Feeling Your Age?

Do you feel your age?

This is not really a trick question, though it sure feels like one, doesn’t it?

I’m coming off a day where we “worked sheep” and so in one sense I’m feeling perhaps a bit older than the age reported on my official government documents. We tagged everyone who needed to be ID’d, gave everyone a booster on their vaccinations, trimmed up the Babydolls for their coming deliveries, and did unspeakable things to poor Martin to ensure he remains safe to stay in the general population. (Sorry, kiddo.)

Advil aside, I’m feeling it a little today.

But most days I think I have a mental image of myself as younger than I am. I remember speaking with a psychologist about this phenomenon who said it was pretty common. A lot of people stop aging, within their mental concept of themselves, somewhere in their late twenties or early thirties.

I don’t know if that’s true for everyone. I wonder if it’s true for more of those people we know who like to keep trying new things or learning new skills as they get older. If the quiet sense of being younger, of having more life ahead than behind, keeps them open to exploring possibilities?

But sometimes I catch myself in the middle of something and I think, “Wow, Kiersten. Could you act any older if you tried?”

Like the evenings when I doze off in the middle of the latest cooking show episode we’re watching, trying to stay awake long enough to watch the weather. On the television. Like we can’t get the same information on the phone in two seconds. Somehow, hearing it from the Voice of the Official Weatherman makes it more accurate?

News flash: It doesn’t.

This happens often, and I feel ancient every time. So, I tease Greg about his age because he’s older than I am and somehow it makes me feel better, and we go merrily along until the next snoozy TV episode.

But in our wild and crazy TV programming, we’ve come across a pretty cool show. Tournament of Champions is a bracket-style cooking competition between some award-winning chefs who are seriously talented. They have a short amount of time to produce something amazing with some randomization thrown in and blind judging to keep it as fair as possible.

What I love about it is that these folks are seriously, seriously good at what they do. They are masters of their craft, and they have such respect for their opponents, because they, too, are masters. I can’t speak to the techniques or the theory or the high-falutin’ cookery that goes on, because honestly, it’s beyond me.

But it’s such a great opportunity to watch creativity and immense knowledge intersect with play and respectful competition. I absolutely love to watch it.

It’s always a unique joy to watch people do something they’re especially gifted to do or have devoted themselves to learning to do well.

This weekend our sheep will be sheared here for the first time. Our shearer has her own Merino sheep and experienced some difficulties in the past with other shearers who couldn’t quite navigate the loose skin some Merino sheep have around their neck and bellies. That loose skin can get caught in the blades, resulting in nasty injuries.

She decided she’d learn the art of shearing herself. She trained so she could care for her own animals and now travels around shearing for others as well. I’m so looking forward to watching her, seeing what she learned, and learning what I can from her.

I have no idea what age she was when she decided to start at square one and learn this set of skills, but I know she was old enough to have her own sheep, watch a few years of unsuccessful (and painful!) shearing attempts on her animals, and decide she was going to take on the task herself.

This is no small task, either. It takes serious physical effort as well as technical knowledge to efficiently and compassionately shear a sheep. Brute strength may accomplish a rough haircut, but it’s a different matter entirely to end up with a usable fleece and a non-traumatized animal. And that’s before we even start talking about rams, who would rather not have anyone trim their locks, thank you.

So, I’ll get the opportunity tomorrow to watch a woman work who has become a master at her craft. I can’t wait to see what I can learn from her.

Greg’s Got Questions

Thank you to those of you who participated in the poll last week!

We had another tie!

The winning questions were:  What’s the most demanding part of using a spinning wheel, physically and mentally? and Based on the many, many questions you had while you were spinning all day for two days, what are people most interested in learning as they watch you?

To me, the hardest part of spinning is the learning process right at the beginning. It is very much like learning to ride a bike and write in cursive at the very same time. You have to learn to pedal your feet and change the tempo easily and smoothly. You have to learn the drafting motion of pulling a few fibers out of many and controlling the twist in them by how tightly you pinch your fingers and the distance you pull the fibers. Once you’ve learned to do all those things individually, you practice, practice, practice them altogether until you don’t have to think about any of them consciously anymore.

Most of the questions I answered at the convention were about pulling out fibers and managing the twist. It truly is amazing to think about how all the tools and techniques we use to spin are all about creating and managing “The Twist” in the fibers.

It can be a little surprising how physically demanding two solid days of spinning can be. In addition to tired legs and hips from pedaling, the shoulders, arms, hands, and wrists can feel some strain after a few hours. If you haven’t built up calluses on your fingers, they might also be a little raw from the constant sliding of wool fiber along the exact same spot hour after hour.

I was very tired after all the spinning, but I truly enjoyed the opportunity to demonstrate it for so many folks. More often than not, it was people’s first exposure to live spinning. What a treat to share it!

Greg’s Questions for Next Week

(As a matter of procedure, the poll function takes you to another page to submit your vote, so if that happens to you, you’re on the right track!)

Question 1: Do you think a knitting version of Tournament of Champions would work? What could be done in 30 minutes? And what would the Randomizer categories be?

Question 2: Which sheep do you anticipate being the most challenging to shear? The Merinos because of the loose skin? The rams because they’re… rams? Or the twins because of the incredible willpower it’s going to take to cut off that adorable fluffy lamb wool?

Question 3: Apart from me reading the truth here, were you ever planning to let me in on the fact that I’m not the only one who’s been asleep on the couch when you wake me up and give me such a hard time about it?

Happy knitting,

Kiersten J