Malcolm and I are sitting in the conservatory waiting for the sun to dip below the clouds and treat us to a rare sunset over the water. For the past several months, the sun had hidden behind the peaks of our neighbouring island, Hoy, and only for the next few weeks would it set right on the horizon before wending its way north to hide again, this time behind the slope of Stromness.

Dispelling a fuddy duddy image

I took the moment to explain to Malcolm my conundrum: how do I write about how fantastically fun spinning can be, how surprising and imaginative and even countercultural, when most people find it boring?

Hence Malcolm’s comment about little old ladies. Commiserating.

I cast about for a way to describe the kind of spinning I’m doing and what I’ve encountered in the research I’ve been doing on the subject and voila! Punk spinning was born.

I couldn’t find a photo to illustrate this idea, so played around in Photoshop to design this little logo. I should screen print a bag with this on it to hold my spinning stuff (feel free to grab the logo and use as you wish).

Punk spinning is about sheer joy

Punk spinning is about spinning for the sheer joy of it.

Punk spinning breaks the rules, grabs crazy things like nettles, or fabric scraps or copper wire and gleefully spins that. Pluckyfluff creates all kinds of madcap, sublime yarns and is excellent inspiration.

Pluckyfluff's "Posie" yarn

Punk spinning tosses in ornaments and dolls:

Little dolls are actually handspun into this yarn.

It’s about being messy, deliberately imperfect, and generally playing around.

One of my favourites. I'm learning this technique next!

Getting in touch with what makes you feel free

It’s yet another way to tap into what makes you feel free, excited and in flow and I hope you’ll consider giving it a try if you haven’t already. Chances are, someone has a spinning wheel they’d be happy to lend you to try out. Or you can find a class.

Once you’ve got your hands on a wheel, here’s a great beginner’s tutorial. She’s got several more video tutorials to help you learn all about spinning.

Get the right soundtrack

Oh one last thing: a soundtrack is all important.

To keep me from getting too caught up in spinning the right way, or feeling it has to be perfect, I enjoy the not-so-dulcet tones of Rage Against the Machine, or The Rapture, a band I found thanks to the TV show “Misfits”.

Misfits, about a group of screw-ups doing community service who unexpectedly develop superpowers, is also excellent spinning background. Here’s a clip: (Thanks to Channel 4′s shortsightedness, I can’t show a clip so never mind. Grrr, greedy copyright sticklers drive me nuts.)

But find what works for you. And let me know if you go for it.