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.
Today I offer you my brand new and free Be Kind five-day challenge. Every day for five days you will receive a theme to explore with the purpose of finding your inner spinning guide and being kind to yourself.
In this practical challenge you will get five text lessons over five days where I encourage you to be kind to yourself while you explore your spinning process. In each lesson I give you a background, an example and a task to work with.
What it’s about
The purpose of the challenge is for you to find ways that work for you, in your context, your skill level and with the tools you have. The goal is to explore your spinning process with an open mind. You can take this challenge at any spinning level. The challenge is just about you and your process.
To take part you need
a spinning project in any stage from raw fleece to yarn.
Around 30 minutes a day to work with the challenge
A clean and dry jam jar
pen and paper.
What you will do
You invest in this course as much or as little as you want to. Through my introduction and examples I encourage you to make your own challenge from the context you are in right now. You are welcome to explore the project you are working on at the moment, through the different themes in the challenge. There is also an opportunity to learn from other spinners who take part in the challenge and to extend the challenge beyond the five days and make a routine of exploring your wool on your terms.
The challenge is in written English, but you are welcome to write your comments in any language you prefer. Most of us can use a translate app to read comments in foreign languages.
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!
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.
I am writing a book! In the later half of 2025 Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for mindful spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
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 love carding and spinning longdraws from carded rolags. I have carded literally thousands of rolags by now and developed a carding technique that suits me. But it hasn’t always been like that – in the beginning my carding was more straining and my rolags more wonky. At one point I watched a video where four spinners showed their personal carding techniques, that were totally different from each other. I picked the parts that suited me and built my own carding routine and it has made my carding smooth and joyful. I hope this short lecture can help as a guide for you to find a carding style that suits you, your tools and your context.
Course outline
The course is 40 minutes and divided into four shorter videos so you can watch smaller portions at a time. The video is in spoken English and all videos are captioned in English. I have added on-screen keywords for important concepts. The keywords also make it easier to scroll throug the videos if you are looking for something special.
I go through why I card, what types of wool I card and how I card. I have divided the carding process into three steps:
dress and frame
structure and transfer
lift and shape.
Card your wool is available at my online spinning school now (this is a screenshot).
There is also a trouble shooting section where I explain the most common setbacks I have experienced both myself and as a teacher through all the courses I have taught. In the comments section I welcome you to reflect and ask questions.
More courses
You can find more courses, challenges and short lectures in my online school. Two of the short lectures already published, on picking the fleece and teasing the wool, are essential to the carding process and I highly recommend them as preparation for carding.
Happy carding!
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!
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.
I am writing a book! In the later half of 2025 Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for mindful spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
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’m releasing a new online course: Tease your wool – invite air before carding. It is part of my series of short (30 minute) lectures.
In the lecture I talk about the benefits of teasing the wool before carding and show you how I tease with different tools. I also demonstrate the difference between carding teased and unteased wool.
I like to compare wool preparation to sanding a piece of rough wood. I wouldn’t start smoothing the surface down with the finest grain sandpaper. That would be straining on me and on the wood and would leave a lot of waste. Instead I would start with a rough grain sandpaper and go down a couple of sizes. I see teasing as the medium grain sand paper, after picking and before carding.
Rolag carded from unteased wool to the left and from teased wool to the right. The difference is remarkable.
Teasing is such an easy but powerful way to open up the fibers before carding. It makes carding easier on your body and on the fibers and will result in more even rolags and yarn. It also gives me more time with the wool, getting to know its characteristics and how it behaves.
The course page of Tease your wool.
When I open up the wool by teasing, air comes in between the fibers and allows vegetation matter to fall out or makes it more accessible for me to pick it out manually. Most teasing methods also removes the shortest fibers from the wool, resulting in a higher quality in the teased preparation.
Teasing with different tools
In the lecture I show you how I tease with different tools, some of which you will have at home, others you may have or can borrow, but you won’t have to buy anything to tease your wool if you don’t want to. I show how I tease with my hands, with a hand card, a flicker and mini combs. They all work well for most types of wool. In the video I also talk about when I choose one tool over the other.
