Sloyd

Sloyd. Ancient, smart, thrifty. The crafting of everyday objects with natural materials, your hands and simple tools. To me sloyd is also something that I can do sitting on a rock in the woods should I choose to. Just a pair of hand cards or combs and a spindle and I’m happily sloyding away.

The other day I got a fresh issue of Hemslöjd magazine in the mail. My heart sings when I get it. It is such a smart magazine with so much reading to dive into, so many crafters to admire and be inspired by. Brilliant people making beautiful objects and utensils with simple tools and natural materials. On the cover of this issue is Kristin Sundberg, a crafting friend of mine. I’ll get back to her in a minute.

Sloyd

The word hemslöjd means something like simple crafting for your household needs. The word slöjd, or sloyd, is one of the few Swedish loanwords in English. Slöjd comes from the word slug, which means sly, skilled or handy. Sloyd is smart.

I’m practicing my nalbinding needle carving skills. These are from my first and second sessions this spring. My favourite shape is the leftmost needle. Sadly it cracked down the middle as I drilled the hole.

Slöjd is also a subject in Swedish schools. It was was established in the Swedish school system in 1878 and is still a mandatory subject. Until 1962 girls learned textile crafts and boys wooden crafts, but since then all children learn to sloyd both soft and hard materials.

I eBayed handwoven tea towels and stitched initials for my son’s friends for their graduation.

Every now and then debates about the right of this school subject to exist emerge. Why spend time sewing and carving when you can focus on more important subjects like history or maths? This is a common argument. What would happen though, if we didn’t learn how to make things, how to mend, create or see the potential in a piece of cloth, fiber or wood? How would our brains look if we didn’t nurture what I believe is an inherent need to create with our hands, not to mention survive?

I streamlined the process of nalbinding carving for my third session. Still. I enjoyed every minute of it.

In 2018 a doctor concluded that the medical students’ dexterity in stitching up patients had decreased significantly during the past few years. He believed the reason to be too much swiping and too little fine motor crafting skills. Again, sloyd is smart.

The magic in the making

Back to the Hemslöjd magazine. Kristin Sundberg on the cover of the latest issue is the most sloyd I know. I met her at Sätergläntan when I was teaching supported spindle spinning a few years ago and she was my student. She was a total beginner at spinning. Crafting runs in her veins and she developed her skills remarkably during the five-day course.

Kristin’s main material is wood, though. On her YouTube channel she copies old objects that are mainly seen in museum these days. For Kristin the making and the love for the sloyding is more important than the skills in the techniques. She sees magic in the making, in the sloyding.

Kristin Sundberg with her copy of a birch bark rain hat. Kristin is so sloyd.

Kristin is such an inspiration to me and so many others. You can watch her videos on her YouTube channel.

The sloyd process

There are so many things I love about Kristin’s approach. The love for the material and the making. The story the material tells you if you take time to listen to it. To me the finished object, yarn in my case, is beautiful, but also so much more than an object.

A stick, a weight and some wool and I’m home.

My skeins remind me of all the time I have spent with the material, the techniques and the process. All the mistakes I have made, all I have learned and all the thoughts that have gone through my mind during the process. It also reminds me that the sloyd is in me. With my body I control tension, speed and the quality of the yarn. Through my body I communicate with the material and melt into its will.

Left: *Just a few finishing touches on these before they are ready for some nalbinding.* Right: Finished! They are definitely not perfect, but I made them with love.

Today the need to make things for your household needs may not be as obvious as it once was. But I believe we still need to make, with emphasis on make. Perhaps we need the process of making and creating to instill a sense of self-sufficiency. I can make, therefore I can survive. I may not need more nalbinding needles, but I need to make them, to feel the wood in my hands, to see the transformation from stick to a tool for more crafting. And who knows, I may give some of them away.

Yup, sloyd is smart.

