Today I have a new post for you on Substack: Hearts of slöjd. I reflect over the kind and heartfilled conversations that emerge among crafters crafting.
”Making in the company of other makers brings something unique to the surface from deep within the heart. The act of making something in a natural material that is both esthetically appealing, sustainably made and useful, is for me a sign of respect to the maker and the made. I believe being in our hands makes us a little humbler, a little kinder and a little more responsive to the world. I know it makes me a better me.”
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.
As I wrote in my previous post I have spent this week at Sätergläntan craft education center, teaching a five-day course where I teach four different spindle types and wool processing by hand. Today I invite you to a sneak peak of the course A spindle a day 3.
Sätergläntan is a place vibrant with crafting hands and crafting hearts. It is such a beautiful environment to be in, where every corner of every room and every mind is sloyd.
80 students were at Sätergläntan this week, learning shrink pots, forging, embroidery on wool, felted images, folk costume dresses, forging and, of course, spindle spinning. All wearing their best visually mended, knit, embroidered and patchworked clothing.
On my way to the train station with four spindle types, wool and tools for twelve students plus my own packing.
There is always some excitement before a course, especially a longer course like this one. What level are the students at? What are their learning styles? How will the group work together? Will I be able to find all the students at their level and their pace?
Beginners
I knew the course was full – twelve students. I haven’t had such a large group before, but with five days together it’s easier to give individual guidance to the students than on a one- or two-day course. Usually my courses are aimed at intermediate to experienced spinners. This one is too, but I open up for beginners too.
As it turned out, most of the students in this course were beginners and some hadn’t ever held a spinning tool in their hands before. This is a big challenge for me since I am used to my students having basic knowledge about wool and some spinning vocabulary. I’m always a little scared to have beginners in my courses because I fear I won’t have the tools to find them at their level. But then again, it’s by practicing I will find and refine my tools. With a class of twelve with lots of beginners and no intermediates I will hopefully get a lot of practice.
I’m demonstrating how I spin on the floor spindle (screen shot from video).
I want to find the students at their level, I want to speak their individual language of learning, catch them there and guide them to their own discoveries. I want them to have their aha-moments, to find the missing link and see, feel and be proud of what they have learned.
Day 1: Wool preparation and suspended spindles
Day 1 was all about wool preparation and suspended spindle spinning. The students have teased, carded and combed and made lots of progress. There has been lots of frustration but also happy cries when the body has understood in practice what the mind has accepted in theory.
Rolag progression!
As a teacher I try to emphasize what they have actually learned when they are frustrated about a step they have trouble taking. I always encourage my students to place their rolags and yarns on the floor in front of them so they can see their progress over time even if they don’t always see it in the moment. And they do see that there is a vast difference between the first and the latest rolag or the first and the latest ball of yarn.
Suspended spindle spinning on day one of A spindle a day.
The twist model
The first thing I talked about before we started spinning on suspended spindles was the twist model. In short, the twist model is about where between no twist at all and very much twist the spinner can find an amount of twist where there is enough twist for the fibers to slide past each other without coming apart. I call this the point of twist engagement.
Finding the point of twist engagement is to me essential to understanding twist and spinning. With the students’ newborn rolags and the twist model in their mind there were some first precious aha-moments in rolag carding, opening up the twist and finding the point of twist engagement.
Switching hands
Another concept I work with already from the beginning with my students is switching hands. I always encourage them to learn to use both hands as spinning hands and both hands as fiber hands. To prevents strained shoulders and to help them understand both hand roles from the perspective of both hands. And they all do it. Not always enthusiastically, but they do it and see the benefits of it.
Check out my free five-day challenge Hands on where I encourage you to switch hands and get acquainted with the roles of the hands.
Day 2: Floor spindle
On day 2 we dived into floor spindles. Here their rolags are really put to the test – spinning on a floor spindle brutally reveals any uneven rolags and the students get an understanding of what in the wool preparation process – teasing, carding or rolag shaping – that needs adjusting.
Floor spindles by Björn Peck.
With the floor spindle we practice longdraws. The long draw a spinner can make on a floor spindle are longer than on a spinning wheel – the yarn can go from the spindle shaft on one side of the body, across the torso and out in the hand of the outstretched arm on the other side of the body.
Lots of aha-moments when we spin on floor spindles.
Students that on the day before have had a hard time finding and working with the point of twist engagement with the suspended spindle have understood it with a lot of joy today with the floor spindle. And who, when, going back to the suspended spindle, suddenly have come past their struggle. This really warms my wooly teaching heart.
