Hand-spinning was a skill which I have always regarded with as much awe as those of making bread, and performing the mysterious rite of proper mayonaise.

Elizabeth Zimmerman, from Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Knitter’s Almanac, Dover Publications, 1981.

As a foodie, I love this quote–comparing spinning to making mayonaise just seems right. Mayonaise is mysterious–you’ll be whipping and whipping, carefully drizzling oil, just like you carefully draft your fiber, and the concoction decides to turn from liquid into mayo, voilà!

EZ says she was a completely self-taught spinner, she learned without ever meeting another spinner or seeing anyone else spin. Too bad she didn’ know Shannon.

EZ on Spinning and Mayonaise