My nalbinding needles

This is how I made my nalbinding needles:

I used a twig-free maple sapling I found near the house. It had a diameter of about 2 centimeters. Make sure you are allowed to harvest the material. You can also use dry wood, a firewood log for example.
I cut the sapling in smaller pieces, around 20 centimeters long, enough for two needles lengthwise.
With an axe I split the pieces in two.
I made sure to carve away the soft core.
With long strokes with the knife I roughly carved the wood into a flat shape with straight edges.
With a starting material of around 20 centimeters there is room for two needles. I chose to place them “eye to eye”, so that the holes would be placed near the middle of the material and the tips at each end. You can see the placement of the eyes in the featured photo.
I drilled three holes in a row for the eye with a 3 millimeter drill (I tried a 4 millimeter too, but I preferred the smaller diameter). Making the eye is the most crucial part of the making of the needles. Therefore it’s a good idea to make the eye early in the process. If things should go south you won’t have spent too much time fine-tuning the needle.
Now I created the shape of the needles and tidied up the holes.
I let the needles dry for a day or two before I did the finishing touches on them. The last thing I did was to flatten the wood slightly with the back of the knife.
Optional 1: You can sand the needles. Once, on a carving lesson I took, I asked if we were supposed to sand the insects we were making at the time. She stopped and gave me a stare (with a hint of a smile) and said: “Sanding carved objects is of the devil!”. So I don’t sand. I have learned to love the traces of the knife when I carve. I did use a round file to sand the inner walls of the eye, though. I have neither the tools nor the skills to carve them properly.
Optional 2: You can place the needles in a glass of rape seed oil for a week to make it more resistant. Nalbinding with a yarn with lanolin left in it will achieve something similar.

I’m nalbinding with a needle I made a few years ago from an elm we had to fell outside our house.

If you have any tips for carving nalbinding needles, do share.

Happy sloyding!

The upcoming blog posts may be scarce and short. Our son is graduating from upper secondary school in a couple of weeks and we have a lot to do to prepare for the reception.

You can find me in several social media:

This blog is my main channel. This is where I write posts about spinning, but also where I explain a bit more about videos I release. Sometimes I make videos that are on the blog only. Subscribe or make an rss feed to be sure not to miss any posts.
My youtube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to missanything!
I have a facebook page where 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.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons is an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. Shooting and editing a 3 minute video takes about 5 hours. Writing a blog post around 3. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
You are also welcome to make one-off donations on my Ko-fi page.
Follow me on Instagram. I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
Read the new 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.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.

June 26, 2021June 26, 2021

A week of creativity

This blog post could have been about a five-day course in wool knowledge at Sätergläntan craft education center. However, the course was canceled. I was very sad about this, but I did keep the days off from my day job. Suddenly I found myself in a week of creativity.

A whole week to myself in the brightest and most thriving part of the year. I had some things planned but also lots of time to explore and create unplanned.

A park bench

Dan’s birthday was coming up and I had planned to build him a park bench. Recently Erik Eje Almqvist published a book called Hammare och spik (Hammer and nail) that builds on Enzo Mari’s idea of functional furniture with right angles that anyone can build. The book contains descriptions of stools, chairs, benches, tables, shelves and more that are based on standard Swedish timber measurements. I got the timber sawed up on Monday at the timber store and help from my father bringing the stuff home.

I spent a large part of Tuesday building the bench. It was a very hot day, but nice and cool in the basement where we have our storage room. The construction was simple, functional and very sturdy. It could even endure the wonkiness of a beginner’s mistakes.

A chain stitch embroidery with my handspun yarn as a crafted park bench graffiti.

Wednesday I created what I call crafting graffiti – an embroidered message of love for Dan. I drew the motif on the bench and drilled holes along the drawn lines and sanded down the roughness from the drilling. I wanted to make a root stitch, but the root (or in this case a split ivy stem) kept breaking so I abandoned that idea. Instead I went closer to home – I embroidered with a chain stitch along the holes with my handspun yarn.