Day 3: In-hand spindle
This is the third time I teach the A spindle a day five-day course. I know that the students usually are very tired and sometimes a bit overwhelmed on day 3, which is also the day of the most complicated spindle type: In-hand spindle with a distaff. That in combination with the large proportion of beginners made me a bit nervous. Would I be able to give them the sense of accomplishment?
The students, most of which were beginners when they arrived, work comfortably with the in-hand spindle and distaff.
I didn’t have to worry. They were working very independently by now. They analyzed, experimented and were dedicated to understanding what went wrong and why. And after just an hour or so all of them were spinning with their in-hand spindles and distaffs. I was amazed at all they had learned so far and at how they used their knowledge to understand new tools and techniques. I didn’t even have to tell them to switch hands, they did that automatically.
Day 4: Supported spindle
When I teach supported spindle spinning isolated I usually do it slowly in a step-by-step fashion. In the A spindle a day course though, the students have successively learned all the components of the technique and already know about changing the angle, opening up the twist and working with upper and lower cop. It’s just a matter of getting to know the tool and transfer the technique to a new context.
Björn Peck’s beautiful supported spindles spin like rockets.
This course was no different. Even if they were intimidated by the small motor movement and the speed of the spindles, they quite quickly got the hang of the tool and the technique and spun away happily.
Supported spindle spinning in action and deep concentration.
Narrative spinning
At this stage, on day four, they had got to know each other and we did an exercise I call narrative spinning. This is when they sit in pairs and one students spins and tells the other what is happening in the spinning, why it is happening, what they are doing and why they are doing it. The other student listens and asks constructive questions. By narrating their spinning they put words on what may be difficult to grasp. The one listening gets inspiration from a fellow student. I was given this exercise when I was learning to drive and it always works very well in spinning courses when the students have gotten to know each other a bit.
Evenings
The students line up their precious yarn balls by one of the floor looms.
When class is dismissed for the day the students stay in the classroom and practice and/or prepare for tomorrow’s class. So much happens in these evening sessions. Hearty conversation and usually lots of progress without the teacher bothering them with questions and ideas. I’m usually still in the classroom (blogging), but I try not to bother them.
Day 5: Wool tasting and spinning meditation
Day 5 is only half a day so I don’t introduce a new spindle type this day. Instead I offer them a chance to understand how much they have actually learned, by hosting a wool tasting. In the wool tasting they get to try wool from five different breeds that they haven’t worked with before. On this A spindle a day 3 they got a brown silver medal winning Helsinge wool, chocolate brown alpaca, black Klövsjö wool with subtle silver sparkle, white silver medal winning finull wool and light grey and unusually soft gute wool.
Their task is to, for fifteen minutes per breed, prepare and spin the wool and reflect over the wool, technique and choices they make during the process. After the fifteen minutes have passed they get the next wool. We do this in silence so that they can focus on their process.
Focus is the key word of the wool tasting.
Apart from working with new wools and using what they have learned in the course, they get the chance to, in a short time, make decisions about preparation and technique without over thinking things. The students usually love this exercise and they get to go back home with the form they fill in, showing all they have learned.
Diligent work with the wool tasting form.
The wool tasting is done in silence for 5 x 15 minutes. I love this part of the course, where I can sit and watch the students work – how they make decisions and work with the wool with the tools and techniques they have got acquainted with during the course.
Spinning meditation
The very last thing we did was a spinning meditation. I guide the students through spinning in mindfulness and without prestige. Towards the end of the meditation I encourage them to close their eyes and feel their way in the spinning. And most of them did, surprised at how much they could actually feel in a situation where they usually relied on their vision.
The wool tasting form was their diploma of what they had learned and the spinning meditation an extra treat for them to reflect over and be proud of how much they had learned.
I’m finishing this blog post on the train back home to Stockholm. I’m going home with a lighter suitcase, many insights, and a warm heart, thrilled over what I have learned and of having been able to guide my students down a new rabbit hole. I hope to come back next summer.
Thank you M, L, S, E-B, E, A, C, L, M-L, H and K for letting me guide you through wool, tools and techniques. Thank you for lots of laughs, many insights and sweet conversations. A special thought goes to M who turned ill and couldn’t make it to the course.
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 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.
Tomorrow I am going to Sätergläntan craft education centre to teach a five-day course I call A spindle a day. The course is fully booked and I need to bring four spindle types for twelve students plus tools and wool. On the train. Today’s post is all about course prep.
When I started teaching supported spindle spinning a few years ago I was frustrated by the lack of supported spindles in Sweden and the inconvenience of ordering spindles from overseas. I figured that if my students would have to wait three weeks for a spindle once they came back from the course they would have forgotten all they had learned.
