Dear Spinning Circle,

Today. On Wool n’ Spinning Radio. Rebecca and Rachel sat down to chat about a mammoth in the room, which is fibre preparation. It has become such a major focus of what we talk about in this community and other handspinning communities, that we wanted to talk about it. While fibre preparation is a huge source of excitement and motivation to pull things out and prepare fibres, including those amazing fleeces many of us have in our stashes, it is also a time consuming and often expensive endeavor, particularly when looking at the possibility that tools need to be purchased.

Over the past month or so, Rebecca and I have been working on a flowchart (see attached) associated with this episode of WnS Radio. You can download it and explore the PDF while you are listening to this episode or save it for later if you follow the links in the show notes wherever you are listening to this. This flowchart is a Beta version of our ideas and we are going to be working in this throughout the remainder of the winter and into the Spring. There will be more pages added to it – we just haven’t quite gotten there yet! Any thoughts you have that would be helpful, please place them in the comments of the Patreon post – we would love to hear them.

What have been your road blocks with fibre preparation? If you live with mobility or accessibly issues, we would love to hear how that affects your fibre preparation.

Where would you categorise yourself on the scale from fibre preparation artist to hand spinner?

Direct Patreon Link here (for graphics)

If you have questions about what we discussed in today’s episode, please post them in the community, either as part of the Slack channel (available through Patreon) or on the Ravelry group, Wool n’ Spinning. Of course, we would love to welcome you to our community. Membership in the community provides you access to an amazing archive of teaching vlogs & posts that will help you on your handspinning journey. I am also here as a resource to help you! The Join button is on the landing page on Patreon for those wishing to learn more.

If you are enjoying the audio podcast, please take a moment to subscribe and leave a rating or review to help other handspinners find it. Thank you so much!

I hope you enjoy our conversation. Until next time, Happy Spinning!

Rachel & Rebecca

Dear Spinning Circle,

Today. On Wool n’ Spinning Radio. Rebecca and Rachel sat down with Meaghan of Bramble Ridge Hand Dyed Yarns, based out of Mission, British Columbia, Canada. Meaghan has been dyeing up a storm in the background, creating our next iteration of Breed Blends and Colour Study fibre for us to spin & create with! Thank you to Meaghan for this opportunity to work with you, support your small business and create with the community at large!

Meaghan has generously offered a discount code to the Patreon community of Wool n’ Spinning. When you log into your account, you will see at the top of your feed (if you didn’t get an email about the post already) that there is a post there about all things Breed Blends & Colour Study. This post has the ordering link, as well as the discount code. Please be sure to put the discount code in before you complete your ordering as refunds will not be offered.

Breed Blends & Colour Study Ordering Links & Discount Code Post here

You DO NOT need to be a member of the Patreon community to participate - only to get the discount code!

If you have questions about what we discussed in today’s episode, please post them in the community, either as part of the Slack channel (available through Patreon) or on the Ravelry group, Wool n’ Spinning. Of course, we would love to welcome you to our community. Membership in the community provides you access to an amazing archive of teaching vlogs & posts that will help you on your handspinning journey. I am also here as a resource to help you! The Join button is also on the landing page on Patreon for those wishing to learn more. If you are enjoying the audio podcast, please take a moment to subscribe and leave a rating or review to help other handspinners find it. Thank you so much!

Comment here with your thoughts for your fibre! What are you going to spin with it? Socks? A fun yarn structure? Please share!

Warmly,

Rachel

Dear Spinning Circle,

Welcome back to another Radio episode! This month, Rebecca sat Rachel down to quiz her about working through longer projects. It came from a discussion back in August at Knit City Calgary 2024. For context, let's set the table: Back in 2019, you were struggling with the idea of how to justify the time and effort to put into a really big spinning project to weave an heirloom piece. Do you remember that feeling?

What is the Biggest Project you’ve ever completed? How long did it take? How did you feel about it at the end vs. the beginning? How did it change things for you?

Gentle Morning by Trin-Annelie here

Cheviot 3-ply handspun for Gentle Mornning here (1000 yards / 355 grams)

Rideau-Arcott/Charollais 4-ply handspun here (1600 yards / 550 grams)

What kind of big project dreams do you have right now? What, for you, is the motivation behind them?

Aside from the obvious limitations of hours in the day (which is huge and should be acknowledged), do you feel like anything else is holding you back from trying one? How do we give ourselves permission to pursue projects like this?

Compare big projects - like spinning to weave for a coat, etc. - a sampling-heavy or learning-heavy big project, like Year of Yarn, Year of Colour (available for purchase), or a Certificate program. How is the process different? How are they easier or harder to justify? How does each one change you as a maker?

A can-of-worms question: do you think of these pieces as “art”? Would doing so change their perceived value?

How do you manage longer spins, especially those that are colour monotonous? How do you plan for these larger projects? Please share below!

Please take a moment to like & share the podcast, leave a review & share with others! For more, head to Patreon here.

