Sunday, December 8, 2013

Pushka

I have to share my excitement with the world. Yesterday, just as I was about to leave for a Danish holiday party a friend throws (the food! Oh my goodness, the food!) the mailman knocked on the the door and dropped something in the hall. I opened it to find a package from Stringtopia Fiber Arts Studio . My favorite kind of box to have arrive. In it were two beautiful Andean spindles or Pushkas. I splurged and purchased one with a turned whorl and one with a carved whorl. I opened the package very quickly and fondled them briefly and then hurried outside where my partner was waiting with the car to leave for the party. As soon as I got home I pulled out some shetland I am spinning for a blanket I want to weave.( I am using my Andina spindles, also from Stringtopia to spin the yarn and trying mostly to tease the wool and not card it. I gave up on the teasing and am using my hand cards now. ) I was so excited to spin on the Pushkas and kept trying one and then the other. They are just plain, not fancy, not smooth, workhorse tools. A shaft and a low whorl and nothing else. They remind me of the low whorl spindles I learned to spin with in the late 80's early 90's, only lighter and made by hand. I cannot express what it means to me to be using tools made for spinners from a place where making textiles is still a vital part of the culture and economy. These are not tools made for people who treat spinning as a hobby. They are available because  Abby Franquemont, one of my fiber mentors and heroes, brought them back from Peru. Thank you Abby! These have already become my favorite spindles among my collection, and so without further navel gazing, my new Pushkas. This is a photo from before I started swapping back and forth. I love them!

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