I love combing wool; to align the fibers and draft out a long top, roll into a bird’s nest and spin worsted from. Through the years I have found a way to comb that is easeful and meditative, a dance with the wool between the combs. In this video I share my thoughts on combing and how I do it, and hope it is easeful for you too.
Course outline
The lecture is 40 minutes, but I have divided it into six sections for easy access to the parts of the lecture. I go through why I comb and what types of wool I comb. The main part of the lecture covers how I comb, divided into three stages of the process.
All the videos have keywords for your convenience. A couple of them have close-ups.
All the videos have on-screen key words and a summary in the text below each video. The key words are also helpful if you want to scroll back and forth and find a specific section in the videos. The lecture is in spoken English, with captions in English.
I comb long locks of Swedish Leicester wool with my mini combs.
More courses
You can find more courses, challenges and short lectures in my online school. Three of the short lectures already published are on the topic of wool preparation: Picking the fleece and teasing the wool and carding the teased preparation.
This blog is my main channel. This is where I write weekly posts, mainly about spinning. Do subscribe!
I share essay-style writing on Substack. Come and have a look!
I am writing a book! In November 2025 Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for joyful spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook pagewhere I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden or to book me for a lecture.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons are an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
Follow me on Instagram. I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden!by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
Sometimes everything seems to happen at the same time, and there is little energy left to breathe. The state of the world, a long period of stress at work and aging parents all add up to tension. Having soothing wool go through my hands is one thing that keeps me on track.
I have been working on and off with a fleece for a few months now. A beautiful Gestrike fleece shorn last autumn. Recently I found my way back to it after quite a long break.
Hanna the Gestrike sheep
The fleece is soft and airy and soothing to work with. I’m working on it from several angles at once – in one end I card a bobbinful of rolags, spin two bobbins and ply them. In another I tease a different part of the fleece to card when the first part is all spun up. Meanwhile, I listen to audiobooks. I just finished Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead and started Holly Ringland’s The lost flowers of Alice Hart. My plan is to spin the same yarn weight, but divided into three categories of fine and crimpy, medium and long and strong. This way I can use the different qualities in different parts of a knitted sweater.
Hanna the Gestrike sheep got a gold medal in the 2024 fleece championships
I got the fleece from last year’s Swedish fleece championships. I know the sheep farmer and trust her completely when it comes to the wool from her sheep. The fleece got a gold medal.
Luggtacka the Roslag sheep
This year’s fleece championships took place just a couple of weeks ago. I wasn’t there, but I did follow the prize ceremony online and the auction that followed it. Another sheep owner Dan and I had visited for photo shoots last year got medals for two of her fleeces and I won the auctions for both of them. Luggtacka the pitch black Roslag sheep got the award called The Wool Guru’s Temptation. This fleece was a temptation indeed – wool so open and soft that the 700 grams worth of wool had the volume of a 2 kg fleece.
Luggtacka (meaning bangs ewe) got the Wool Guru’s temptation award in the 2025 fleece championships. The fleece may look grey in the picture but I can assure you it is pitch black.
The colour is a challenge for me, I find it very difficult to spin black fleece, but with some dedication and a contrasting background can make it work. I’m thinking about spinning a knitting yarn for stranded colourwork, perhaps for a knit sleeve bodice.
Lappen the Brännö sheep
Another fleece from the same sheep farm was Lappen the white Brännö lamb. The fleece is heavenly soft and open. The sheep farmer lives in an island in an archipelago northeast of Stockholm and the sheep graze in a few different islands with the farmer taking them between the islands in her small boat. Sometimes the sheep go on swimming adventures of their own. The fleece got a gold medal in her category and the highest possible marks for wool care.
Lappen the Brännö lamb got a gold medal in the 2025 fleece championships.
I knew I needed to win the auctions for both Luggtacka and Lappen, since I know the farmer and the care and dedication she puts into her sheep. You can read more about Dan’s and my visit to the sheep farm here.