Björn Peck woodworking
My solution was to find a professional wood turner here in Sweden and convince them to make the spindles for me. Lucky for me I found the best one, Björn Peck. Before he would do anything he wanted me to show him how I spin with it. He said that he couldn’t make a tool without knowing how it was supposed to be used. I showed him and explained what features I wished for and why.
He made a few prototypes and just a few months after our first meeting he sent me the premiere batch for a five-day course in supported spindle spinning at Sätergläntan craft education center.
Björn Peck, professional wood turner and spindle maker. Photo by Dan Waltin
This was back in 2018. Since then he has developed his technique after feedback from my students. Today he has eager and happy customers all over the world and makes the most exquisite supported spindles in local Swedish woods. Björn’s spindles are well worth waiting for!
I am so happy and proud of the cooperation I have with Björn. He makes spindles for my courses so that my students can walk home with a high quality spindle made by a professional wood turner and local woods. I listen to my students’ feedback about the spindles and pass it on to Björn, so he can improve them even further. We are both winners in this cooperation. I get happy students who can continue their spinning journey after the class with a professionally made tool. Björn gets his spindles sold to happy customers. There is, however, no money exchanged between us. He does put me first in line though, when I have a course coming up.
Spindle delivery
The other day Björn came by with a fresh batch of supported spindles (and a batch of floor supported spindles). He makes them so well and it’s always a joy and privilege to be able to teach with his spindles.
Björn Peck came by with a batch of fresh supported spindles of exquisite quality.
Björn does his best to make the spindles transportable, especially the floor spindles, which have detachable whorls. But there is still always a risk of causing damage to the spindles during the transport.
Spindle cases
Around the same time as I started my cooperation with Björn I came up with the idea of making spindle cases. Ullkontoret, a Swedish wool washing service, sells needle punch felt by the meter. The felt is made by Swedish wool, mostly Gotland. I saw the potential in the felt and made a prototype of a spindle case that I sold on my in-person courses. Since then I have developed the design to make it more sturdy, practical and easy to make. You can read about one of my first batches here (the link goes to a post from 2019 and the giveaway it refers to is long gone).
Twelve finished spindle cases ready for a spinning course!
The case is lined with eBayed upholstery fabric for some sturdiness and to avoid getting the spinning fiber stuck in the inner walls of the wool material. All the yarn in the seams are my handspun and I have sewn all seams by hand.
Upholstery fabric with decadent flower prints as lining.
In the first batches I made the holding strap and the strap that holds the lid to the case in the same needle punch felt material as the tube, but later I realized the great potential of backstrap woven bands for this purpose instead.
The strap almost finished (left) and finished (right).
I have been sewing the spindle cases in the evenings of the past month or two. I sew them in batches – six lid straps and six holding straps onto the tube rectangle. Six linings onto the inside of the tube rectangle. And so on. They are quite nice to sew, the needle punch felt is warm and cozy in my hands and I enjoy feeling all the wool through the process.
However, sewing them takes a lot of time and therefore I only sell the cases to students at my in-person courses. Giveaways have occurred, though, and may occur again.
Packing
I have sort of a problem at the moment – I need to get four spindle types (suspended, supported, floor supported and in-hand) plus other equipment for twelve people to Sätergläntan by train. I have done it before, only not with twelve students.
The spindle cases will be the perfect nests for the spindles on the journey to Sätergläntan. One spindle case can house two reasonably sized spindles and one puck. Lots of shoe boxes for floor spindle pucks, whorls, cards, combs and other equipment. And thank the goddesses for vacuum bags for wool. All of this will go into a suitcase, my personal stuff in a backpack and the floor spindle shafts will be sleeping cozily in the yoga mat. I may take a taxi to the station.
A rowan Björn Peck supported spindle and bowl. I call it my cow spindle.
The other day I test packed and worked my way through three sizes of suitcases before I found one that would swallow all the equipment.
And oh, I bought myself a spindle from Björn too. A beautiful and unique rowan spindle that reminds me of a cow. I call her Rosa, a common name in Sweden for cows.
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 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.
In the last few days of the year I get a little nostalgic. I browse through the months, looking at all the memories of blogging and youtubing. They are like sparkling candy in a pretty bowl. All different, all sweet and all part of the whole. In this post I look back at 2018 and forward to 2019. Here is 2018 in retrospect!
If you have been following me for a while, this might be a walk down memory lane for you too. If you are new to the blog – welcome – this post will help you can catch up with what happened during 2018.
The stats
During 2018 I have published
66 blog posts
17 public youtube videos
20 blog post specific videos.
That’s more than one post a week and one one video every three weeks. At the end of the summer I decided I wanted to aim at one post a week during the autumn, but I didn’t realize that I had made even more than that in the spring.
