FibresWest 2014 and spindle spinning classes

FibresWest 2014 is coming up on Friday, March 21 and Saturday, March 22 in at the Cloverdale Fair Grounds in Surrey, BC. The event runs from 9:30 am to 6 pm on both days. Admission is $8, seniors and students get in for $6. And kids under 13 are free.

It's a great fibre event. This year is their 6th Annual and each year there are more vendors, more classes and more excitement. Coming a near 1/2 year after Knit City, it's just the fibre fix we need to get us through the year.

This year I am teaching an Introduction to Spindle Spinning on Friday morning.

And on Saturday morning I am teaching an Advanced Spindle Spinning Class. Please visit FibresWest 2014 for all the details about these (and other) classes. Hope to see you there!

Spinning Workshop: Session Four

Last Sunday we had the fourth and final (for now) spinning lesson at my place. We had a lot that we still wanted to get done so I was quite a task master.

First thing we did was a lot of spinning. I wanted to make sure each one not only had the basics of drafting and putting twist into the fibre, but that they were able to troubleshoot any problems at would arise as they spun. Happy to say that all four spinners are making a continuous thread that gets more and more consistent each week. And for the most part, they can figure out how to fix a problem like over or under twisting, and are in much more control of their wheels. In the beginning, we often feel that the wheel is controlling us and it takes some time before your get the upper-hand. Once you do, you are well on your way to being an independent spinner.

They were all interested in fibre preparation techniques, so to make the drum carding session more interesting, I showed them how to make Crazy Batts. Those are the lovely batts you make from a variety of fibres, colours and textures. The resulting yarn from a Crazy Batt looks something like this:

It's fun and funky yarn. Below is a small sampling of the fibres we were working with -- mostly wool in a variety of colours, but there was also some kid mohair thrown in, you can see that in the top right corner.

Added to the mix was all sorts of other things, bits of silk noil, cut up silk hankies, pieces of commercial yarn that has texture. All this gets made into "fibre sandwiches". Each sandwich has a layer of fibre, some yarn bits, another layer of different fibre, more texture bits and finish off with a final layer of fibre.This sandwich gets fed into the drum carder.  Usually 4 or 5 sandwiches do the trick and you have a decent sized crazy batt. Here's what our table looked like when we were in full production.

After making crazy batts for about an hour, I demonstrated how to use the picker.

It's a crazy looking and highly dangerous piece of equipment that you use to tease the fibres to get them ready for drum carding. If you are into a high level of production, it's a good idea to have one. But one way or another, it's a good idea to learn the right way how to use that piece of equipment. You can ruin fibres and ruin your arm if you don't do it right.

Major rule: never, ever put your hands near the teeth.  However tempting it may be to just pull a bit of fibre out of the way. Always use another tool, never your own hand.

So the class and I are taking a break for a few weeks.  Lambing is coming on and other family obligations have us busy for next few Sundays.  But we are going to start up again with more fibre preparation, more spinning techniques and more fibres.

Stay tuned.

Spinning workshop: Session three

Today we had our third spinning lesson here in my farmhouse at the end of the road. We went over time as we had so much that we wanted to get done, and no one seemed to mind. First, we did a lot of spinning. I wanted the gals to have two good sized bobbins of singles -- one in white, one coloured -- so they could learn how to ply. The twist was really active in the singles, as they had just been spun, so the plying was a bit of an adventure in patience and persistence. Everyone made a lovely good sized skein. Should have taken photos of them, but was so busy with everyone, I totally forgot about documenting it.

After we did the spinning and plying, we moved over the next room where I had drum carders and a Louet picker set-up. I showed them how to use the Louet picket to tease the fibres apart and then load them onto the drum carder. Everyone made some batts and a had generally good time experimenting with the different pieces of equipment.

Here's the Louet picker. It's the oddest looking piece of equipment  but it does a nice job opening up the locks for the drum carder. I haven't had a lot of satisfaction using the rolling pin type piece, but I just use my Ashford carders instead. I toss some fibre onto the carding cloth area, and then with my hand carder, just card one way, and then the other. When I go the other direction, the fibre all comes off and then it goes over to the drum carder. Magic.

What used to take hours of teasing, can now be done in minutes.  Really.

And here's a photo of the front room, full of spinning wheels, six of them even though there were five of us in total. It's a small space but we make it work.

Thanks Heather, Katie, Diane and Tannis for a terrific day.  You are all turning into great spinners.
 

Spinning workshop: Session two

Here are two photos of what my dining room table looked like after our second spinning lesson. In addition to learning and practicing  basic spinning techniques, we also talked about fibre preparations -- drum carding, hand carding and wool combs. The most popular fibre preparation was combing, so we got out the combs and practiced.  This (mostly) always gives a lovely and surprising result as the combs get rid of so much of the debris.

And yes, that is a bowl of homemade cookies off on the left.  Thanks to my neighbour Hilary.

