{"id":8939,"date":"2022-12-24T08:11:26","date_gmt":"2022-12-24T07:11:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/?p=8939"},"modified":"2022-12-24T08:11:28","modified_gmt":"2022-12-24T07:11:28","slug":"looking-back-at-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/looking-back-at-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking back at 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It’s that time again, when I look back at the year gone by and summarize my blog posts. Whether you are new to the blog or have followed me for a while, this is your chance for an overview, looking back at 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Come join the 2022 blog post ride! I have divided the posts into categories for easier browsing. Read them all or pick your favorite categories, there should be something for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preparing and spinning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Have you missed my breed study webinars? Well, I did, but there was only time for one this year. I hope to invite you to more in 2023. The breed this time was not Swedish, but as close as you get, the beautiful \u00c5land wool<\/a> \u2013 long, silky and full of contrasts. \u00c5land wool is, just like many of the Swedish heritage breeds a dual coat<\/a> and I wrote a post about that too. To stay with the eastbound theme I also demonstrated and reviewed my new Finnish hand cards<\/a> \u2013 108 tpi and with leather pads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Finnish hand cards and eight different yarns from \u00c5land wool.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Teasing<\/a> and picking<\/a> are steps I don’t want to be without when I prepare a fleece. As I wrote the post on picking my husband asked me what steps I may skip, what I never skip and why. So I write a post on Cutting corners<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Picking, teasing and Austen.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A few years ago I got the opportunity to spin on and shoot a video of a great wheel at Vallby open air museum. This year I was invited back to spin in public on the same wheel. Of course I wrote a blog post about spinning on the great wheel<\/a> too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I’m spinning on the great wheel at Vallby open air museum.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes when I go on an excursion in a fleece I make a wool board<\/a> to put down my discoveries and ideas on paper. Perhaps you get inspiration to make one too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Projects<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

During the year I have finished lots of smaller projects and a couple of big ones. I finished the first project of the year with perfect timing in early January \u2013 a pair of Moroccan snow shoveling pants<\/a> that I wear when I go down to the lake for my daily dip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo by Dan Waltin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photo by Isak Waltin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
A rya bench pad, an Icelandic style sweater and a pair of snow shoveling pants.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When I had finished them I started another large project \u2013 a rya bench pad<\/a> for my husband’s birthday. I also managed to produce an Icelandic style sweater<\/a>. Before that I wrote a love letter<\/a> to the Icelandic fleece I used for the yarn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Swim cap, little bands and a shawl pattern.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I had an urge to weave little bands<\/a> for a while, from both handspun and commercial yarns, and managed to squeeze in some soothing nalbinding<\/a> that later turned into an embroidered swim cap<\/a>. In the spring I wrote about how I use singles yarns<\/a> and published a shawl pattern<\/a> in Spin-Off magazine<\/a> where I use singles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pockets!<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

During the spring I got a sudden urge to make tie-on pockets. One pocket led to another and suddenly I had made four. The first one was made from two eBayed linen towels<\/a> with an amoeba shaped pattern in couching stitch. The second was also in linen, but made from a 60’s evening clutch<\/a>, and I made the third from a vintage Harris Tweed jacket<\/a>. The fourth didn’t involve any recycling at all. I used p\u00e5s\u00f6m embroidery<\/a> on broadcloth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Three out of four pockets \u2013 linen (made from an evening clutch from the -60’s), p\u00e5s\u00f6m embroidery and tweed (made on the bias from a Harris tweed jacket).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Teaching and learning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A few times a year I teach spinning courses here in Sweden. Preparing for<\/a> and teaching a five-day course at S\u00e4tergl\u00e4ntan<\/a> has become a sweet tradition in the summer. In the autumn<\/a> I taught another course in a beautiful setting. One thing that is important to me is to find every student’s way of learning and to see them make progress. In this search of people’s learning process I learn so much myself and I am truly grateful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A new spindle delivery from Bj\u00f6rn Peck just in time for my five-day course A spindle a day at S\u00e4tergl\u00e4ntan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

