Thinking About Grandmother Spider

Someone mentioned to me once how knitting gives them a connection to all those spinning dieties over time.  They talk about them spinning their fibers and delicately weaving them into fabrics.  Knitting was simply a revival of all those myths of days gone by, a connection to the women who have come before us.

Yes, I suppose in many ways knitting is a way of connecting to our ancient weaving foremothers.  At the same rate, it’s very different.  Knitting is a relatively new art and certainly wasn’t around when Arachne was weaving in ancient Greece.  Grandmother Spider wasn’t a reference to knitters.  It bears the resemblence of creating a garment from thread, yes, but in their time it was fabric to be cut and fashioned.  WIth knitting, you can have a finished garment without any of that hassel.  With hats and socks you simply need to bind of and weave in the ends, no cutting or sewing required.  It’s not the same, and perhaps that’s why I’m having trouble viewing knitting as a connection to the divine, and of the mythology that has come far before me.

Instead I’ve been spending time thinking about spinners.  Many of the podcasts I’ve been listening to are by knitters who have also tried their hand at spinning in the very least.  Of those, most have been spinning almost as long as they’ve been knitting.  I suppose they’re the hardcore extremists that take things from sheep to garment through every step in between.  Those are the women who would most connect with the Goddess in her spinning aspect, as they not only spin, but also dye and weave (through knitting or crochet) the product into a finished and useable state.  That’s an impressive feat, but much more something one would expect from Grandmother Spider.  After all, she not only spins her own fibers, but creates a web, which in this case, a useable finished product.  She takes the whole process from beginning to end with purpose behind her actions.

This year I’ve asked Caelan to buy me a purposeful Christmas present.  We’ve decided that we’re going to focus our presents on things that are practical and useful, not just more clutter to take up space.  Corde will be getting some knitted clothing for Althea, who is still a naked dolly after all this time!  Aris (provided the shipping doesn’t take six years) will be getting a doll of his own.  Caelan is going to be getting the socks I promised to make him right after he came back from deployment and I never made.  We’re going for practical.  We’re also going to start going through our closets, storage bins, and everything to start to downsize because we are just starting to be owned by our things.  We’re living to put things in storage where we’re never going to see or use them.  They don’t get appreciated.  So if we’re not going to use them, play with them, appreciate them, or love them, then why do we have them.  These things need to be taken out of our lives so that we can move forward to something more clutter-free.

So what have I asked for this year?  I’ve asked for a drop spindle.  They’re not expensive things, certainly a lot cheaper than a spinning wheel, though more work.  They’re small and easily transportable.  That means I can pack it up and bring my spinning with me should I decide I want to travel and spin.  However, the real thought is that I can store it far easier since it isn’t something big.  If I hate spinning, I know several local people who may be inclined to buy my spindle off of me, but at the very least, I’m certain I could teach Corde how to spin, as with her girl scout troop.  Why not?  The first time I ever spun was in Girl Scouts.  I’ve been looking at package deals that come with a starter bit of roving to get you going.  If I find I love spinning, I may look into a roving of the month club thing or something of the like.  It would give me a chance to become a better spinner, but it would also give me a chance to play with some stunning colors.  I may not ever end up with enough yarn to do much with, but a couple small sized pairs of socks for Aris or Corde would be enough to make it worth it.

I want to do this for a number of reasons, but one of the big ones is that connection to the spinners.  It’s one more thing to remind me of how the fiber I knit, that has become so much a fascination to me, comes to my hands.  It’s one of the many ways I can appreciate the process, after all, if I value items I make more because I’ve made them myself, won’t I also value the items even more if I spun the yarn myself?  Perhaps some day I’ll come to value it even more because I’ve come to appreciate how the yarn was dyed, and maybe eventually I’ll be able to go purchase the roving myself from a sheep farm, or get the roving from animals I own myself.  Maybe there will come a day when I can truly appreciate the process from sheep to garment.  Until then, it’s one step of the way.  After all, if I feel this strongly about the things I knit myself, imagine how much more important they will be to me when I’ve done yet another piece of the process myself.

~*~Raven Night~*~