So I was on the Green Line, heading home after a much-needed happy hour, flopped wearily into my seat, yawning after only two martinis, when I saw perhaps the most fascinating thing I’ve seen in a long time.
A man was making yarn with a hand spindle.
He had a very elegant way about him, sitting calmly, dropping the spindle while pulling the lavender-colored wool and twisting it into an ever more fine and thin string.
I’ve seen people knit on the Metro, but handspinning? I don’t think I’ve ever seen that outside of visiting a “living history village” as a small child. After he got on and pulled out the spindle, conversations just stopped as all the inhabitants of the car one by one were drawn into watching him.
An artisan quietly at work, in the middle of chaos, with the whirling spindle, an artifact of another time. Hypnotic.
This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs
As one of the founding editors of We Love DC, Jenn’s passions are theater and cocktails. After two decades in the city, she’s loved every quirky, mundane, elegant, rude minute of her DC life. A proud advocate for DC’s talented drinks scene, she’s judged the Corcoran Gallery of Art’s ARTINI contest, the DC Rickey Month contest, the Jefferson Hotel’s Quill Cocktail competition, and is a founding member of LUPEC DC. A graduate of Catholic University’s drama program, she toured the country as a member of National Players, and has been both an actor and a costume designer before jumping the aisle to theater criticism. Writing for We Love DC restored her happiness after a life-threatening illness, and she’s grateful to you, dear readers. Send your suggestions to jenn (at) welovedc (dot) com and follow her on Twitter.