Svea the Värmland sheep
The third fleece I bought at this year’s auction came from Svea the Värmland sheep and is also very soft and silky. I picked Svea’s 1 kg fleece in just a couple of nights – it was so open and airy my hands just danced the staples apart.
Svea the Värmland fleece got a gold medal in the 2025 fleece championships.
Just as Lappen, Svea got the highest possible marks for wool care. I’m thinking knitting yarn for this fleece too. The
Soothing wool
Spinning, carding and teasing all have their own choreography and rhythm and it seems to be just what I need at the moment – the single voice of the narrator and the dance of tools and hands in a set rhythm. Wood and wool through my hands. The soothing smell of lanolin and the genuine kindness I sense in the fibers. Greetings from pasture and barn fall into my lap. As the fibers open before me I’m taken back to the sheep that grew and wore the wool. I am so grateful for getting to know so dedicated sheep owners. Their kindness and the soothing wool bring me so much joy and trust in the goodness of people.
P.S. My book Listen to the Wool is scheduled for publishing in November.
Happy spinning!
You can find me in several social media:
This blog is my main channel. This is where I write weekly posts, mainly about spinning. Do subscribe!
I share essay-style writing on Substack. Come and have a look!
I am writing a book! In November 2025 Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for joyful spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook pagewhere I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden or to book me for a lecture.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons are an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
Follow me on Instagram. I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden!by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
Today I take you to the forest for another essay on Substack: Spider silk, where a shopping list invites you in between Water Stride’s pool and Hazel’s spring shoots.
“After having gulped down the last of the morning dew I threaded a basket onto my tail, placed the shopping list underneath my acorn hat and scurried along the path downforest.”
My life is a bit chaotic at the moment with a crazy work situation and an ill father. I don’t have the energy I would like, and the blog posts are sparse. I ask for your patience.
You can find me in several social media:
This blog is my main channel. This is where I write weekly posts, mainly about spinning. Do subscribe!
I share essay-style writing on Substack. Come and have a look!
I am writing a book! In the later half of 2025 Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for joyful spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook pagewhere I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden or to book me for a lecture.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons are an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
Follow me on Instagram. I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden!by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
Today I offer you a poem on Substack: Fire and form. Or two, really, clashed together and woven into each other in an interesting format.
One of fire, the other of writing. One written in the form prescribed by the other. Read as it is or listen to me reading it for you. The poem comes from the invitation of week 1 in a 7-week writing course I’m taking. I spend a lot of time writing and shaping and find myself growing as a writer, peeling the writing onion to get to the deep stuff. You can read Fire and form here. Enjoy!
You can find me in several social media:
This blog is my main channel. This is where I write weekly posts, mainly about spinning. Do subscribe!
I share essay-style writing on Substack. Come and have a look!
I am writing a book! In the later half of 2025 Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for joyful spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook pagewhere I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden or to book me for a lecture.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons are an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
Follow me on Instagram. I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden!by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
I use a lot of writing journals, for different kinds of writing. One for morning reflections, one for a secret project, one for writing whatever wants to be written and one for a seven-week writing course that starts in just a couple of days. Today I show you my just finished journal cover.
I do have a store bought journal cover for my secret writing project, but it turns out that it isn’t in a standard size, so none of my A5 journals fit. That was my cue to make one myself.
You can see a short video reel of my journal cover on my Instagram.
Material
I wanted to use material that I already had in my stash. As a premium member of the Berta’s Flax Guild I have a box of membership gifts from Christiane Seufferlein who runs the guild. In the stash I had the perfect fabric for the cover, a hand woven piece (cotton I think) from a German dowry somewhere between 1900 and 1950. The lining is a fabric sample in printed linen my friend Cecilia wrapped a birthday gift in.
The spine is reinforced with an extra strip of fabric and secured with sprinkled sashiko stitch stars. Two ribbons for closing and two pen loops inside the bow.
The embroidery linen yarns come from flea market finds. I bought the linen bands at an estate sale after a textile profile who passed away during the autumn. I bought the sashiko thread new, but for earlier projects.