Thank you for tuning in!

Rachel & Rebecca

Dear Spinning Circle,

Rebecca sat down with long-time active community member, Rebecka Roy, known as Becca and @bethy40 on Slack. Becca has been working on her Spinning Certificate of Achievement, from the Association of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers, throughout the past four years. With the recent discussions within the Wool n’ Spinning community about Spinning Certification programs, we thought it would a great opportunity to sit down and hear about Becca’s experience.

I hope you enjoy our conversation. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

Happy Spinning!

Dear Spinning Circle,

Rebecca and I had the pleasure of sitting down with Maxwell Stein of @maxwillspin (IG) over the past month. We chatted about his origin story, spindle spinning and teaching, as well as how his music influences his making. I hope you enjoy our conversation - I would love to have Max back on the show. If you have any questions you'd like to ask him, please post them below so that I can address them next time he appears!

Wool n' Spinning Radio (previous episodes) here

Wool n’ Spinning Radio Collection (Patreon) here

Remember to leave a review of the audio podcast wherever you catch your podcasts - it really helps the show be seen and heard by others looking for similar content! Thank you from the bottom of my toes!

Until next time,

Happy Spinning!

Dear Spinning Circle,

This month is the follow-up to last month's episode with Melissa Goulet of MellyKnits. We refer back to that episode a few times so be sure to follow the links below to listen to that episode as well.

Episode 107 | Putting Wool back in the Limelight with MellyKnits here

I hope you enjoy our dive into wool, getting started with first-time drum carding and beginning to delve into sheep breeds. For those new to spinning wool, remember that there are roughly four classifications of sheep breeds, including the fine wools, medium wools, longwools, downs and down-like breeds, and primitives. Fine to medium wools are often classed together, rather than separately. Think of them as being on a continuum from one another. We use the term ‘micron count’ several times throughout our conversation but never define the term for those who haven’t heard it previously.

Think of how wool is classified as being on a continuum. At one end, we have the Fine Wools with much crimp and bounce. At the other end, we have the long, lustrous curling crimp structure of the Long Wools. In between are the Medium Wools who, depending on their micron count, fit closer to the Fine Wool versus Long Wool end. Micron count uses computer imaging to assess the diameter of a fibre. The lower the number, the finer the fibre and conversely, the higher the number, the coarser the fibre. Within one fleece, micron count might vary significantly and as hand spinners, we use the averages to help us communicate with one another roughly how fine or coarse a fibre is.

If you have questions about what we discussed in today’s episode, please post them below. Of course, we would love to welcome you to our community. The Join button is also on the landing page here on Patreon for those wishing to learn more.

I hope you enjoy our conversation.

Warmly,

Rachel & Rebecca

Dear Spinning Circle,

This episode of Wool n' Spinning Radio has been a long time coming - Melissa and I have been trying to connect for a while, seeing each other at our local Knots & Hops each month, bumping into each other at Knit City and Fibres West throughout the years and so much more. It was a pleasure to sit down with her and chat about her business and love of wool - her enthusiasm is unbelievably infectious. You can't help but feel sucked in by her love of the process from her favourite part of the process, washing, to picking and carding.

Melissa's video on Picking Wool here

Thank you to Melissa for sharing her journey to date and I look forward to chatting with her again this summer to record a Part II. After we stopped the recording, she came up with topics for Part III, as well, so stay tuned!

Find Melissa:

• Instagram @mellyknits here
• Website here
• Ravelry @smellyknits here

If you would like to be featured on Wool n' Spinning Radio, have a story to tell or want to discuss your making, please reach out to Rachel. You can leave a comment below or message her privately!

Until next time,

Happy Processing!

Rachel

Dear Spinning Circle,

Today on the Radio show, Rebecca and I sat down to talk about the sheep and breeds that she came across at Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival recently. We chat a little bit about getting fibre preparation done, some of the road blocks to getting things started and more.

Patreon Post here

This was a stream-of-consciousness at 6am Pacific time - I hope you enjoy this off-the-cuff episode!

For more on Spinning Sheep Breeds and getting further down the rabbit hole of various classifications of wool, check out my workshop on the School of SweetGeorgia here.

We have explored washing sheep fleece in previous posts, specifically here. Within this post contains a list of posts that go through the classification of sheep breeds, including Fine & Medium, Longwools, Down & Down-like, and Double-Coated in multiple parts.

I also chronicle (through photos) a Farm-to-Yarn-to-Sweater prep, spin, dye and knit that I made several years ago, right after my dad died. It was a meditative project that offered a ton of quiet while I processed what had happened in such a short period of time. This sweater still holds an incredibly special place in my heart.

Comment below if there's a topic you'd like us to discuss & explore!

If you would like to be featured on Wool n' Spinning Radio, have a story to tell or want to discuss your making, please reach out to Rachel. You can leave a comment below or message her privately!

Until next time,

Keep Spinning!

Rachel & Rebecca