Workshop List

Half-Day Workshops

Precision Drafting (or Why is There Tape on My Pants?)—Tired of slubs and thin spots in your singles? Want to know the secrets of smooth yarns? Break down the process of spinning singles into its smallest steps to explore the distribution of twist and how it affects our yarn. Treadling, drafting, ratios, take-up, and plying will all be examined in controlled exercise that will give spinners a new insight into what is happening when we make yarn. Understanding the interactions that take place as we twist fibre into yarn will help even the most experienced spinner make yarns with more consistent and predictable results.

Spinning for Super Socks (Half-day)—There is nothing that matches hand-spun socks for sheer comfort and warmth! Starting with selecting the appropriate prepared fibres we will spin singles and ply a yarn specifically designed to make durable sock yarns. Diameter control and drafting techniques for making strong singles and plying for a balanced yarn will enhance any spinner’s knowledge of making the most of the fibres we spin. This workshop will address the basics of one sock yarn—for a more in-depth examination of yarn design, see the full day version below.

Choose Your Own Spinning Adventure—Every time we sit down to spin a new yarn, we make a series of choices. From choosing the right fibre to tying our finished skein, each choice contributes to the design of that yarn. This workshop will take you through a set of “choose your own adventure” exercises to design and spin that perfect yarn. Depending on your choices, you will end up with one of three different styles of yarn!

Diameter Control for Spinners—As we learn to spin, we try to make finer and finer yarns. But once we master them, some spinners find it hard to go back to yarns that have larger diameters. This workshop will give spinners of all levels of experience the opportunity to explore different methods for broadening the range of yarn grists they can make.

Start Corespinning—An introduction to the techniques for making corespun yarns, from smooth and shiny to wild and woolly locks. Starting with your own hand spun core, we will explore the hows and whys of corespinning to make stable, useable yarns. Commercial cores and ideas for making a wide variety of yarns will also be discussed as we spin.

Cables and Crepes—Take your spinning beyond two-ply yarns with crepe and cable structures. Plied yarns, plied again with singles or other yarns create strong and stable texture in your knitting or weaving, as well as giving you an amazing range of options for colour play. This workshop will mix and match fibres to introduce you to a variety of yarn structures outside of standard plying techniques.

Made to Measure—There are all sorts of cool tools to use to measure your yarn, but how do we use them properly? And then what do those measurements mean and why do they matter? Bring your yarn, your tools, and a notebook— we’ll look at twist angle, twists per inch, yarn diameter tools, yarn balances and maybe even do a little math to see how your yarn measures up!

Yarn 101—A round table conversation about making and using yarn for everyone. Using slides and samples, we will discuss the elements of yarn construction and how each affects the final cloth we make. Bring your questions and let’s talk about yarn!

One Day Workshops

Diameter by Design—When we want to use our handspun to make an object from a published pattern, how do we know our yarn will be the right gauge?  Using measurement systems from industry, we can design exactly the yarn we want for every project, without endlessly sampling.  Twists per inch, Count systems, and twist angles, will come together to give intermediate to experienced spinners the tools they need to calculate the diameter of yarns before they begin spinning.

Twist—Twist is the heart of every yarn we spin, but what do we really know about it? This workshop examines the interaction between twist and fibre to help spinners determine the “right” twist for the job. Wheel mechanics, fibre selections. drafting styles, and plying for balance will all be explored through a series of exercises.

Spinning for Super Socks (Full Day)—There is nothing that matches hand-spun socks for sheer comfort and warmth! Starting with selecting the appropriate prepared fibres we will spin singles and ply a yarn specifically designed to make durable sock yarns. Diameter control and drafting techniques for making strong singles and plying for a balanced yarn will enhance any spinner’s knowledge of making the most of the fibres we spin. The full day version of this class will delve deeper into yarn design than the half-day version.

Elements of Yarn Design—This workshop will give you the opportunity to explore the combinations of fibre and twist that create a stable, balanced yarn that you can use for knitting, crochet, or weaving. After a short discussion of fibre characteristics, we will spin samples to explore the effects changes of spinning style, wheel set-up, plying techniques, and finishing can have on a chosen fibres.