Stools

Along with the timber for the bench I bought timber for two stools. Our teenagers spent Thursday building one stool each and by evening we had a whole set of furniture for Dan’s birthday on Friday. We prepared breakfast in the morning on the balcony. As the rain poured down on the sunshade above us we had the loveliest breakfast together all four of us (which is unusual these days since we get up at very different times).

Summer of flax

As I mentioned in a previous post I ended my very long flax spinning procrastination phase and started spinning some of my flax. I don’t have much practice spinning flax, so I was enjoying experimenting, listening to the flax and learning from my mistakes. To practice for my homegrown flax I used store-bought from Växbo lin.

My MacGyver style distaff stand works wonderfully well. The distaff pin was made by my grandfather to his mother Berta.

As I preach with wool, the preparation is key. I learned how to best arrange the flax for dressing the distaff and how to move the distaff as the spinning progressed. You can see more of how I dress my distaff in this blog post and video. I built a MacGyver style distaff stand with the help of a parasol stand and some willow sticks. It works surprisingly well.

Lots of opportunities to explore and learn about flax in this week of creativity.

I have spent quite a few afternoons on the balcony with my flax. This is the time of day when there is shade on the balcony and I thrive away from the sun as it has been around 30 °C this week.

Spindle and shorter lengths

Before I have dressed my distaff I have brushed the flax with my flax brush. It has removed the shorter bits. Still, as I have reached the end of the flax bundle on the distaff only short bits have been left. Through my spinning I have saved both the brushed away lengths and the inner shorter lengths on the distaff and dressed them on a hand distaff for spindle spinning. I have an in-hand style spindle with a counter-clockwise spiral groove that works wonderfully for this.

A flax brush is traditionally made with hog bristle. The bristles were usually bundled together at the end and tied with waxed linen thread for a handle and painted with a mixture of tar and resin. — I have spun shorter lengths and tow on my in-hand spindle.

Helena Myhrman, Sollefteå, Ångermanland is brushing her flax with a flax brush. — I have spun shorter lengths and tow on my in-hand spindle.

Grass crowns

The last craft of this week of creativity is making grass crowns. It is a lovely craft you can do a large part of the year depending on what plants you have nearby. I have used grass of course, but also lavender, onions (!) and field flowers. Eventhough grass crown making is a perishable craft, most of the crowns age with dignity.

I have had a lovely week of creativity. On Monday I get back to work again, but only for a week and a half. After that I have six weeks of vacation with lots of room for more creativity. But first I will make another grass crown as a gift to my parents.

My week of creativity has not ended yet. More grass is waiting to become crowns, more flax is waiting to be explored. How was your week?

Happy spinning!

You can find me in several social media:

This blog is my main channel. This is where I write posts about spinning, but also where I explain a bit more about videos I release. Sometimes I make videos that are on the blog only. Subscribe or make an rss feed to be sure not to miss any posts.
My youtube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook page where 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.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons is an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. Shooting and editing a 3 minute video takes about 5 hours. Writing a blog post around 3. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
You are also welcome to make one-off donations on my Ko-fi page.
Follow me on Instagram. I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
Read the new 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.

April 24, 2021September 8, 2022

Happy hands

Lately I have thought a lot about crafting and what it does to people, and for people. A long time ago people crafted out of necessity, to clothe their families and keep them safe. I craft because I want to, but also because my hands and my brain need to. Crafting gives me happy hands, heart and brain. In that sense I craft out of necessity too, but perhaps for different reasons. What would happen if we didn’t craft or didn’t even learn how tho craft?

Last weekend I taught a class in floor supported Navajo style spinning. I am always very excited about teaching live. The anticipation is high – what will I learn from my students this time? My heart sings when I get to take part of a student’s learning process. It sings just as much when I learn about how my students learn, only in a different key.

My spindles take the bus to the spinning class. Floor supported spindles by Björn Peck. — My spindles take the bus to the spinning class. Floor supported spindles by Björn Peck (and one from Roosterick).

A crafting classroom is a beautiful place to be in, both physically and mentally. It is filled with makers and creators. People who learn about a craft and who learn through the craft.

