{"id":7171,"date":"2021-11-13T06:38:22","date_gmt":"2021-11-13T05:38:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/?p=7171"},"modified":"2021-11-13T06:38:23","modified_gmt":"2021-11-13T05:38:23","slug":"course-exchange","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/course-exchange\/","title":{"rendered":"Course exchange"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the early summer my friend Cecilia and I took a course in wild basketry<\/a>. The teacher, Sanna had been following my Instagram for a while and wanted to learn how to spin, so we made a course exchange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We call the course exchange Pinn mot spinn<\/em>, translating roughly to Sticks for spinning. Last weekend we had the second part of the course exchange, when I taught her and her sister-in-law Maria how to spin on a suspended spindle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beginners<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Both Maria and Sanna are complete beginners when it comes to wool handling and spinning. However, both are active in related areas \u2013 Maria is deeply down the knitting rabbit hole and Sanna in basket making with different fiber plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of my courses are outlined with the intermediate to advanced spinner in mind. I love getting access to all the spinning and wool knowledge my students bring to the classroom. Their previous knowledge also makes a common vocabulary possible \u2013 we can talk about wool in terms that are reasonably defined and that we understand. I can bring up spinning topics that the students relate to. However, on almost every course I teach there has been at least one complete beginner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The beginner teacher<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I find it much more difficult to teach beginners \u2013 especially in a mixed class \u2013 and I get the jitters when I realize that one of the students is a beginner. We lack that common spinning vocabulary, I find it hard to find methods to teach from a more general perspective \u2013 I am a true nerd and want to go deep. So I was a bit nervous about this one-day spinning course with beginners. With Maria and Sanna, however, I learned that we do have a common ground. It just doesn’t necessarily have to be in wool or spinning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A common ground<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Every student has a reason for coming to the course \u2013 they don’t just trip over it. Perhaps there is a general interest in crafting, reenactment, mindfulness or downshifting to name a few examples. And it is that reason I need to find out and use as our common ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maria is a dedicated knitter. She knows what she wants in a yarn and a garment and what properties lie in different fibers. I can talk knitting with her \u2013 how she can play with wool preparation and spinning techniques to spin a yarn that suits different knitting projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sanna has her passion in basket making and all plants weaveable. She is also a professional gardener and grows 32 kinds of willow. With her I could find a common ground in the crafting bubble and the importance of getting to know the material through all stages from harvest to finished product. She also wants to learn how to spin nettle and flax fiber. I could talk to her about the differences between protein and cellulose fibers as spinning material. A lovely bonus was that she could name the herb in the wool that I referred to as vegetable matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An advantage of having beginner students on the other hand is that they have little or no preconceptions about spinning. With open eyes they took in what I taught them and were truly amazed by what they could achieve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simple guidelines<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One day for beginners is not much. I wanted them to feel that they could achieve something real and to be able to continue reasonably independently on their own once they got home. Therefore I tried to give them a few simple guidelines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n