Spinning Week 2021 is over, the results are tabulated, and planning for 2022 has begun. A huge group hug and thank you to the Spin Together volunteers who organized the virtual spinning event. The drop spindle Phuskadoras Internacionales team was composed of the 15 highest ranking Bolivian spinners from last year´s local competition and 3 American spinners. This was the first time that the Bolivian spinners who´ve worked with PAZA since 2007 have communicated directly through social media with an international fiber community. Although Vilma, Doña Maxima´s eldest, was the only one who posted to the team’s Facebook group page, it was a group effort to compose the postings. Two of the American team members responded in Spanish. It was a beginning and should expand to more robust communication next year.

In 2019, a couple of years after Spinzilla ended, it seemed like a good idea to split the 30 odd Bolivian spinners into 2 local competitive teams. Participation in this year’s Spin Together competition was timely as it provided a solution to a problem that´s grown since the 2^nd team was formed.

The original Spinzilla Warmis Phuskadoras team is made up of spinners from the community of Huancarani. A few, including their organizer, Doña Justina, have always ranked in the top 5. The 3-year-old team, headed by Doña Maxima, is a mixed team of Club de Artesanas members, spinners of the community of Sanipaya, and a few Huancarani spinners.  The new team won for the 3^rd year in a row by spinning 54,888 yards to the Warmis Phuskadoras team total of 36,931 yards. That´s a problem…

In Huancarani, there was grumbling the 1^st year, harsh criticism last year, and Doña Maxima said something must be changed this year. She couldn´t face her relatives and friends on the losing Huancarani team to tell them that the Sanipaya spinners would be winning the coveted polleras (skirts), the 1^st place prize again. It was decided that the 1^st place polleras will be awarded on merit not team affiliation. This will also serve to identify the Bolivian spinners who will be registered for the 2022 Spin Together Phuskadoras Internacionales team.  

Doña Maxima wrapped up the busy week of rural travel and measuring Spinning Week results by traveling to Cochabamba to purchase the material for the polleras and yarn for the 2^nd place vests. The Club de Artesanas members are starting work and will be earning income by sewing and knitting the prizes.

The Spin Together Phuskadoras Internacionales team is an example of how a passion can connect people of incredibly different backgrounds. Quechua is the language of the Incas; it is a pre-literate culture. The older Bolivian spinners were born into the remnants of the Spanish Crown feudal system, with no opportunity to go to school. All grew up in an ancient farmer subsistence lifestyle following a rich textile heritage reaching back to time immemorial. The American spinners are fiber artists who pursued and enjoyed non-traditional careers, that have not long been available to women. The Spin Together competition opened a portal between these worlds enriching the lives of the team members and those who followed the Facebook communications. Thank you Spin Together organizers! The Phuskadoras Internacionales team total will be announced after the Spin Together final results are published.

Thank you on so many levels to all of you who supported this year´s Spinning Week. Thank you, Lyn and Margaret, for your ongoing support of the Bolivian spinner/weavers.

The next posting will be 1st hand tales, gossip, and scoop. I´ll be back from Bolivia with weavings available for purchase after Thanksgiving. Dorinda Dutcher, October 21, 2021