The crafting bubble

A few years ago I attended a crafting leadership course. We met once a month with a new theme and a new craft. Once the theme, the technique and the materials had been presented, total silence spread through the room. Every student was in their craft and in their crafting. I call it the crafting bubble. I am sure you all have been there. When time and space disappears and all focus is on the material in your hands and the process of making.

One of the students is transferring her yarn from the upper to the lower cop. — One of this weekend’s students is transferring the spun yarn from the upper to the lower cop.

The course I taught this weekend was no exception. After every introduction to a new topic or technique all you could hear was the buzz of the spindle tips against the bowls on the floor. It is a comforting silence. The silence of creativity and peace.

A second bubble

While there is a crafting bubble around the person crafting I often experience a second crafting bubble when I teach or otherwise craft with other people. Sooner or later there will be a conversation in the room. I find these conversations gentle and loving. I believe crafting does that to people. Crafting to me is peaceful. It’s like there is a mutual understanding of the good of crafting. The air and the thoughts are safe to breathe. I usually hold the conversations of this second crafting bubble close to my heart. I get to take part in other people’s lives and loves. It is a beautiful place.

One of my students was a total beginner. This was the very first yarn he carded and spun. — One of my students was a total beginner. I don’t think he had never held a spinning tool in his hands before. This was the very first yarn he carded and spun.

Empowerment through crafting

I feel rich when I spin. I can make something useful with my hands. There are so many things we take for granted. Things we can easily buy. But in making things I feel a sense of empowerment – I can make things that are useful. In case of disaster I can clothe my family and keep my loved ones warm. I believe this feeling of empowerment through crafting is a feeling everybody should be able to feel at least once in their life. The feeling of some sort of self sufficiency through their hands, some simple tools and natural materials.

Crafting in school

Crafting, or slöjd, (sloyd, one of the few Swedish loanwords in English) is a subject that was was established in the Swedish school system in 1878 and is still a mandatory subject. Until 1962 girls learned textile crafts and boys wooden crafts, but since then all children learn both soft and hard crafts. The word slöjd actually comes from the word slug, which means sly, skilled or handy. Sloyd is smart. Can someone please print a T-shirt with that sentence?

Distaff pins. Made by my grandfather to his mother Berta and her sister Hildur, probably in the crafting lessons in school, around 1915.

Every now and then debates about the existence of this school subject emerge. Why spend time sewing and carving when you can focus on more important subjects like history or maths? This iss a common argument. But what would happen if we didn’t learn how to make things, how to mend, create or see the potential in a piece of cloth or wood? How would our brains look if we didn’t nurture what I believe is an inherent need to create with our hands? In 2018 a doctor concluded that the medical students’ dexterity in stitching up patients had decreased significantly during the past few years. He believed the reason to be too much swiping and too little fine motor crafting skills. Again, sloyd is smart.

From fluff to stuff

There is something special about following the process from a natural material, through a transformation and all the way to a useful item. The craft in progress, from the roots in the ground underneath a spruce or birch to a finished basket, from the newly shorn wool to a knitted garment (perhaps to put in the basket). To see the change in shape and fashion through your own hands. Watch the pile of shavings below the carving knife grow and a loom bar take shape. To know that I can make that transformation happen right there, in and with my hands. This helps me understand and respect the material and the knowledge of the maker of a hand crafted item.

I find this process especially magical when I use the most simple tools. A spindle to create yarn, a backstrap loom made of hand carved sticks to weave. There is a special kind of closeness to the craft and the crafting when my body is part of the process. The way I control speed and tension of the spindle with my hands and how my body is part of the backstrap loom. It reminds me that the craft and the crafting is within me.

Happy hands

My hands are happy when they craft. My hands are in the craft just as much as the crafting is in my hands. I am in my happy hands. The making in my hands nurture my brain while the brain processes what is happening in the making. From hands to brain and back again. Crafting feels right. I can make things with my hands and I use the knowledge of making for good things.

I can see and feel the trace of the hand in the crafted material, the whisper of the natural material in my hand. A human touch of love in the item made. Crafting hands are happy hands.