Model
I actually started out browzing for journal covers to buy, but when I decided to make one myself I put on my inspiration goggles instead. First I was leaning toward an envelope type of solution with a button on the front, but after a while I simplified my plan to a plain model where the jackets of the journals are slid into the cover pockets to help stabilizing the structure. Ribbons at the spine keep the journals centered and in place. Loops for a couple of pens and a simple bow tie to close the construction.
A simple pocket model for my journal cover. I slide the first book under the left ribbon and the jacket into the left pocket.
The first thing I did after cutting out the pieces was to add a strip from the main fabric as a stiffener for the spine. I also spent many hours stitching the stars across the spine to keep the spine in place and for reinforcement.
I slide the left book underneath the first ribbon and into the left pocket, the middle under the second ribbon and the right into the right pocket. All the books sit snugly and the journal covers are sturdy.
Sashiko stars
The star section is my favorite detail in the project. I was brave enough to stitch them without a template, I just used the checquered fabric pattern as a guide. I did all the horizontal lines first, then added the diagonals, one direction at a time. This resulted in a sweet rhythm where my thoughts came and went in the same pace the stitches did. The wonky stars and sliding arrangement add a nice contrast to the right angles of the woven pattern.
Cross-stitched monogram
When the stars were strewn I added the monogram. I kept it simple with a cross-stitch from Anna Bauer’s Mönsterbok, a book filled with patterns for both cross-stitching and knitting. I can’t manage one stitch for every one thread in the aida fabric anymore, and doubling the distance between the stitches was still quite fiddly. I really need a new prescription for my glasses.
I just love pulling the aida fabric threads out after a cross-stitch embroidery. The photo is a screenshot
Finding a suitable colour to stitch onto a checquered fabric was a challenge. Even if the apple green is quite close in hue to the light blue, it still stands out a little from the jumble of blues.
I sewed the main fabric and the lining together, including the two ribbons for the inside of the spine, and then added a seam around the edges after I had turned the right sides out. This is where my plan was to stop the embellishing and folding the pockets into place, but a poem came my way and shook me about.
When a poem shakes your foundation
I was introduced to this very short, but potent poem by Cleo Wade:
A message from today, by Cleo Wade maybe don't tomorrow your life away
I love a good word mischief, and brutally turning an adverb into a verb is such a lovely way of giving a poem the space it needs to be and breathe in the world. So I knew I needed to stitch it onto the pocket of my journal cover.
Backstitching
I found a backstitch font, 2×3 stitches, and started stitching, with the help of the same aida fabric I used for the monogram. It was very fiddly to sew the tiny stitches while at the same time making sure/hoping the needle caught the main fabric too and not just the aida fabric.
By changing a few photo settings I got the clearest possible of the image. Still, only I know what the words say, by memory and not by actually deciphering the words.
I knew there was a big risk the poem would be unintelligible and I almost gave up, a couple of times. But I realized this was for me and I didn’t care if the letters were wonky and jumbled. The poem was there to remind me to write whatever wants to be written, to today my writing now instead of tormorrowing it away. I needed to work the words through the stitching and have the memory of them sizzling in my hands. My fingers are still sore from the intense needle spelling, but the words are there, helping me keep the focus.
More writing
Next week I start a seven-week writing immersion led by Beth Kempton. I have taken many of her classes, including the Book proposal Masterclass that resulted in a book proposal that landed me an agent and a book deal. The journal cover is finished and packed with notebooks and pens, ready to spill across the pages. I can’t wait!
The journal cover is finished! It fits three journals, two pens and a box of extra cartridges.
I do miss being so intensively in the project, though. I’m thinking about sewing a small wallet for cards and small stuff. We hardly use coins and bills in Sweden anymore, so I would like a different model, more card shaped and with secret spaces and pockets. Do you have any pattern ideas?
You can find me in several social media:
This blog is my main channel. This is where I write weekly posts, mainly about spinning. Do subscribe!
I share essay-style writing on Substack. Come and have a look!
