Those of us who have been spinning for a number of years have, most likely, had at least one encounter with the Spinning Police. Totally unofficial and self-appointed, the spinning police carry no ID or badges. Still, you know when you have run afoul of them because they will speak up and relate your list of infractions of The Laws of Spinning in no uncertain terms.

The spinning police are those spinners who absolutely insist that their way of doing things is not just the best way but it is the only way. If you are doing anything differently from the way they do it, well then you are breaking the rules and must be subjected, at the minimum, to a lecture on how to spin properly. Note that these people are not spinning teachers. A good spinning teacher will not insist that you do something in a particular way. A teacher will explain the different options available for spinning the yarn you want and will encourage you to try all of them to find which one works best for you. The Spinning Police, let’s call them the “Fuzz”, will insist that there is only one way to do something and that is their way. They will not just demonstrate how they do something, they will insist that you change the way you do it. They’d ship you off to spinner’s rehab to learn “proper” spinning, if only they could.

One seemingly common infraction of the rules involves which had a spinner has forward. Which ever one it is, the Fuzz will call you on it and insist you change your hand position sometimes going as far as actually repositioning your hands. It does not matter that the change actually does not work for you at all. No, all that matters is that you are now doing it correctly.

Of course the idea that there is only one way to do something is total nonsense. Some of us spin well left hand forward ans will do much poorer work if forced to spin right hand forward. For others, it’s the other way around. Some spinners can do equally good work regardless of which hand is forward. Different strokes, different ways of doing things yet the goal is the same and that is making yarn that we like and is suitable for the project we have in mind.

Bottom line: Spinning is about the yarn. If you are making the yarn you want, then your spinning technique is working well for you and you are doing it right. The Fuzz that says you’re not - well, they really mean well. Thank them for their suggestions and keep on doing what is working for you.