Happy spinning!

You can find me in several social media:

This blog is my main channel. This is where I write posts about spinning, but also where I explain a bit more about videos I release. Sometimes I make videos that are on the blog only. Subscribe or make an rss feed to be sure not to miss any posts.
My youtube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook page where 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.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons is an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. Shooting and editing a 3 minute video takes about 5 hours. Writing a blog post around 3. 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 new 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.

January 5, 2019January 30, 2019

Slow

A friend of mine made a big personal change in her life recently. She had decided to listen to her heart and go back to the university for the third time after already having made a big career change once. Someone said to her that it was better to strive inwards than upwards. This sentence stuck to me and it floats around in my heart and reminds me softly every now and then to embrace the superpower of slow.

To get you in the mood for slow I give you a short and sweet video where I show you how I wind a ball of handspun yarn with my thumb.

Share the video and blog post if you like them!

The power of slow

Slow is for me a form of connection to the here and now. In society today, speed is power. There is a vast array of information rushing by every second. I need to sort things out in my brain and figure out what is important to me and what is just a waste of my time and energy.

With technological speed I can reach more people in a shorter time, which is of course of importance in sharing my online work. I rely on this speed. But when we make shortcuts to cut costs and get more done faster, someone else will have to pay for it with their time, work and health. If I want to buy a sweater, somebody must do the work for me. And the cheaper the sweater, the more this someone has to pay. There is a big difference between price (what I pay for a sweater) and cost (what someone else has to pay for me to get a cheap sweater).

I can make my own sweater. Even if I will let someone else take care of the whole sheep part, I usually do know the sheep owner. Once I get my hands on a fleece, I can do all the steps and end up with a sweater. And the process will definitely be slow. If you are a spinner or any other kind of crafter you know this. I have made two videos with the concept of slow in mind: Slow fashion – from sheep to sweater and Slow fashion 2 – from sheep to shawl.

Josefin Waltin spinning on a supporter spindle and wearing a sweater with spinning wheels — A sweater knitted with my handspun yarn. The sweater has the leading role in my video Slow fashion – from sheep to sweater

I have paid for my sweater with my own time, experience, skills and design. By dedicating all this time to the process of making, I will gain so much more than just a sweater.

The power of thought

Being creative allows you to entertain the creative side of your brain. When I spin (or do any kind of craft that I am fairly comfortable with) I also open up the door to creative thinking. Creative making in this sense allows for creative thinking. I can take advantage of this. If I feel a bit dull minded I go to my spinning tool of the day and spin. After a while I enter the crafting bubble. This state of being in the making sends a signal to my synapses to open all the doors to creative thinking. My dull mind becomes sharp and I can solve a problem or give birth to a new baby idea to take care of.

Josefin Waltin spelning on a supported spindle — Creative making and creative thinking

It is like being creative takes me to a place where I can find balance between focus on the process and unrestrained thinking – the crafting flow. It is very much like meditation. I have the same feeling in my body after crafting as I do after meditation – I feel light, empowered and balanced.

The power of touch

When I get my hands on a fleece I get to know it. Through all the steps in the process from fleece to garment every single fiber has gone through my hands numerous times. My hands tune in the channel of the superpowers of this particular fleece. They know the staple length, they know how the crimp behaves, how it drafts and how the yarn should feel when it is just right. My hands enter their own crafting bubble and after a while they just know how to prepare the wool to make the finished yarn show off all the superpowers of the fleece.

Hands feeling a fleece — The power of touch

My hands become an extension of my brain – like antennae – and allow my mind to read and interpret the material I work with.

Respect

Crafting is a sustainable way to use natural materials instead of buying new stuff. You may have heard of the “3 R’s” of waste management – reduce, reuse and recycle. Crafting is a part of this. You reduce the waste by using natural materials, you reuse the material instead of throwing away old stuff and buy new and you recycle by mending broken things.