The stats
I am very proud of the videos and posts I have published this year. I learn new things all the time and I have sharpened my articles and learned how to analyze and reflect to produce interesting content for you. If you have enjoyed my posts and videos during 2018 and look forward to 2019, do become a patron and support my work. This work takes up a lot of my time and I also need to finance editing software and video equipment.
I love writing the posts and making the videos. When I get home on Friday after a week of work I can’t wait for Saturday morning to publish my next post.
During the year I had most viewers in the U.S, followed by Sweden, U.K. Canada and Germany. Thank you all for following, commenting, asking questions and giving valuable feedback. You help me become a better spinner, blogger, youtuber and teacher and I couldn’t do it without you.
Popular posts
The post with the single most views was, quite surprisingly, Willowing wool. I hadn’t planned it at all, I just thought of it one morning, grabbed a fleece and a couple of sticks and started shooting. And over 2500 people have visited the post and even more people have watched the video. It was great fun to make the video and I am happy to have contributed to sharing this old technique and craft.
Wool is in the air!
The second most viewed post was, even more surprisingly, Don’t waste your wool waste. This post didn’t even have a video attached to it, which makes it even more puzzling. But it was obviously interesting to both the spinning and the gardening community.
Third in line was Spinning in the 14th century and one of my favourite videos this year. I had such a great time with Maria, who provided the costumes and helped me with the shooting. There is a big difference in quality of the video when I have company (My daughter was with me in parts of the willowing video, which is also a favourite) compared to when I do it all myself. You can see and feel the interplay in the video which gives it different dimension than my solo videos. I hope to make more videos like that during 2019.
Preparing for 14th century video shoot. Photo by Dan Waltin.
Blog series
During 2018 I have made four blog series where I have focused on a theme and looked at it from different perspectives:
They have been very popular and I have loved the opportunity to dig deep in a given topic. I have learned a lot from all four of them, but one of them in particular has totally changed the way I look at – and teach – spinning.
Spinning direction
The series about spinning direction started with an injury. I had started to practice spinning with in-hand spindles where you twiddle the spindle in your hand, basically without letting go of the spindle. A short while after I had started practicing this technique, I got a cramp in the base of my thumb and I wanted to find out why.
I talked to a vocational therapist who told me that the muscles used for pulling are twice as many as the muscles used for pushing. Being a leftie, I had been pushing the spindle for a clockwise spin. When I changed hands so that the right hand was pulling the spindle for a clockwise spin, there was no more cramp.
Which is your spinning hand?
This made a huge impact on my own spinning and my teaching. I taught myself to spin with my right hand as spinning hand. It was difficult in the beginning, but with practice I managed to become as skilled with my right hand as I was with my left hand.
Now I teach spinning direction in spindle spinning in all my classes – I encourage them all to learn how to use both of their hands as spinning hands. I want them to have the opportunity to spin and ply with both hands without injuries. Both my students and I are much more aware now of how the hands move and work.
The blog series was a combination of my own reflections about spinning direction, interviews with professionals in physiology and textile history and poll results from the spinning community. It was read and appreciated by many followers. Long after the series was published I have referred spinners to it who have had questions about pain or cramp in their spinning hand when spinning on spindles. And I am happy to help.
Twined knitting mittens
The blog series about twined knitting mittens was born out of the previous blog series about spinning direction. In the series you are invited to follow me on my path from fleece to a finished pair of mittens.
After having started practicing spinning with my right hand as spinning hand I wanted to give something back to my left hand that had been struggling for so long with pushing the spindle. I wanted to spin a yarn counter-clockwise so that my left hand could pull the spindle.
There is an old Swedish technique called twined knitting. You use two strands of yarn and twine them on the wrong side of the fabric. The technique takes very long to knit, but it results in a fabric that is very dense and warm.
The two yarn ends are twined on wrong side of the fabric.
To compensate for the twining, you use a yarn that is Z-plied: Spun counter-clockwise and plied clockwise. So I spun a beautiful Värmland wool on a supported spindle counter-clockwise with my left hand as spinning hand. When the yarn was finished I made a pair of mittens in twined knitting. They weigh 60 g each and my heart sings every time I wear them.
Twined knitting mittens. Photo by Dan Waltin.
Flax
The autumn started with a series of processing and spinning flax. I have a tiny experimental flax patch at home. I started it in 2014 and learn new things about flax processing every year. The series includes a video where I process my flax from the 2017 harvest. I went to Skansen outdoor museum and borrowed their flax processing tools and got a lot of help from the friendly staff. The 2017 harvest was the first one I felt I can actually spin with ( I haven’t yet, though). In the series I also invite the viewer to follow the retting process on my lawn, with pictures of the flax straws in different stages of the process.