Teasing by hand can be very meditative and is a great way to get to know the wool.
Joyful
I also talk about the joy of preparing my wool with the right tools and the right techniques. I have met so many spinners who have given up on hand-carding because it’s tedious or straining. I need all the steps from raw fleece to a finished yarn or textile to be joyful, to give me that feeling of flow and ease. With picking and teasing, the fibers are gradually opened before carding, making all the steps joyful and light.
You can read more about teasing here and see some examples here.
This blog is my main channel. This is where I write weekly posts, mainly about spinning. So subscribe!
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.
I am writing a book! In the later half of 2025 Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for mindful spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
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 have been planning for this course for a few years now and this August I finally started recording the videos. October and November were the months of editing and in December I have put the course together on my course platform.
Every now and then perple have asked me to create an online course for beginners. I have been a bit scared of it, though. There is so much responsibility with beginners and I haven’t been sure I am the right person to do it. But then, last year a friend of mine asked me if I could create an online course in suspended spindle spinning for beginners in Swedish, and I did, and it was a success. And so, this new course, in English and with English captions, is based on that course in Swedish, with a couple of additions based on questions I got from the Swedish course.
Picking, teasing and carding the wool to prepare for spinning.
Even if I still feel like a beginner at teaching beginners, I decided that this is the time and I am so happy to be able to publish this course.
Onlinekursen på svenska lanserades hösten 2022 och fanns tillgänglig under ett år. Är du intresserad av att kursen ges igen, hör av dig till Ullförmedlingen.
What you need
To take Spindle spinning for beginners you only need four things – a suspended spindle, a pair of hand cards, wool and time. Even if spinning may develop into a material sport over time for some people, a beginner’s course should be accessible with as few tools as possible. I do however show a couple of techniques with other tools as bonus and inspiration, but they are not necessary.
What you will learn
The course is about creating yarn on a suspended spindle, not just spinning it. This means that I go through all the steps of preparation – picking, teasing (with four different techniques) and carding. Then we move on to spinning, both with a park and draft method to keep the sequence linear, and then unparked for those who are ready to spin, draft and keep control over the spindle simultaneously. We transfer the singles to prepare for plying, ply them into a 2-ply yarn, make a skein, soak and finish. If you want to work with washed wool you need to was your wool beforehand, the course doesn’t cover washing.
We also look at drafting theory, spindle models, trouble shooting and spinning with both left and right hand as spindle hand. All through the course we look at how to work in a way that is sustainable to you.
Who can take the course?
Anyone can take this course. You may be a total beginner in spinning. Perhaps you learned decades ago but haven‘t practiced since then. Perhaps you have sheep and want to learn how to spin their wool. Or perhaps you spin on a spinning wheel and you want to learn how to spin on a suspended spindle. Do spread the word to friends who want to learn or who you secretly want to want to learn. Either way you are very welcome to the classroom!
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.
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 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 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.
I am writing a book! In the later half of 2025 Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for mindful spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
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.
It’s that time of the year when I create a five-day challenge. This time I invite you to flow. In the Flow challenge you ge the opportunity to just be in the spinning without expectations.
I have been thinking a long time about what my next five-day challenge should be. The first two have been very popular (nearly 1200 people have enrolled) and I have learned so much from your comments and questions. Even if they both have had elements of exploration and play, there has been a technical side to them too. The Flow challenge is all about your own process, and about letting it be what it is, right now, today.
A flow retreat
A challenge seems too rushed a word, but I still call it that as it is part of a tradition of annual five-day challenges. Feel free to look upon it as more of a retreat, though, with an invitation each day for five days. A journey inward, where you get to discover your relationship with fiber, preparation and spinning.
A goal and an un-goal
The purpose of the challenge is for you to explore your relationship with the wool and the process. The goal is an un-goal – to strive inwards and detach yourself from expectations and results.
In the Flow challenge we explore our process.
