From Their Hands to Yours
When we started making the trip from Shangri-la to the spinning village, it would take us over an hour each way. The road we took was winding and full of potholes. It was not uncommon to find a truck turned on its side every now and then. In recent years, the Chinese government has built our friends a new winding road cutting our travel time in half.
Throughout the winter months (Nov – Feb) there isn’t any fieldwork to be done. This is the time that our spinners are able to spin yarn.
Every two weeks we fill my truck with 25 to 30 bags full of cleaned and carded yak down fiber to deliver to the ladies.
Because the Tibetan people are a very communal group, they enjoy gathering out on the street to talk about the latest happenings. Our spinners often walk around as they spin yarn, visiting friends and enjoying the warm winter sun at 10,000 ft above sea level. Spinning fiber is such a natural action for these ladies that watching them work is truly poetry in motion.