We are going to do more spinning next week and will also finally get around to some plying techniques:  double and chain plying (Navajo). There is such an interest in fibre preparation that I think we'll pull out the drum carders and make some fun batts.

It was a fun day. I can't think of a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

At least for now.

Flax to Linen & everything in between: workshop

Announcing one of the many workshops being offered at Fibreswest 2013. Register before March 8th if you want to attend any of the workshops. Here's a special one that I am featuring:

Flax to Linen & everything in between
Kim McKenna and Diana Twiss. Friday, March 22nd, 2013, 9am-1pm. $45. Class held at Shannon Hall, at the Cloverdale Fairgrounds.

Join Kim and Diana and explore the wonders of flax; how to turn flax straw into beautiful soft linen yarns. Most  people with access to a garden can grow their own flax. In this workshop you will learn the practical skills of growing, processing and extracting line and tow linen from flax. You will also help to keep the art of flax spinning alive by making your very own distaff in order to prepare the flax for spinning. Finally, you will get hands-on experience and tips for spinning flax into linen. Participants will leave the workshop with a fully dressed distaff and distaff support structure. Distaffs will be dressed with 20 grams of dew-retted flax.

Supplies: spinning wheel in excellent working order. See free Spinning Wheel Maintenance download at Claddaghfibrearts. Screwdriver with Robertson head. All other materials will be supplied. All levels welcome, absolute beginning spinners may not be able to spin, but will certainly be able to dress a distaff and benefit from the rest of the workshop. Material fee of $30.00 payable to instructors.

For more information about this workshops, how to register and other information related to this fibre festival please visit FibresWest 2013.

I hope to see you there. 

Introduction to Wheel Spinning -- in Glen Valley

Last Sunday I started teaching an Introduction to Wheel Spinning class right here in my own home. The classes are a four-part series of two-and-a-half to three-hour sessions that cover a variety of topics. These topics will provide participants with a strong foundation of skills for spinning amazing yarn and expanding their knowledge of the craft. I am working with a small group (four) beginning spinners. So there is lots of opportunity for one-on-one engagement.

There is a fee for the lessons. I provide all the materials for the first two sessions and there there may be a small materials fee for the last two as we move into working with other fibres (alpaca, llama, silk, and mohair) and blending them. Here is what the materials kit for session #1 looked like:

Each kit had four empty toilet paper rolls to hold spun singles; commercially spun yarn to practice treadling with; a batt of bouncy grey (Romney) wool; a bag of rovings (BFL, Corriedale, and Dorset); a journal; two plastic bags and class notes. And the shoe box itself seconds as a lazy-kate. We'll poke holes in the side and slide knitting needles in to hold bobbins of singles yarn so we can ply. If you don't know anything about spinning, that sentence probably didn't make any sense at all.  Not to worry.

And here's what my dining table looked like before the class started. I wish I had taken a photo of the room after everyone left. It was a complete shambles and I loved it. At the end of that session, everyone was spinning a continuous thread. We are meeting again on January 27 for session #2. It is wonderful to work with people who are as passionate about making yarn as I am. Makes me feel less crazy when I see how excited they are about wool and all the lovely things you can do with it.

An exploration of yarn structure

Two weekends ago I taught a 6-hour spinning workshop called From Mundane to Amazing: An exploration of yarn structure.  It was hosted by the Langley Weavers and Spinners Guild. There were eight participants and all were game to have fun and really open to learning new things.  It was a great day.

Here was the plan for the day.

From Mundane to Amazing: an exploration of yarn structure

1. Spinning warm-up: playing with twist.  We started with a bit of a warm-up, just to get folks spinning in a relaxed way. While we were doing this, we talked about the decisions we made when we sat down to spin.  For the most part, people didn't make a lot of decisions, they just sat down and spun the same way they have always spun. That's why many of us feel like we are making the same yarn over and over and over again.  
After the warm up we got down to spinning a bunch of samples using a variety of techniques with varying amounts of twist in the singles yarn and in the plying process.

2. Making 2-ply yarn

·         High twist singles > high twist ply

·         High twist singles > low twist ply

·         Low twist singles > high twist ply

·         Low twist singles > low twist ply

3. Making 3-ply yarn

·         3 ply chain – Navajo plying

4. Making singles yarn

·         Deconstructing commercially spun singles yarn

·         Spinning and un-spinning for soft singles

5. Replying yarn – cabled and crepe structures

·         2-ply X 2-ply cables -- called a 4-ply cabled yarn

·         3-ply (chained) X 2-ply cables

·         2-ply X singles (crepe)

 6. Bonus yarn

·         Working with fibre in the bag, make some yarn using any technique learned today.

It was a great day and we didn't get all the samples done.  But at the next guild meeting I gave out bags that contained the fibre for the last "mystery yarn" exercise.  Here's a photo of one of the participants samples from a good part of the day.  Lovely spinning.

Thanks everyone for being such good sports.  It was a marathon of spinning and everyone played along.