I would like to add respect to this trio. By getting to know the material I work with I gain a sense of respect for it. I learn about the superpowers of this particular material and what it can give me. In return I handle the material with care and respect and highlight its superpowers in the things I create. You can compare it to gardening. The soil gives nourishment to my crops and I need to give something back to the soil when I harvest to be able to harvest again. By using the natural material to the best of its potential and all that it gives me I respect it.

Recently I have embroidered a lot. There is a slow process for you! But as all crafting it puts me in the crafting bubble and I am in my hands again, happy as a clam. Suddenly I want to save all the abandoned linen floss and embroidery silk in every flea market in all the land and make pretty patterns to save the world.

An embroidery, linen on wool — Slow fireworks embroidered with linen floss found – and saved – at a flea market.

Winding a ball of yarn

The faster things roll in society, the more important slow becomes. By making things slow I make an effort to balancing all the speed around me and hopefully getting some peace of mind in the process. It can be as simple as winding a ball of yarn.

Thumb nostepinne

I do own a ball winder and I use it sometimes. But I prefer using my thumb. Recently all my skeins have turned into pretty thumb wound balls of yarn. It gives me even more time to feel the fiber and once again pay tribute to its superpowers and all that it has given me.

Winding a ball of yarn with your thumb as a nostepinne is slow. Slower than using a nostepinne and definitely slower than a ball winder. But it gives me more time to hang out with the yarn that I have put so much skill, love and care into. I get time to watch the yarn in all its glory and remember the process of making it. And what is another fifteen minutes spent on a ball of yarn that has already taken me hours upon hours to process and spin? I like to think that I owe it to the yarn to spend that extra time and care to make it shine.

The technique

The technique is basically the same as for winding with a nostepinne, but instead of turning the nostepinne you will turn the ball on your thumb.

If you happen to be right-handed, you have the opportunity to learn how to wind with your left hand. You can also translate the image to right-handed in your head. The description in the titles is made to work with any hand. This is how I do it:

If I work from a skein I put it over my knees or the arm rest of my chair and wind from there.
I hold the yarn end in my hand and wind the yarn very loosely around my thumb. You don’t want to stop the blood flow in your thumb and you do want to be able to turn the ball with ease.
I wind diagonally from lower outside of the thumb to the upper inside.
For every round I place the strand of yarn closer to the inside of the thumb.
After a while I can wind a little less loosely.
When the front is full I turn the ball outwards. This way I can keep placing the strand of yarn towards the inside of the thumb again. This is where I would turn the nostepinne if I were using one.

I shot the video on Christmas Day. I generally don’t make outdoor spinning videos in the winter since the lanolin solidifies in the cold. But for winding yarn I don’t need to draft.

A hand wound ball of handspun yarn. A winter city in the background — Let your yarn shine!

The setting is our terrace overlooking Stockholm. In the background you can see Essingeleden, the largest traffic route in Sweden, which is anything but slow.

The yarn I wind in the video is the yarn I spin in my English longdraw video. The mittens featured in the video were knit with my handspun Shetland and Jämtland yarn and I used the pattern Stevenson Gauntlets by Kate Davies.

If you are not already there, try to embrace the rhythm of slow and strive inwards.

Happy ball winding!

You can follow me on several social media:

This blog is my main channel. This is where I write posts about spinning, but also where I explain a bit more about videos I release. Sometimes I make videos that are on the blog only. Subscribe or make an rss feed to be sure not to miss any posts.
My youtube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook page where 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!
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons is an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. The content I create is totally free from advertisement. 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.
In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better posts and videos. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
If you like what I do, please tell all your fiber friends and share these links!

August 25, 2018

I choose to stay on the ground

This is not a spinning video. Rather, is a craftivism project about climate change. In the video I use spinning as a means to reflect over climate change and my own carbon footprint. This is I choose to stay on the ground.

Reduce, reuse recycle and respect

I try to live my life in a way that is as resourceful as possible. Reduce, reuse, recycle and respect are words that influence everything I do. Bike riding, car pooling, growing our own vegetables, eating less meat, cutting down on plastic etc. These are all things that have become a way of living. It doesn’t feel like a sacrifice and I wouldn’t want to go back to the way we lived our lives before.