I am writing a book! In the later half of 2025 Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for joyful spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook pagewhere I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden or to book me for a lecture.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons are an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
Follow me on Instagram. I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden!by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
I’m sitting on a of meditation pillow on the floor, picking a Gute lamb’s fleece while listening to a livestream with my favourite writing inspiration Beth Kempton. Two bags are on the floor; one is filled with bundled sections of wool, staples holding on to each other at the cut ends, the other with an airy mass of newly picked individual locks, light and considerably softer. A pile on the floor with mostly kemp and felted parts.
The gifts of a primitive breed
The breed is not new to me, I know its challenges, or perhaps my challenges with it, but I also know its gifts. All the things I learn from exploring it, from handling a primitive breed.
A Gute ram lamb, not related to the one in this post.
A fleece from a Gute sheep can have coarse outercoat together with the finest undercoat. It also most probably has kemp, those short, rough and quirky fibers that usually break and fall out. They may seem undesirable to us, but they have a purpose for the sheep; to keep the staples open to bring in air for warmth, and upright to keep moisture out.
An unseparated staple in the center. To the right a flicked staple and to the right all the kemp that came out from the flicking.
The combination of fiber types is intriguing and my fingers keep pondering, wandering across the fleece. This lamb’s fleece has very fine outercoat, though, not yet fully formed into the rough structure it can have as an adult. Still, a fleece like this brings me closer to how the fleece on the original sheep was constructed; fine undercoat and coarse hair, albeit in slightly different proportions. The fleece grows to protect the sheep and I get to learn from it.
Pondering hands
I ponder with my hands across the fleece, systematically picking staple by staple. My fingers search for tip ends, curly, fine and silky. The cut ends have compacted slightly and I need to work to make them loosen their grip. Fiddly, but doable, and some of the kemp – located at the bottom of the staples – is separated from the other fibers in the process. I know that more kemp will fall out and result in a soft yield after my picking.
This Gute lamb’s fleece has lots of kemp, but also the finest undercoat you can imagine. In the loupe image you can see black kemp as well as fine and medium fibers that are probably undercoat and outercoat.
Another gift from handling fleece from a primitive breed like the Gute sheep is that I know I will find gold, one way or another The colours, the fineness and the silky shine. What may look like a rough and bristly fleece is indeed a rough fleece, but it does in also have great potential. It could be turned into a rug, upholstery, a fulled fabric or sturdy socks. But with the fine undercoat and not yet adult outercoat in this fleece I could also make something very soft. A lace shawl perhaps. Yes, this prickly-looking fleece could actually be wrapped around my shoulders in an openwork pattern, flaunting the beauty in the simple fibers.
Further exploration
I tease a few locks and am astonished at how easily the kemp separates from the rest of the fibers. What remains in front of me are silky soft and remarkably fine fibers.
Teased and unteased to the left, spinning in the center and a laceweight yarn to the right.
Look at the picture with three sections of wool in The gifts of a primitive breed above. In the center you see a whole staple. The light wool to the right is a similar staple that I have teased with a few strokes with a flicker. Almost all of the kemp is gone. You can see the flicked out black and white kemp to the left of the whole staple.
I carded the teased wool and spun it on a 9 gram double cross (Turkish style) spindle into a laceweight yarn. There is definitely kemp left in the yarn, but given how much has fallen out already, I trust the remaining kemp will fall out eventually. And if it doesn’t I will be humbly reminded of the fleece as a protection for a living being, that I am grateful to learn from.
This and other things is what my fingers reflect over as they walk their way through the hills and valleys of Gute lamb’s fleece number 8 on a Thursday morning, and later ponder further on the page, writing the experience down, joyfully.
What do your hands ponder about when they walk through a fleece?
Happy spinning!
You can find me in several social media:
This blog is my main channel. This is where I write weekly posts, mainly about spinning. Do subscribe!
I share essay-style writing on Substack. Come and have a look!
I am writing a book! In the later half of 2025 Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for joyful spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook pagewhere I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden or to book me for a lecture.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons are an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
Follow me on Instagram. I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden!by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
A Swedish Gute fleece shorn after wind and rain call to me and I add it to my fleece stash, filling it with stories to knit into the loops of the yarn I spin. Read the whole essay on Substack: The wind in the wool.