The flax fiber is easy to pull off the cellulose core. The retting is finished!
Cotton
The cotton blog series started with a gift. A fellow spinner gave me 130 g of newly harvested cotton from Stockholm. I am very reluctant to buying cotton clothes because of climate reasons – the fashion industry takes up a lot of farming ground for cotton farming. The industry also uses a lot of pesticides that are harmful for biodiversity and the people working in the business. But with small-scale and locally grown cotton I had the opportunity to try a fiber that I hadn’t spun before! In the series I prepare the cotton and spin it with Tahkli, Navajo and Akha spindles.
New grounds
During the year I have investigated grounds that were new to me. It has been a truly wonderful journey, but also required a lot of energy. In the end, I am very proud of what I have achieved.
Patron launch
In February I launched my Patreon site. This is where followers have the opportunity to support my work and get extra Patreon-only benefits like previews of upcoming videos, Q&A:s and their names in the credits of my videos.
Article in Spin-off
Last June I submitted a proposal to Spin-off magazine. It was accepted, and in March it was published. The link goes to a shorter version of the article. If you want to read the whole article you need to buy the magazine. I wrote about the process of the making of the video Slow fashion 2 – from sheep to shawl (the video was published in August 2017), where I processed and spun yarn for a shawl that I wove on my rigid heddle loom.
I will be writing more articles for spinning magazines.
Business
Around the same time, I started my own business. It feels very grown-up and totally terrifying, but it also gives me a boost to ignite my entrepreneurial switch and acknowledge my work as something more than just a hobby.
My wool handling apron with sheep logo. Photo by Dan Waltin.
Teaching
2018 has been the year of teaching for me. I have been teaching supported spindle spinning in different parts of Sweden during the year. Every time I learn something new about teaching, spinning and analyzing, but most of all I have learned to see and listen what the students need and how they are most likely to understand and learn. There is a big difference between conveying a message and for the receiver to actually understand and make use of it. I’m still learning and I jump with joy every time I see a student make progress.
Online school
I have been planning and working with my online school for nearly a year now, and in December I finally launched it. The first course is a free course in How to pick a supported spindle and bowl. Over 120 people have already taken the course. Come to the school and take the course you too!
Supported spindle and bowl by Björn Peck.
I have received a lot of wonderful feedback. Many students have really enjoyed and appreciated the course and given me valuable suggestions for future courses. I am truly thankful for that, it helps me become a better teacher and course creator.
There will be more online courses in 2019!
Favourites
One of my personal favourite videos in 2018 was the one I shot in Austria about plying on the fly on a Turkish spindle. I had such a lovely time standing in the big meadow in the beautiful morning light. And a lot of you enjoyed the video as well.
Plying on the fly on a Turkish spindle in Salzkammergut, Austria.
Another favourite, with some shots from Austria, was my craftivism project I choose to stay on the ground. It is a video and a theme that is very important to me: Reducing our carbon footprint by avoiding flying.
Image from I choose to stay on the ground
A third favourite was the supported spindle video A meditation that I shot by a fulling mill. A beautiful day with pale September light.
You
Even if I have published lots of videos and posts this year I couldn’t have done it without you, my followers and readers. The feedback, inspiration and love I get from you is invaluable. Keep commenting, asking questions and sharing your knowledge. It helps me make better content for you. You are my biggest inspiration!
Plans for 2019
As I write this, it is still winter, which means that I can’t shoot any videos outside. Well, I could, but not with spinning involved, my hands and the fiber won’t work in the cold. I will have to wait until spring to shoot new videos. But I do have a few unedited videos left from 2018, I will publish them until the weather permits new outdoor videos.
I will launch more online courses during the year. Hopefully I will be able to buy a better microphone, so that I can improve the audio quality in upcoming online courses. I will also offer in-person courses around Sweden, perhaps I will see you there.
Björn the wood turner and I talk regularly and we will have a workshop in his workshop (!) in January to look at new models and designs. He will open a web shop soon.
I create my videos out of a special idea I get or if I find a special location I fall in love with. I have a few plans up my sleeve, involving spindles of different kinds. My husband gave me a lightweight tripod for Christmas, so I will be able to get out and about easier. The old one weighs over 2 kg, this one was only 800 g.
If there is anything you would like me to cover in an upcoming post or video, do give me a holler.
These are some of my favorite sweets in the 2018 candy bowl. I hope you found some favourite sweets as well.
With all my heart I thank you for 2018 and wish you a happy new spinning year 2019!
Looking forward to spinning in 2019!
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.
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.
