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.<\/p>\n 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 <\/strong>patron<\/strong><\/a> and support my work. This work takes up a lot of my time and I also need to finance editing software and video equipment.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The post with the single most views was, quite surprisingly,\u00a0Willowing wool.<\/a>\u00a0I 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.<\/p>\n The second most viewed post was, even more surprisingly,\u00a0Don’t waste your wool waste.<\/a>\u00a0This 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.<\/p>\n Third in line was Spinning in the 14th century<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n During 2018 I have made four blog series where I have focused on a theme and looked at it from different perspectives:<\/p>\n 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 \u2013 and teach \u2013 spinning.<\/p>\n The series about spinning direction<\/a> 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 \u00a0a cramp in the base of my thumb and I wanted to find out why.<\/p>\n 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<\/em>.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Now I teach spinning direction in spindle spinning in all my classes \u2013 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. \u00a0Both my students and I are much more aware now of how the hands move and work.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The blog series about twined knitting mittens<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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 \u00a0a fabric that is very dense and warm.<\/p>\n To compensate for the twining, you use a yarn that is Z-plied: Spun counter-clockwise and plied clockwise. So I spun a beautiful V\u00e4rmland 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<\/a>. They weigh 60 g each and my heart sings every time I wear them.<\/p>\n The autumn started with a series of processing and spinning flax<\/a>. 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<\/a> 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.\u00a0The 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<\/a> on my lawn, with pictures of the flax straws in different stages of the process.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The cotton blog series<\/a> 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<\/a>\u00a0because of climate reasons \u2013 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<\/a> and spin it with Tahkli<\/a>, Navajo<\/a> and Akha<\/a> spindles.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n In February I launched my Patreon<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n Last June I submitted a proposal to Spin-off magazine. It was accepted, and in March it was published<\/a>. 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 \u2013 from sheep to shawl<\/a>\u00a0(the video was published in August 2017), where I processed and spun yarn for a shawl that I wove on my rigid heddle loom.<\/p>\n I will be writing more articles for spinning magazines.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n I have been planning and working with my online school<\/a> 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<\/a>. Over 120 people have already taken the course. Come to the school and take the course you too!<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n There will be more online courses in 2019!<\/p>\n One of my personal favourite videos in 2018 was the one I shot in Austria about plying on the fly on a Turkish spindle<\/a>. 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.<\/p>\n Another favourite, with some shots from Austria, was my craftivism project I choose to stay on the ground<\/a>. It is a video and a theme that is very important to me: Reducing our carbon footprint by avoiding flying.<\/p>\n A third favourite was the supported spindle video A meditation<\/a> that I shot by a fulling mill<\/a>. A beautiful day with pale September light.<\/p>\n 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!<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Bj\u00f6rn the wood turner<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n If there is anything you would like me to cover in an upcoming post or video, do give me a holler.<\/em><\/p>\n These are some of my favorite sweets in the 2018 candy bowl. I hope you found some favourite sweets as well.<\/p>\n With all my heart I thank you for 2018 and wish you a happy new spinning year 2019!<\/strong><\/p>\n 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 … <\/p>\n![\"Blog](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Sk%C3%A4rmavbild-2018-12-28-kl.-20.00.06.png?resize=525%2C527&ssl=1\")
Popular posts<\/h2>\n
![\"Josefin](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_3039.jpg?resize=525%2C456&ssl=1\")
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Blog series<\/h1>\n
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Spinning direction<\/h2>\n
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Twined knitting mittens<\/h2>\n
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Flax<\/h2>\n
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Cotton<\/h2>\n
New grounds<\/h1>\n
Patron launch<\/h2>\n
Article in Spin-off<\/h2>\n
Business<\/h2>\n
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Teaching<\/h2>\n
Online school<\/h2>\n
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Favourites<\/h1>\n
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![\"Josefin](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Sk%C3%A4rmavbild-2018-08-13-kl.-16.54.39.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1\")
You<\/h1>\n
Plans for 2019<\/h1>\n
![\"Josefin](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/IMG_4420.jpg?resize=525%2C788&ssl=1\")
\nYou can follow me on several social media:<\/h1>\n
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