When I release the fleece from its paper prison it poofs up as if taking the biggest breath after having held it for days. It keeps inhaling, slowly, until the mass is relaxed, staples quietly reaching, whisker-like.
You can find me in several social media:
This blog is my main channel. This is where I write weekly posts, mainly about spinning. Do subscribe!
I share essay-style writing on Substack. Come and have a look!
I am writing a book! In the later half of 2025 Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for joyful spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook pagewhere I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden or to book me for a lecture.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons are an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
Follow me on Instagram. I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden!by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
When I got my manuscript back from my editor I had the delicate task of reducing my word count by a third. I was helped by looking for giraffes. Read the whole piece on Substack.
You can find me in several social media:
This blog is my main channel. This is where I write weekly posts, mainly about spinning. Do subscribe!
I share essay-style writing on Substack. Come and have a look!
I am writing a book! In the later half of 2025 Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for joyful spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook pagewhere I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden or to book me for a lecture.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons are an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
Follow me on Instagram. I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden!by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
A couple of weeks ago I launched this year’s free five-day challenge. I call it Be Kind. Through five days the participants get five challenges and the invitation to reflect about them under the theme of being kind.
Over 250 people have taken the challenge so far. As a teacher I get the privilege of reading the comments. The kindness you are showing yourselves and your classmates in the course is truly heartwarming. So many of you discover new ways of looking at the spinning process and your part in it. And while you are finding ways of being kind to yourselves, you are being kind to other spinners, just by sharing your experiences in the classroom.
The kindness in the spinning community
I see this every time I create a five-day challenge. There is so much kindness in the spinning community and I get to experience it first hand. While I do put the course together, you do the hard work – the challenging of your habits, movement patterns and ways of thinking about spinning. Even if I know you will make lots of progress, I am always amazed at the discoveries you make, just by stopping and listening to mind, body and spirit. In that regard, all the challenges I have made are about being kind. One student writes in Be Kind: ”Each day I looked forward to the next lesson. The course has encouraged me to experiment and has reinforced the idea that there are no real mistakes only chances to learn and possibly make more discoveries that can feed into future spinning and weaving.” It is comments like these that remind me over and over again of the kindness in the spinning community.
I do genuinely thank you all for your commitment and reflections. If you haven’t taken the challenge, please do, and be kind to yourself while at the same time contributing to the spinning community. If you have taken it already, do share it with your spinning friends.
And I keep writing. The cross-stitch sign on the door says Jag skriver, meaning I write, and is a kind reminder to my family not to disturb me.
A book update
Meanwhile, I have revisited my book for the first time since I handed it in to my editor in September. I got the book manuscript back from my editor last week and it was sweet to pay the script a visit again, with a fresh glance. There were some smaller adjustments I needed to make, but the big thing was that I need to get the word count down by up to a third. I knew it would happen, but slicing a script written from the heart is still a big thing. With the four month break from the book, though, the words aren’t still vibrating on my skin and I can take a step back and see the text from a more mature perspective. And I will be kind to myself when I do.
Happy spinning!
You can find me in several social media:
This blog is my main channel. This is where I write weekly posts, mainly about spinning. Do subscribe!
I share essay-style writing on Substack. Come and have a look!
I am writing a book! In the later half of 2025 Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for joyful spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook pagewhere I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden or to book me for a lecture.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons are an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
Follow me on Instagram. I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden!by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
Today on Substack: What is it about January?, a reflective piece on things we start in January but abandon in March. For many people it is getting your body moving, for me it is usually new food experiments, including this year’s overnight fermented bread frenzy. Read the whole piece on Substack.
You can find me in several social media:
This blog is my main channel. This is where I write weekly posts, mainly about spinning. Do subscribe!
I share essay-style writing on Substack. Come and have a look!
I am writing a book! In the later half of 2025 Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for joyful spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook pagewhere I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden or to book me for a lecture.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons are an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
Follow me on Instagram. I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden!by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