You will get five text lessons over five days. Each lessons has a theme where I encourage you to strive inward and spin for the moment. In each lesson you will also get a task to work with at your skill level.
All lessons have a background, an example and an invitation. In some lessons I also give you links to further reading or things you can prepare for the next lesson, should you wish to. You decide how much you want to do and how much time you want to spend on each lesson, or invitation. The important thing is that you do this for yourself and no one else.
Requirements and material
You can take the challenge at any spinning level. This challenge is just about you and your process. To take part you will need
My spinning space.
a spinning tool of your choice – spindles, spinning wheel or e-spinner
wool preparation tool(s) of your choice – combs, cards, flicker.
(part of) a fleece, washed or unwashed
15–30 minutes a day to work with the challenge
A space where you can work reasonably undisturbed
If you wish, pen and paper to take notes of your findings.
You are free to work with the lesson whenever you like and for as long as you like.
Your time, your space
The time and space you prepare is yours with yourself and with the wool. Give yourself time to be in the wool, to be in your hands and allow the wool to guide you. Give the time and the space as a gift to yourself and as a thank you to the wool for all it has to teach you.
Spend some time with your process.
I hope you enjoy the Flow challenge and that you learn something from exploring your process.
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.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to missanything!
I have a facebook pagewhere I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my 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.
Today I present to you a new online course: The Twist Model – moving between spun and undspun with ease and quality. It’s a 25 minute lecture in four sections.
I’m equally nervous and excited about this lecture. I have been thinking about creating short lectures on my online school, on different topics. This is my first try.
Promo video for a new online course: The Twist Model.
“That was the best 25 minutes I’ve had in a long time! The lightbulb went on! This video is a game changer for me.”
Wendy C, Canada
A nifty method for any spinner
One of the most important techniques I teach my students – beginners and advanced alike – is to open up the twist to allow the fibers to glide past each other without coming apart. In this semi-stable section, between unstable fiber and stable yarn, the fibers are able to move and the spinner can draft with ease.
It all starts with fiber.
Often I see students pull the yarn as they spin and glide with their hands along the yarn. This creates strain in the body and often felts the yarn. I have seen many spinners with a sweaty felted wool mass in their hands after having spun for a while.
By opening up the twist the spinner will be able to draft using only the tension between the hands. Even if a beginner might not find the sweet spot where the fibers can glide past each other without coming apart straight away, once they do it’s usually a big aha moment and a new understanding of the spinning process. The sweaty felted wool mass is no more.
The Twist Model
In this short lecture I talk about the Twist Model and what happens between spun and unspun and the point right in between. I also talk about what we can do with this section of the yarn to have less strain on the body, less strain on the fiber, to get a more evenly spun yarn and to be able to listen to the wool.
The Twist model is a theoretical framework that can help you spin with ease and quality.
In the course I start with the very basics of fiber and yarn. I move on to explaining the Twist Model and show examples with different spinning tools. In the last part of the lecture I talk about how opening up the twist can help you listen to the wool.
What do I need?
This video is for any spinner – beginner and advanced alike – who wants to explore ways to work with the wool and its individual characteristics. The Twist Model works with any spinning tool. Try it with any spindle or wheel you like. The video is captioned in English.
You can use the Twist Model with any spinning tool.
If you have suggestions or wishes for future topics on short lectures, please let me know!
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.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to missanything!
I have a facebook pagewhere I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my 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.
Today I give you the Hands-on five-day challenge! If you accept the challenge you will be able to explore the roles of your hands in spinning by switching them. You will give yourself the opportunity to explore and get a deeper understanding of both your hands as spinning hand and as fiber hand.
In last week’s blog post I switched hands in wheel spinning and spent a lot of time reflecting over the roles of the hands as spinning hands and fiber hands and what happened when I switched. I needed to switch due to a sore thumb in this case. But in all my spindle spinning classes I encourage my students to switch hands for reasons of ergonomics. Either way, switching hands made me reflect and look at my hand roles in a new light. It also gave me a new understanding of what they actually do and potentially can do.