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As I have mentioned before, I am planning to make online spinning courses for those who are too far from me or otherwise can’t make it to my local spinning courses. Online course making is totally new to me and I am reading up a lot, trying, failing and learning from my mistakes. My current experiment in this project is to design a makeshift studio.
Studio for control
To be able to shoot online courses I need a studio. My YouTube videos are all shot outside and without sound. I will not change that, but for online courses I need a place where I can control the audio. And I don’t want to put my home on display.
I have made a portable makeshift studio that consists of a simple backdrop, a tripod and a lavalier microphone. These will be teamed up with fill lights and noise reduction textiles depending on where I set up the studio.
Two possible studio locations
I tried the studio setup in two rooms – the “craft” room (e.g. the rubbish room) and the living room. These have different advantages and disadvantages. The craft room is very small and can be difficult to arrange for different spinning setups. It has only one window and can be a bit dark depending on time of the day and season. I can close the door and record without having to bother my family too much, and they won’t bother me. The sound is quite good in this room. The living room, on the other hand, is big and bright with windows in different directions. The sound is not as good as in the craft room. The living room is also a room where the whole family spends a lot of time and I can basically only shoot there when the family is out of the house.
Video experiment
I made a video with my two locations to see how they work in action. I also wanted to try some editing features. Please give me your feedback! What works and what doesn’t work? What do you want to see more of and what can be improved?
New and the same
Online courses are a new element in what I’m offering my viewers. I invest a lot of time and research in these so I will charge for them, but it will be money well spent.
I’m not comfortable with sharing the content of my upcoming courses on an open blog. However, I will reveal some of my ideas for my patrons on my Patreon page and patrons will get the chance to influence the content.
I will continue with the blog and the YouTube videos just as I have so far and they will always be free. However, these are also products of my time and they don’t produce themselves. Do become a patron if you like what I do.
Spring is taking its sweet time in Sweden this year. We’re almost at spring equinox and it was -8°C when I got up this morning. It does get warmer in the sun and the birds are singing very spring-like, but there is still snow and degrees below zero during a big part of the day. My whole being is waiting for spring to happen. I long to get out and craft. I have videos to shoot, outdoor knitting to be enjoyed, distaffs to carve and a whole allotment to cultivate. But it’s still too cold for the lanolin and my hands and I can’t put seeds in a frozen ground.
So I do what I can.
I make
I’m knitting away on my twined knitting mittens. It is a slow and mindful knitting and I love how the whole range of greys are displayed in the fabric. I had my outdoor knitting premiere the other day (featured image), listening to the birds chirping and the dripping of melting snow from the roofs. It was quite lovely.
I finished spinning a fleece that had been waiting for over 18 months to be spun. It was a soft and beautiful Värmland fleece. But it had quite a lot of second cuts and vegetable matter. It was also very dark and difficult to see when preparing and spinning. All these things made me reluctant to spin the fleece. At the same time I felt guilty about not spinning it. But I finally gathered my energy to do it. It turned out to be quite a nice (wheel) spin, despite the dark colour, and I turned into four skeins of strong and lustrous warp yarn.
The Värmland 2-ply warp yarn, 186 g and 306 m (four skeins), about 1600 m/kg.
I also finished an in-hand spinning yarn, the one I started in this video. It is the same fleece as in the twined knitting mittens, but I used the shorter staples and spun them woolen from hand-carded rolags. It came out quite differently compared to the twined knitting yarn.
2-ply Värmland yarn, 45 g, 105 m, 2300 m/kg. Spun woolen on an in-hand-spindle from hand-carded rolags.
I found my way back to a rigid heddle weave I started before Christmas. It it yet another pillowcase (such a good practice project). This time in 3-shaft. The warp is 2-ply Leicester, worsted spun (wheel) from hand-combed tops and then dyed. The weft is Shetland singles, spun from hand-carded rolags on a Navajo spindle. It was lovely to weave in the spring sun in the kitchen, but I really wanted to be able to weave outdoors.
The beginning of a pillowcase
I plan
I am planning this season’s videos. There are lots of ideas in my head – more in-hand spinning of different kinds and in different environments, perhaps some flax spinning. I have promised a video on how I spin English long draw on a spinning wheel. I am also thinking something towards mindfulness and meditation.
I’m also planning to make online spinning courses. This is a bigger project and it has to take its time to get a good result. A lot of you are far away from me and my local courses and this is a way to solve the distance issue. If you are interested in taking an upcoming online course, please let me know what you would like and how.
There is still time for you to make requests for upcoming videos. What would you like to see learn, explore?
Happy spinning!
Do you like what I do? Then head over to my Patreon page and become a patron. If you become a patron I have lots of exclusive material in store for you. If you don’t I will still continue with the blog and make videos, just as I have before.
