Teresa Camarillo is seated at a wooden spinning wheel. It’s remarkably new and polished, and she presses her foot down on the pedals, making it start to quietly whirr and spin.
"This is a fairly modern spinning wheel," explained Camarillo. "It is what we call a double pedal spinning wheel, because there are some that are singles. So this one goes around very nicely. You can see it spins the roving and the fleece. That is very, easy to pull apart. And then it twists and turns it into a fine thread," she said.
Camarillo said that she was inspired to take up spinning as a hobby a few years ago, and is putting on a demonstration for fair-goers.
"It's wanting to be a lost art, but hopefully there's been a resurgence with young people wanting to learn how to do it. And we are demonstrating for the Ventura County Hand Spinners and Weavers Guild, and we're basically here as a community outreach and trying to educate everyone about a craft that has been around here almost since humans have been around," she said.
She pulls a small amount of fuzzy creamy white fur from a bag, to continue the transformation into yarn which can then be dyed and used to create other items.
"You can use it for crochet. You can use it for knitting. You can use it for weaving. You use it for many things," she said.
Camarillo learned the art of spinning her own yarn around 7 years ago after she acquired three alpacas at her home in Ventura County and wanting to know what to do with their fleece.
The rhythmic motion of the machine seems oddly calming. Camarillo agrees.
"I am not doing it for a real in purpose. I do it for the process itself and it is very enjoyable and it is very relaxing and it slows you down in today's very busy world," she said.
"And you also have to put a lot of concentration into it, so you end up perhaps forgetting some of the problems in the world, and you can just escape for a little while in a very quiet way."
So if you’ve had your fill of spinning teacup rides or dizzying heights – then maybe spinning a yarn is enough excitement.
The Ventura County Fair runs until Sunday August 11.