Switching hand roles can give you a deeper understanding of what the spinning hand and fiber hand actually do.
A spark
I was quite caught up in this switching hands adventure. To get an understanding of other spinners’ experiences I wrote a short post in a spinning forum about my new adventure and asked if the members switch hands in their spinning. I got a lot of interesting responses – some did switch regularly, some found it scary but wanted to try and some dismissed the idea. It was one response in particular though, that caught my interest and sparked this whole challenge. J replied and wrote about how she switched. She ended her reply with: “Great challenge!”. And then I realized that I should indeed turn it into a challenge. So I did.
Many of you, over 700 people, have taken my previous challenge, Fleece through the senses and there are over 1000 (!) comments in the challenge. This collection of comments, reflections and insights is so valuable. To me as a course creator and spinning teacher, but especially for us all as spinners and spinning students. There are so many things we can learn from each other!
Hands-on five-day challenge
So, this is how it works: This is a practical challenge where you will get five text lessons over five days. Each lessons has a theme where I encourage you to explore the roles of your hands by switching them. In each lesson you will also get a practice to work with. The challenge is in written English but if you feel more comfortable writing your comments in another language you are welcome to do so.
The purpose of the course is for you to explore the roles of the hands in spinning. The goal is to to get a deeper understanding of both your hands as spinning hand and fiber hand.
A glimpse of the Hands-on five-day challenge (this is a screen shot and not clickable)
Each day of the challenge the lesson will be available at the course page at midnight UTC. If you enroll in the course after that you will get access to the lesson the next day. 15 hours after the lesson has become available you will get an email about it. You are free to work with the lesson whenever you like and for as long as you like.
You can take this challenge at any spinning level. It might even be more challenging for an experienced spinner than for a beginner. To take part in the challenge you will need a spinning tool of your choice – spindles, spinning wheel or e-spinner – and prepared fiber anyway you like it. If you work with spindles it may be a good idea to work with two spindles of the same kind. You will need around 15–30 minutes a day to work with it. You also need pen and paper to take notes of your findings.
A student teacher
This challenge came about through my own learning process as a spinning student. Throughout the challenge I give examples of how I have practiced and learned from my hand switching experiments.
I made a preview release this week for my patrons. One of the first patrons to accept and enroll in the challenge was a bit hesitant to be the first to comment on Day 1 of the challenge, but she did after a while. When she wrote her comment I realized that she was totally right and I enrolled in the challenge myself and added my reflections in the comments. Thank you G for pointing this out to me. You will not be the first to comment now!
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.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from mypatrons 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
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.
Last week I looked back on what happened during 2020. This week I make plans and dreams for this year – teaching, writing and creating. As well as a heads up for you on what I plan to make happen I see this post as sort of a business plan for myself. Once I publish this I can’t go back, right? This is what’s coming up in 2021.
A lot of things are still uncertain when it comes to Covid. Therefore many things are uncertain for me, just as it is everywhere else in the world. But that won’t stop me from dreaming and making plans.
Writing
My plan is to keep the blog as I have so far, with a weekly post. There may be an occasional article coming up in spinning magazines too. Sara Wolf’s book Knit (spin) Sweden (where I am a co-writer) is at the printer’s as we speak but has got stuck there due to, again, Covid. I think that the first copies are being distributed to the people who have signed up for preorders, though. As soon as the printed book is in Sara’s hands the work with the translation to Swedish will begin. Yay!
I also want to explore my writing. I have always loved writing – crafting the sentences, dressing feelings and observations in well chosen words and phrases. finding a balance between lyric-like interpretations and clear, concise descriptions. Giving birth to a new piece that will make its way into the world and become a part of the readers’ lives. But I have never studied writing or taken any writing courses. This is something that I am curious about and a rabbit hole I am eager to fall into. Who knows where it may take me?
Teaching, coaching and lectures
As I told you last week quite a few courses and events got cancelled in 2020. There will be a risk of cancellations this year too. I have a coupe of weekend courses planned in April, one of which is already on my course page. As we speak I am also preparing for a zoom lecture in March.