My main teacher, alongside with my students, is the wool. It is by listening to the wool<\/a> and hearing its response that I learn and understand how it is constructed and how I can work with it and not against it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On the 2022 wool journey we learned about p\u00e5s\u00f6m embroidery.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I try to take a course myself every now and then too. This year’s wool journey<\/a> with my wool traveling club was a sweet September weekend with p\u00e5s\u00f6m embroidery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Twist model online course, the \u00c5land wool webinar and the Hands-on five-day challenge.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Online I recently released a lecture, the Twist Model <\/a>where I give you a tool and a theoretical framework about how to work between spun and unspun with ease and quality. Take it if you haven’t already! The \u00c5land wool breed study webinar<\/a> of course. In the beginning of the year I had a sore thumb<\/a> from spinning, which resulted in the Hands-on five-day challenge.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Knit (spin) Sweden! Second edition.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And oh, Sara Wolf released the second edition<\/a> of Knit (spin) Sweden!<\/a> where I am a co-author.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flax<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Summer is my flax season. This is when I bring my spinning wheel out on the terrace and spin my daily flax<\/a> in the shadow on warm days. I wrote about having a temporary flax brain<\/a>, about my flax harvest<\/a>, about a custom made scutching knife<\/a> and my retting<\/a> process. I wrote an interpretation of Sleeping beauty, that I call the flax princesses<\/a> and released a video where I show how I rehackl<\/a>e old flax. As a sidetrack I also played with harvesting, processing and spinning Nettle<\/a>s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A band woven with my nettle yarn, spinning flax on my sweet wheel Henrietta and harvesting this year’s flax. The harvesting picture resulted in someone making a necklace with the pattern from the flax bundles. And I bought the necklace.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Spin where you are<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In Ground and explore<\/a> and Spin where you are<\/a> I invite you to explore from the place in spinning you are at right now, both when it comes to your skill level and spinning shape at this moment. In I am a spinner<\/a> I explore back in time to the place where I went from knowing how to spin to being a spinner. I was surprised to actually find a specific moment in time when this happened. I cherish the memory of a moment of the opening up of doors, just as I cherish the memory of the moment when I cracked the reading code (a 10 x 10 cm booklet about a hedgehog flying a red air balloon) when I was around five or six.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ground and explore<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This and that<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Well, I tried, but not all the posts got a natural spot in the categories I chose for this looking back at 2022 post. But don’t worry, they will get their own category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I read, I mend and I carve nalbinding needles.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

All posts on the blog aren’t about wool and spinning. I managed to Mend a pair of jeans hems<\/a>, exploring techniques I hadn’t used much before. In sloyd<\/a> I explore different materials and techniques and show you how I carve nalbinding needles. Finally, I give you some tips of sweet books<\/a> I recommend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Reciprocity<\/a> I reflect over all the gifts I get and cherish when I spin. In an effort to pay both back and forward I write<\/a> to show my gratitude for all I learn and receive from spinning. Another way to pay forward was the Auction for Ukraine<\/a> I held in March. Together we donated $450 to UNHCR for Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I write.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

All in all I have written 52 blog post (including next week’s) in 2022. I have also made one five-day challenge<\/a>, one breed study webinar<\/a> one YouTube video<\/a> and one course<\/a>. If you are a patron I have sent you 12 video postcards during the year. If you are not a patron yet you are more than welcome to become one<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coming up in 2023<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I do have plans for 2023 too. The past two years I have released a free five-day challenge. There might be one in 2023 too. Perhaps a new short lecture, in the same style as the Twist Model.<\/a> There are still spots left on my five-day course A spindle a day<\/a> at S\u00e4tergl\u00e4ntan in June. Weekly blog posts of course, breed study webinars and some sweet, sweet spinning. I hope to see you and learn from you in any of these contexts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From my woolly heart to yours: Thank you.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Oh, and I will turn 50 in 2023, something I look forward to. I may make you a part of my celebration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wish you peace, wool all the best for 2023!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happy spinning!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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You can find me in several social media:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n