Spinning your own yarn; Senior Workshop April 16th in Seattle, WA

I haven’t seen the advertising personally, but Kelly (a friend in our Fantabulous Tuesday Daytime Knitting circle) mentioned that she’d seen an ad for the senior’s workshop that I’ll be hosting on April 16th @ the Greenwood Senior Community Center in her Phinney community newsletter. (reminder to self: hunt that down.)

The idea came about when I lost my ability to knit for several months during a flare of back pain and diagnosed complex tendonitis. I’d never encountered that kind of creative frustration in my life. Sure, I’d had months where I wandered aimlessly looking for a creative outlet and been frustrated with boredom. This was different.

In my circumstance, I was denied altogether that one thing that had kept my mind occupied when I otherwise couldn’t move around much. The physical therapist insisted NO EXCESSIVE KNITTING. I was allowed two or three rows on a sock per day. That simply was not enough. I patiently rested my arms and back, and exercised on their schedule. But, I ended up with a surplus of TV and reading time. It drove me to tears with boredom. I started to become very restless and so began to experiment with other crafting projects that would be beneficial and not detractive from my very expensive therapy.

I had an a-ha! moment when I discovered that I could (with some reasonable practice) spin yarn on a supported spindle and accomplish many of the stretching exercises that my therapists prescribed for me at home. As long as I kept all of my joints in neutral positions (not too far forward or backward) and kept my arm movements open and wide, I seemed to be able tolerate at least an hour per day of spinning without arm or back pain.

When spinning in the lap you can lean backward in a chair, the hand grip is seldom tight or restricted in a small space, and the repetition is broken up with built in mini-breaks as the yarn is wound onto the spindle.

After I had recovered from the tendonitis flare, I thought, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful to introduce this activity to mobility-limited crafters? I want to share this with others.”

So, for the next few weeks, I’ll be turning a few extra spindles that will be donated at below cost to the “Spinning your own yarn” workshop.