This weekend I attended the Swedish fleece and spinning championships at Wålstedts textilverkstad in Dala-Floda. I was there as a visitor, but also as an instructor and a contestant.
Fleece championships
For the fleece championships, sheep owners sent in their best fleeces for judgment. The fleeces were judged by factors as evenness, crimp, fiber thickness, staple length, elasticity’s softness, silkiness etc. There were two basic categories, heritage breeds and crossbred.
Fleeces competing in the Swedish wool championships 2017
Since there were so many fleeces, the jury had made more sub-categories so that the same kind of fleeces competed against each other – Rya, Finweool, Värmland, Crossbred, Gotland/Leicester etc. This competition is a very important part of Swedish wool production. It helps the sheep owners make good choices in breeding when it comes to fleece quality. There was a very high quality in the fleeces and I wanted to dive into all of them.
Wool auction
There were many proud winners and after the prize ceremony the winning fleeces were auctioned. I got my hands on two of my favourite fleeces.
Cuddly Finewool/Rya gold medalist.
The first fleece I bought was a gold medalist in the heritage breed category. It is a beautiful Finewool/Rya ewe mix breed in a beautiful dark grey colour from Boda backe sheep farm. The overall quality the fleece is mainly soft and crimpy Finewool. The softness is very unusual for a ewe, that on top of that was shorn in the spring. The jury’s verdict was: “A very clean, soft and likable spring fleece. Easy to card, airy staple with mostly undercoat. An all-round fleece which is easy to manage and can be used for many purposes.”
Yummy Värmland bronze medalist
My second purchase was a bronze medalist in the heritage Värmland category. A wonderfully soft Värmland lamb fleece from Sussanne Sörensen’s flock in Löberöd. The jury’s verdict was “A beautiful fleece with an interesting colour, long undercoat and soft overcoat and a medieval touch”. The undercoat is 14 cm and the overcoat 22 cm.
The event also hosted the Swedish hand spinning championship, in which I got a bronze medal! More about that in an earlier post.
Some of the competing yarns in the handspinning championships
I also taught a class in supported spindle spinning, which, as always, was a great experience and I got lots of inspiration from it.
On top of it all, my husband and I got a chance to see some beautiful autumn scenery.
Knitting away where Österdal river meets Västerdal river and form the Dal river. Yarn is my handspun from a Grey Trönder fleece.
I just came home from the Wool traveling club‘s 2017 Wool journey. We have had such a wonderful time – Anna, Ellinor, Boel and I. Kristin couldn’t make it this time.
We went to Åsebol sheep farm, one of my favourite places on earth. During our stay we mostly sat by the creek, spinning and knitting. We also sat on the back porch, knitting and spinning. Sometimes we sat in the front porch. Spinning and knitting. Every now and then we went for a walk to see the sheep. Sometimes spinning.
Rule number one on Wool journeys: Do not throw away empty toilet paper rolls! They are needed as bobbins.
We also had three classes. On the first day I taught a class in supported spinning. My students were fast learners and I think they enjoyed the class. We also hired Kia Gabrielsson from Ullsörvis to teach two classes. Kia is Sweden’s only wool classifier and works at a wool station in Gol, Norway.
Wool knowledge
Wool knowledge is essential to a spinner. With knowledge of wool characteristics the spinner will know what to look for in a fleece to match the quality and the purpose of the yarn. Kia unloaded tons of fleeces from her van and provided us with a wool protocol on which to note characteristics of the wool – strength, shine, elasticity, crimp etc.
Protocol for wool assessment
We looked at several fleeces and filled in a wool protocol for each fleece. They were all wonderful fleeces and very different from each other. As a spinner I have endless opportunities to choose a fleece – or parts of a fleece – to suit my preferences, whether I want to make a sheer shawl, a warm sweater, a sturdy rug or something else. As a final exam, we each got to fill in a protocol of a fleece from the sheep farm.
So many wonderful fleeces
Uruahipi or Māori knitting
Kia’s second class was in Māori knitting, or Uruahipi. It is a very basic kind of knitting with minimal processing, which makes a very soft and airy fabric with a life of its own. You start by drafting straight off the staples to get kind of a rough sliver. The next step is to roll the sliver on your lap to make an even roll. After that you knit. This is usually an activity you do together – with the fleece in the middle you draft and roll for each other. Kia told us stories of how the Māori used to knit like this in the 60’s. She worked in New Zealand in the 80’s and saw lots of Uruahipi knitwear and asked around to find out more about the technique. She fell in love with it and, lucky for us, she brought it back to Sweden. It also turned out that the technique has been used in other parts of the world.
