In “Sleeping Beauty,” the young maiden’s guardians tried to divert her disastrous fate with a spinning wheel by hiding her in the woods.

But in the hills of North Georgia, a group of women are leading youngsters and grandmothers alike to sit at the helms of spinning wheels and revive the age-old craft of spinning yarn. And they said working the wheel is a restful, rejuvenating activity that harkens back to Colonial times.

“It’s a feel good thing, a comfort thing,” said Lynn Johnson, a member of the Georgia Mountain Handspinners Guild.

Johnson is just one of about 30 women who regularly meet at Hopewell United Methodist Church on the second Saturday of each month.

Women ranging in age from 9 to 66 lug their wooden wheels to the church to wind wool strands together, fashioning their own form of yarn. Many of the guild’s members are also avid knitters, and use the homemade yarn to make sweaters, rugs, scarves, socks, hats and legwarmers.

“It relieves stress ... It’s something about the rhythm,” Johnson said. “I think it’s a healing thing to do and it’s cheaper than therapy. It’s a great meditation.

“A lot of people who haven’t knitted in years have rediscovered knitting, and a whole new generation has discovered it. And now these knitters are finding they want to learn how to spin to make the yarn that they want,” Johnson said.

Johnson’s spinning wheel rests in front of the recliner in her living room, and she spins yarn up to four hours every day.

“It’s a real addiction. There’s more of us out there than you know,” she said.

But Johnson doesn’t just make the yarn from wool she bought from a store — she’s the real deal. She raises 60 sheep who grow the more than 700 pounds of wool she shears every March and September. Johnson then sends the wool to a mill in Michigan, where it is combed clean and returned in giant bags.

At Johnson’s 40-acre Wauka Mountain Valley Farm, the whole process of making yarn is a family affair. Johnson lives on the farm with her husband, her two daughters and her two granddaughters. All of the women spin yarn from the wool in their free time to make cozy crafts.

Marci Rheinschild, Johnson’s oldest daughter, said she has enjoyed teaching her two daughters, Kaitlyn, 12, and Caroline, 9, to learn how to spin.

“In my family, it’s just part of who we are. Mom thinks it’s really important to pass it down, and I do, too,” Rheinschild said. “We’ve got to get (kids) off the video games and the tube, and into being more creative.”

Kaitlyn Rheinschild, 12, said she likes to spin yarn so she can knit items for her little sister’s toys. She knitted a shawl and scarf for her sister’s little toy cat, Ginger.

And Kaitlyn said she’s currently saving up wool from her favorite sheep, Madeline, so that she can make a rug out of it after the aging sheep passes away.

“I know plenty of kids who might like it more than video games if they actually tried it,” Kaitlyn said.

The seventh-grader added that she enjoys going to the handspinners guild meetings because she’s one of the youngest people there, and is learning how to spin along with her little sister.

Johnson, Kaitlyn’s grandmother, said the handspinners guild is a rare group of women who really love and care about each other. And when someone gets sick or has surgery, all members know what their yarn will be used for — a prayer afghan.

Each member makes yarn and knits a square to create a quilt for the ill member.

Johnson encourages men and women to attend a meeting of the Georgia Mountain Handspinners Guild if they’d like to learn how to spin.

“Come to a meeting and watch their feet, watch their hands and ask questions,” she said. “It’s a wonderful healing thing ... I do it for my soul.”