent" - isn't competence something that comes from practice and experience? Could that be why adults hesitate so often to try out new things? When I demonstrate spinning somewhere it's usually the kids who want to learn spindling (and usually they get it pretty fast) - most of the adults just watch.
I may have a different take on the matter because I grew up around horses - and at the time it was a given that a) it's always the rider's fault (even when it isn't) and b) you'll keep learning all your life and never be perfect. I've never become a good rider, but I'm collecting diplomas like other people stamps 
Klara
http://www.lahottee.info |
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afranquemont
Warming Up
USA
89 Posts |
Posted - 04/15/2008 : 06:57:55 AM
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Klara, you probably know I have thoughts on this subject already, eh? For me -- who spent much of her childhood in a culture that was not lavish with praise, and certainly was demanding in expectations -- both culture and personality come into play for sure. I would rather hear "You're doing it wrong, here's how you do it right," than anything else (you know, assuming I'm doing it wrong). My feeling is that such feedback is empowering; it assumes I can, and should, and WILL have control over the process. It says I'm the one in charge, and I'm not being dominated by a device or a tool or something. All I need to do is learn and practice.
However, I do think Maggie Casey is right in saying that "it's usually the wheel," not in a blame-the-tool sense, but more because I think she's found a nice and socially/culturally comfortable way to say "You need to learn to adjust this tool." Without a doubt, when teaching people to spin with wheels, I spend tons of time on changing settings. It's one of the reasons why wheels aren't necessarily my first choice for teaching people to spin -- they require user adjustment from time to time and until someone has a feel for things, those adjustments can be very hard to make. Almost universally when teaching brand new spinners, I find that when they encounter a problem which seems insurmountable with wheel spinning, there's a maladjustment.
The flip side of that, of course, is that once you do know your equipment and what you're shooting for and you can control the settings, sometimes folks in this culture have a tendency to want a mechanical or technological solution to a problem that's best solved by practice or more skill. Sometimes we even HAVE those technological solutions available to us; but, then too, sometimes they don't wholly solve the problem, and at that point, rather than persevere and improve our skills, I think some of us choose to blame the technology.
The problem I have with that mindset (and bear in mind I'm a recovered computer professional) is that when we buy into it, we're buying into a thing that says "Technology outranks me, and can defeat me," and for whatever reason, I am pathologically disinclined to accept that, and the implications of that idea tend to really make me mad -- you know, like, "No, I absolutely do not accept that the clock on the VCR will always blink 12:00."
So, when I hear "It's usually the wheel," I mentally translate that on the fly into "It's something you did wrong with the wheel, Abby," and then I'm okay with it. Why? Because there's no way I'm going to allow the wheel to have dominion over me! There simply must be a way in which I can gain the upper hand and be the master of this relationship. ;-) But for some other people, it is often far more comfortable for them to interpret that same statement as "Something's misconfigured with the wheel" or "The wheel needs to be changed such that X instead of Y." Instead of feeling empowered by "You need to change the settings or do something different," they feel accused, powerless, and instantly frustrated.
Given a choice about who to speak to, I think it is generally wiser as a teacher to choose words which don't make students feel accused or powerless -- and that those students who are inclined (thanks to culture or personality or both) to feel that it's THEM, odds are that they'll already be doing their own mental translations just like I do.
"It's usually the wheel" is a thing to remember along the lines of, if you're troubleshooting your computer network, "Check the physical layer first," which means "make sure things are all plugged in." Or if you're the parent of an infant, check the big three things first: does the upset baby want to be changed, fed, or burped? It's usually one of those things. If, after checking them and verifying that it's not one of those things, the problem persists, then you know to move on to other things; but if the problem WAS one of those things, you solved it by making the simple changes first.
Abby Franquemont
http://abbysyarns.com/ |
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fiberlicious
Permanent Resident
1637 Posts |
Posted - 04/15/2008 : 08:39:31 AM
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So, the Cliff's Notes version of this is "It's the wheel. Now, how do I fix it?"
Sound philosophy. One of my big complaints about much of society is that people are too willing to stop at the diagnosis - "It's because of his/her home life, etc.," "it's the wheel," and forget the solution half of the equation. Abby's approach is the one that best suits how I address a problem. |
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Kade1301
Permanent Resident
France
1426 Posts |
Posted - 04/17/2008 : 05:02:50 AM
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And fixing a wheel is definitely much easier than getting Word to put the title in the second column at exactly the same height as that in the first one (well, no sane person would do a flyer in Word in the first place, but it was the most appropriate WYSIWYG program I have - and my sanity is in doubt, anyway)...
But I do wonder why so many spinners do not seem to understand how a wheel works. I believe the equivalent to "plug it in" is "release the brake" - I've had people come to me complaining "This wheel doesn't work" where the brake band was tightened so much that the bobbin/flyer wouldn't turn at all... Does one need a background in engineering/technology to understand spinning wheels? Abby comes from computers, I wrote manuals for flight trainers - fiberlicious, what's your background?
Klara
http://www.lahottee.info |
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mom3x
Warming Up
USA
78 Posts |
Posted - 05/12/2008 : 1:16:07 PM
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I checked out all the links in this thread. All great stuff! Thanks ladies!
And, you all have nice blogs. :) |
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