Kia drafting for Māori knitting
With the fleece warming our toes and the drafted sliver criss-crossing between us I felt very connected to it all – the wool, the stories and, above all, to Kia and my wool traveling friends.
Entangled in Uruahipi and Kia’s stories
If you know anything more about Māori knitting or Uruahipi (I think it’s also sometimes called Kiwicraft), please let me know! There is also a Swedish Facebook group for Uruahipi.
Uruahipi swatch
After four days of wooly adventures the 2017 wool journey came to an end. We went home and I think we all cherish the memories and long for our next wool journey in 2018.
Since I started spinning, I have taken different spinning classes. But most of them have been on a beginner’s level and there weren’t much to choose from on a more advanced level. And so, the idea of the wool traveling club was born. The idea was to form a club of intermediate to advanced spinners and take courses adapted to the club members’ needs. I invited my spinning friends Anna and Kristin and they in turn invited one spinning friend each. And so, the wool traveling club, Ullreseklubben, was born. The five of us save money individually each month. Once a year we go on a wool journey together.
After having saved the first sum for 18 month, the premiere wool journey went to Shetland wool week. It was an amazing week. While the wool week arrangement with classes, events and wooly mingling was wonderful in every way, the thing that caught me the most was the ever present textile heritage. Every Shetlander knows the textile history of the island, and, especially, the women’s part in providing for the families with spinning, knitting and sheep husbandry.
Bressay lighthouse, Shetland
The second year we were all a little short on clink, so we went to Anna’s country house and paid a visit to Solkustens spinnverkstad, a local spinning mill.
This year we’re going to Åsebol sheep farm and we’re all very very eager to go.
I have told you in previous post about how it all began. This is how it continued.
The last few summers, my family and I have spent a week in the countryside in Austria, hiking and visiting family. Up until then, we had been going by air, but for climate reasons we decided to take the train. My first thought – and I know those of you who are as profoundly nerdy as I am will recognise this – was what craft I would bring on the journey. When flying, I had only brought a nalbinding project. No security check can see any harm in a blunt wooden needle. But 24 hours on trains and stations! The crafting opportunities are almost endless! I had seen Fleegle’s beautiful video where she spins supported, and I decided that’s what I wanted to do. This was in the fall, so there was plenty of time to learn. I bought a spindle from Maine fiber tools and started practising. I usually sat in bed at night just before going to sleep. I badly wanted to learn to master the continuous supported spinning I had seen on the video. And voilá, in February I got it. And I had entered the magical world of supported spinning.
My first supported spindle, wrapped in sweet alpaca.
But I wouldn’t settle for just knowing how to. I wanted to explore supported spindles, see what was out there and what I liked. So I posted a question on Ravelry. I wrote about my upcoming journey and that I was looking for spindles that would suit my needs. I got some answers, but none that I really could do anything with. Someone told me to go to a fiber festival and try some of the spindle makers there. Well, there may be fiber festivals and supported spindle makers in every bush in the U.S. but there aren’t in Sweden. Then I got a personal message. It was from S in the U.S. She said she was willing to send me a few spindles of different kinds. Truth be told, I was a little suspicious at first. I mean, who would just send expensive spindles across the pond to a stranger? But she did. She told me to look upon it as a random act of kindness, and pay it forward.
The package arrived, and when I opened the beautifully wrapped content, I found no less than eight (8) supported spindles, and over 100 g of BFL/silk fiber. That is a true act of kindness.
Some of the spindles in the RAK
The rest of the support spindles in the RAK
I started thinking about how to pay it forward. I wanted other people to be able to try out different kinds of supported spindles and find one that suited them, just as I had wanted. So, I started the travelling spindle library. I kept some of the spindles for myself and added some of my own and some fiber and sent the package to a spinner I didn’t know but who was active on the Swedish spinning Facebook page. The instructions for the travelling spindle library were simple: Try the spindles for as long as you like. Keep the ones you like, add some if you want to and send the parcel to another spinner. And as far as I know, the travelling spindle library is still travelling around in Sweden, looking for new spindle librarians.
What about the train ride? Well, we did go to Austria by train. And I did spin. It was almost a spiritual feeling when I took out the spindle from my backpack and started spinning in my seat. This was the moment I had been preparing for since november! My son filmed the moment, somewhere between Copenhagen and Hamburg. A Neal Brand spindle from the package (see picture above), and a lap bowl from Kerryspindles. BFL/silk fiber from Vinterverkstan.
This was my first supported spinning video, and there have been many since. These, in turn, have led to inquiries about teaching support spinning classes, and so, I am apparently a support spinning teacher. And on the classes, I start by telling the students this story.