In the spring of 2020 I taught a zoom course in weaving with rya knots for a guild and I will be teaching a course series on zoom for this guild in the beginning of the year. I’m really looking forward to this series as it is a new course that I will get the chance to explore.
Coming up: A fleece course at Sätergläntan craft education center.
If all goes well I will teach at Sätergläntan craft education center in the end of June. The five-day course is quite similar to my online course Know your fleece. The students bring their own fleece to the course and we go through different tools to investigate and explore the fleece. I really look forward to this opportunity and hope to learn a lot.
Coming up: 1:1 video coaching sessions!
Coming up: Coaching
I am also preparing for 1:1 video coaching sessions. This is a totally new field for me and I am very excited to start this adventure. I have no public page for this yet, but if you are interested, just contact me and I will fill you in with the details. The coaching session will only take place if I think I can help you. Therefore you will need to fill in a questionnaire before any money is transferred.
Online course(s) and webinars
I do have several ideas of online courses. Some of them are more technical and others have more of a mindful focus. I hope to make at least one of them happen during 2021.
Coming up with ideas is no problem. Getting started can take a while. Once I have started things can move pretty fast and soaked in a creative flow. The finishing takes a lot longer than I think and is packed with procrastination. Once I have launched I get steam rolled by a heavy attack of imposter syndrome. But it is all part of a process I need to get through to get a course out to you.
Anything can happen on a live webinar! It can be scary, but also exciting since everything else I do is so edited. Webinars are live, unedited and refreshing!
I love live streaming webinars for you. In the practical and theoretical research I do to prepare for them I learn so much, as well as from your questions. The next sheep breed for an upcoming breed study webinar is already in my mind. I hope you haven’t gone tired of Swedish sheep breeds. There are lots left to cover!
If you are interested in a zoom lecture or custom made course for your spinning group or guild you are more than welcome to contact me. And of course my online school is always available for you with both paid and free online courses.
Spinning and making
A lot of spinning, weaving and knitting projects are waiting for my attention. I always have a plan to work on the oldest first, but then an idea comes and bothers me until I give that my attention and my structure has been wrecked. A loom warped with Gute yarn is under our bed, a sock yarn is on the spinning wheel, lots of fleeces in the sofa bed and plans and dreams in my mind.
I have a queue of spinning, weaving and knitting projects to learn from.
I have no concrete plans for YouTube videos, but they usually come to me in the moment or through your questions. So I have no doubt there will be more videos this year! In the mean time there are lots of older videos on my channel, feel free to check them out.
Balance
To maintain some sort of balance with a full time job, a family, a business and time to breathe I need some sort of structure and tools. I have made lots of changes in my life recently and found routines that give me a lot of energy and peace of mind. Yoga and meditation are vital parts of my morning and evening routines. My daily dip in the lake gives me a rush that stays with me for hours and I can’t wait for my next bath. In fact, I’m going there as soon as I publish this post.
I also look forward to conversations with you, I learn so much from these. Your feedback, dedication and participation makes my work possible. So thank you, stay in touch!
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.
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.
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.
This is it! I have pushed the publish button. Drum rolls and fanfares – My new online course Know your fleece has officially launched! Make sure you enroll in tonight’s free webinar The Hand spinner’s advantage to get access to special course offers!
After a lot of hard work and a long launch period it is finally Launch Day. I wanted to make a course in wool knowledge that takes its starting point in the characteristics of the fleece you have in front of you. A breed can have typical breed characteristics, but it is the fleece you have that you will work with and get to know.
In this course you work with a fleece that you have chosen. With the help of inspirational video material and structured assignments you will explore, analyze, empower, plan and experiment with your fleece to get to know it. You work with your fleece, at your skill level, with the tools you have access to and as extensively as you like. I provide inspiration, my experience, my perspective on wool and a structure to work within.
When you have finished the course you will feel more confident in handling raw fleece and planning the process from fleece to textile. You will know how your fleece feels, behaves and how it wants to be spun.
