Many articles on professional and personal development recommend finding mentors who will help you with upward mobility and improvement of you and your career. Colleagues have told me that seeking out and finding mentors is essential to success. I’ve never been too concerned with upward mobility, and I’ve had careers only accidentally. I’m also staunchly independent--some have said too much for my own good.
Fortunately, a couple of wise people have passed through my life, stopping long enough to impart some skill and insight. They tend to find me, rather than the reverse, recognizing that I could use help saving me from myself.
Greetings to you crafty people, to you who wish to be craftier, and to you who are just curious. Welcome to the weekly What Are You Working On (WAYWO) diary, a place for sharing knowledge, asking questions, and celebrating what smart hands and smart heads can accomplish.
Continue below the fold for more on someone saving me from myself and to share what you are working on.
I enjoy handcrafts like needle work, quilting, and knitting. I keep busy with a vegetable garden and cooking and preserving the food I’ve grown. I taught myself, for better or worse, all of these skills plus many others, including what I use in the professional world. Then I decided I wanted to learn to spin wool.
My months of attempts at self-education on a borrowed wheel didn’t go well. I carefully teased out the fleece and fed into the orifice of the flier only to have the wheel grab great hunks and twist the fluff into itself and into knots. The treadle came to a dead halt just as I thought I had the rhythm down. The sweat of my frustrations mixed with the grease of the wool and made everything slippery and sticky at the same time. I spun lovely wool into useless lumps and had fleece all over myself and the room.
Then I found out about a local spinning and weaving guild that welcomed beginners, even providing equipment to learn on. I’m not a joiner, but decided to give it a go. I almost immediately regretted coming. Every guild meeting included a portion dedicated to business like workshop schedules and fundraising. The president of the club took up large amounts of time reading humorous (she thought) emails that came to her via online fiber forums. Eyes rolled, but no one said anything, choosing instead to politely focus on the projects in front of them.
Fortunately, Pam found me. At 80 years old, she was the eldest member of the group (I was the youngest), and while she would never admit it, the most versatile with fiber. A master spinner, weaver, and knitter, she always had projects going and took on others for friends that were struggling to find the time to finish theirs. She carried herself with grace.
She led me to an old and well-worn Ashford Traditional wheel in the back corner of the room, pulled up a chair next to me, and with her hands on mine, started the lesson. This wheel, she told me, had been in the guild for many years and had been used by a long line of learners before me. It was full of their energy, she said. If I was going to learn spinning, this was the wheel to do it on.
In between her instructions and hints on how to make the spinning flow more easily, she whispered snarky comments (snark that would rival anyone here at DK) on the leadership of the guild and their silly, time-wasting business meeting and on how they took themselves much too seriously. I worked to suppress my laughter and follow Pam’s instructions. The wool began to turn into strands—a little lumpy and uneven, but still. And before I knew it, I was treadling in a steady rhythm. Maybe Pam was weaving spells into her sarcastic banter.
Pam, through her irreverent and sharp humor, taught me that the guild meetings were for community—for time to catch up with her neighbors and share projects and skills, much like we do here at WAYWO. We lived in a farming community, with great distances between homes, so time together was precious.
I think my self-appointed mentor and wise woman had such a bright and fun outlook on life because so much of her time was devoted to bringing hands, hearts, and minds together. And because she believed in community and that it was OK to laugh. I haven’t used my wheel in a few years, but I want to get back to it. Regardless, I want to continue to honor all that Pam taught me in our time together in the guild.
Your turn. What are you working on? What sort of projects are keeping you busy or luring you away from the business of the day? Did you have a mentor in your craft or did you figure it out on your own or was it a little of both?