My husband and I have also decided not to fly. We take the train to visit my family in Austria. Choosing to stay on the ground is an important step we have taken to reduce our family’s carbon footprint.

Spinning and climate change?

Where does spinning fit in and what does it have to do with climate change, you may ask. Well, there are several ways I find that spinning plays a part in my effort to reduce my carbon emissions. First of all, making garments and textiles from wool that I have bought locally and spun myself is an important part of reducing my carbon footprint. This is an important part of my videos, especially the documentary videos like Slow fashion and Slow fashion 2. Spinning your own yarn is in itself sustainable, especially when you use (local) wool that is such a versatile material.

Secondly, the act of spinning also generates feelings of love, mindfulness and kindness. I try to express this in last year’s documentary video For the love of spinning. I like to think that I spread these feelings in my videos. I get lots of comments from my followers about how the videos have helped them find peace and a sense of grounding.

Thirdly, spinning – or any other craft – lets me reflect on a deeper level over what I do and what I experience while I am crafting. These reflections in turn influence what I do and the decisions I make. To remind me of these reflections I have the yarn, with all the gentle thoughts spun right into it.

A craftivist approach

I’m not telling you all this to be a miss goody two-shoes. Climate change is too important to me to care about the appearance of things. The climate can’t wait, we have to make drastic changes in our daily lives, now.

I choose to stay on the ground combines my concern for climate change with the power of spinning, or crafting in general. I have been investigating craftivism and read an excellent book, How to be a craftivist: The art of gentle protest, by Sarah Corbett. The book is a kind of manifesto for a kind of activism that is beautiful, kind and fair in a world we want to make just that – beautiful, kind and fair.

Josefin Waltin reading a book, How to be a craftiest by Sarah Corbett — Reading up on craftivism on the train through Denmark

I do have quite a large group of followers and I’m taking advantage of that when I’m releasing his video. This means that I use you all for spreading a video that has an urgent message.

A call to action

The video is divided into two parts. The first part is my own experience from a three day train journey through Europe to visit family in Austria. I spin and reflect over climate change and why I choose to stay on the ground. The second part is a call to action. I invite you, the viewer, to take part in this craftivist project. I have chosen five questions about climate change that I would like you to reflect over while you craft in public transportation. I also ask you to share your thoughts (and the video!) under the hashtag #crafterthoughts and #ichoosetostayontheground.

Making the video

The scene is a three day train journey from Stockholm, Sweden to Salzburg, Austria. I shot about 150 small clips from the train and narrowed them down to fit in a five minute video.

Josefin Waltin spinning on a city square. — Evening spin in Copenhagen, Denmark

The train ride obviously took a lot of time. Frustrating sometimes, yes, but mostly surprisingly pleasant. We sat together for three days, talking, playing games, reading, napping. Some of us were spinning. Just being in each other’s presence brought us closer together on both physical and mental levels. It felt so good to just be together.

There are no actual shots of my husband and children in the video, but if you look closely, you can see clues of their participation. In the beginning for example you can see them on the station with our suitcases. Also, you can see them on a hiking trip when we have arrived in Austria. And, of course, Dan has helped me with some of the video shooting.

Tools I use in the video:

Supported spindle from Malcolm Fielding
Magnetic spinning bowl from John Rizzi
French spindle from NiddyNoddyUK
Turkish spindle (Lark model) from Jenkins yarn tools

With that said, go and share that video. And happy spinning!

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April 8, 2018July 15, 2020

Distaff carving

A couple of weeks ago I had a distaff carving day!

The lime avenue

We have a beautiful old lime-tree avenue just outside our house. Ever since someone told me that lime is a perfect carving wood I have longed to get out and make distaffs for in-hand spinning. It has been a cold un-spring so far and far too cold to carve outdoors. According to the weather report, it was supposed to be a little less cold a couple of weeks ago. I prepared to get out and saw the branches down on Saturday morning.