A glimpse of the course curriculum of the new online course Know your fleece (the image is a screen shot from the course curriculum page).
Five sheep breeds
Through the course you will get to know five Swedish sheep breeds – Gotland sheep, Gute sheep, Klövsjö sheep, Helsinge sheep and Dalapäls sheep. Three of these breeds are presented as webinars that I have streamed during the past couple of years. You may have seen them, but for the course I have edited them and added pictures, keywords and captions. For the two remaining breeds I have made new videos where I present how I prepare, spin and use them.
In one of the sheep breed videos I present Helsinge sheep and look for the main characteristics of the fleece I got (the image is a screen shot of the video).
Championships tour
I will also take you on a tour of the Swedish fleece championships of 2019 together with my spinning friend Anna Lindemark. We go through the fleeces in the championships, category by category, and look at what is unique to the breeds and to the individual fleeces.
My spinning friend Anna Lindemark and I invite you to a tour of the Swedish fleece championships of 2019 (the images are screenshots from the video).
A visit to a shepherdess
Another friend of mine is shepherdessand spinner Lena Hansjons. She has a flock of Dalapäls sheep and in one of the inspirational videos of the course I visit her while she shears her sheep and talk about the endangered Dalapäls breed.
I visit my spinning friend and shepherdess Lena Hansjons when she shears her Dalapäls sheep (the images are screen shots from the video).
Dalapäls sheep are also presented in one of the breed study webinars that is included in the inspirational material.
Know your fleece: Course outline
The course is organized in five themed modules which include the inspirational videos. Each module also presents an assignment you will work on with your fleece and document. When the course is over you will have produced a wool board with samples and swatches to use as a guide for when you process and spin the rest of the fleece.
When you sign up for the course you will get
over 5 hours of video material
presentations of five Swedish sheep breeds
a tour of the Swedish fleece championships
a visit to a shepherdess
a pdf ebook of the course
checklists for each assignment
a list of the tools I use
useful links to further reading.
The videos (except the visit to the shepherdess) are in English. All the videos are fully captioned in English.
Requirements and material
To take this course you need to be comfortable spinning yarn and you need basic knowledge of wool preparation. When it comes to material you need
a washed fleece*
tools for wool processing
knitting needles
notepad
time.
*it is up to you if you want to work with washed or unwashed fleece, but I don’t provide washing instructions in the course
This is not a course in spinning or wool preparation, it is about wool knowledge and with your fleece as a case study. You work with your fleece, at your level and with the tools you have. The work and time you invest in exploring your fleece now will bring you closer to the essence of your fleece and to making it shine.
Should I buy the course?
Buying a course is an investment. Many students of my free five-day challenge Fleece through the senses have expressed a feeling of transformation in how they look at fleece after having taken on the challenge. I hope this course will do the same for you if you buy it.
I have tried to describe the course as extensively as possible. To help you decide I have made several things available for you:
The course page provides information about the course. You can also see the themes and headers of the lectures in the course.
The course promo is available on the course page. In the promo I show you glimpses of the video material and talk about the content, purpose and goal of the course.
The introductory video of the course is available as a preview before you buy the course.
The introductory video of the course Know your fleece is available as a free preview (the image is a screenshot of the video).
Webinar: The hand spinner’s advantage
(the webinar has already taken place)
Another way to help you decide about buying the course or not is tonight’s webinar The Hand spinner’s advantage. I will stream it live today Saturday, September 19th at 5 pm CET (world clock here). In the webinar I will talk about
what a fleece can teach us
how we as hand spinners can make the superpowers of a fleece shine
a mindful approach to working with fleece.
In the webinar I will also talk about the online course Know your fleece. Towards the end of the webinar I have made special course offers for you that you don’t want to miss. The offers are time-limited.
Two yarns in ten different colours. As a hand spinner I have the advantage to make the most of the fleece I work with. I will talk about this in the webinar The Hand spinner’s advantage.
The webinar has already taken place
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.
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.
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.