Saturday came, and when I peeked out from behind the curtains, it was a sunny day. I was out the door at nine and got some low hanging branches. I had big plans to sit in the March sun and carve, but the sun got shy and hid behind the clouds, resulting in quite a cold carving session.

Three distaffs

I made three distaffs for different purposes – one 30 cm hand distaff, one 100 cm belt distaff and one 120 cm floor distaff. The lengths are just as I want them. The floor distaff may be a bit too short, though. Or perhaps I just have to get used to the floor distaff spinning technique.

Three hand carved distaffs — Distaffs for belt, floor and hand.

The carving was wonderful – the bark just peeled off like butter and it was a very nice feeling to carve in fresh wood from such a soft and carving friendly material. I managed to carve all three distaffs without any personal injuries (I did ruin the first hand distaff, though), just a cut in my thumb nail, you can see it in the featured image. Boy, they are practical. Nails, I mean.

I did nothing fancy, I just followed the shape of the sticks and made a few notches at the top to hold the fiber better. There was a small branch at the bottom end of the hand distaff, which I took advantage of to make a more ergonomic handle.

A hand holding a hand distaff — A branch bump fits perfectly in my hand

I carved and carved, made little embellishments and improved imperfections. I didn’t want to stop carving. Why would you want to let a raw, natural material out of your hand?

Dressed for success

I have dressed the two longer distaffs with Värmland wool and given them a test run. They work very well. I will make another skein of the yarn I made in a winter video of in-hand spinning in medieval style. Blog post about the video here.

A distaff dressed with grey wool — Dressed floor distaff. Wool is from Värmland sheep, spindle from NiddyNoddyUK and whorl from Pallia.

I like that the distaffs are organically shaped and the fact that I have to adapt myself to the natural shape of the distaffs. They feel more alive that way.

Happy crafting!

January 15, 2018January 17, 2018

Crafting leadership course

Since september I have been taking a craft leadership course at Slöjd Stockholm. The overall focus of the course is all kinds of crafting for kids, although my personal focus is spinning courses for intermediate to experienced adults. Each class runs a whole day and during the class we mix theory with practice and discussions. We have crafted with recycled textiles, wire, wool (of course), paper and wood and with techniques such as felting, braiding, bending, printing and carving.

Hopefully the course will help me become a better spinning teacher and give me ideas of new and exciting spinning classes.

A felted sheep head — Of course I had to needle felt a sheep!

Our common love of crafting

The participants have very different backgrounds, everything from DIY-ers to museum educators and archaeologists. But we have our love for crafting in common. And this has turned out to be a very strong trait. We understand each other. We know what it means to give in to the material and the process of making and we respect each other’s artistry and creativity. And most importantly: We all know the power of being in the making.

A cloth bird with colourful embroidery — Homework over the holidays: Make an embroidered cloth bird!

Five minutes after we have started crafting the room is totally quiet, but at the same time full of activity. Everyone is deeply focused on the making. Nobody knows what the others are doing, but we all know that our minds are deeply and joyfully engaged in the crafting process. It is such a bliss to realize that we all share this deep love and respect for the materials and the making.

The beauty of the materials

Today was carving day. We worked with axe, knife and shaving horse. The smell of the fresh wood and the cool feeling against my hands gave me goosebumps. The satisfaction of making a raw piece of wood flat and smooth with the draw knife in the shaving horse really surprised me. And who knew carving with an axe could be so much fun!

A carved insect — We made (sp)insects with the help of knives, drawknives and axes.

The crafting mind

After the course I needed to get some fruit, so I went in to the mall nearby. And I had a massive culture shock. From the crafting room filled with creativity, flow and concentrated joy to bright lights, commercialism and plastic. From sweet music that makes my heart tingle to white noise that gets in the way of my thoughts. I made a mental note about what crafting does for me. Perhaps more people should try it.

I enter the space of making
where the making makes me

(from my spinning video For the love of spinning)