Author: @jillianmoreno

Jillian is the​ author of the best-selling spinning book Yarnitecture. She is the editor​ of Knittyspin and Developmental Editor for PLY and PLY Books. She kinda loves this spinning thing and wants everyone who spins to love it too, so she teaches and writes a lot. She knits, weaves, and stitches and tries to do as much of it as she can with handspun yarn. She's always cooking up all kinds of exciting and creative things combining fiber arts. She likes her mysteries British, her walks woodsy, and to spend as much time as she can laughing. Spy on her on her website jillianmoreno.com

Fiber Expo: I May Have Shopped

This is the fourth year that there has been a Fiber Expo in my town. Now, it’s not Rhinebeck, but with 77 vendors, I was still able to make my spinning heart cheer and credit card cry. All the vendors I bought from are local to Michigan, but sell online. I’ve got a bunch of spinning to do. Here’s what I got: A BFL fleece from Cross Wind Farm. Two 8oz bumps of BFL/Cormo from Cross Wind Farm in colors to chase away the gray Michigan winter I may have gone a bit of  batt binge at this show. This one is from Hands and Notions. Her packaging is great isn’t it? Yellow and pink are two colors I ...

Obsession Thursday: The S

When I knit or spin for long periods of time, I get knotted muscles in my back in a particular spot – between spine and shoulder blade, just below my shoulder. You know the spot? Many years ago a co-worker introduced me to this funny looking S, officially called the Backnobber II.   You hook one end  over your shoulder, centering one of the knobs on your knotted muscle then pull down. It puts deep, concentrated pressure on your muscle and releases the knot. It breaks down into two pieces, so I take it along to spinning and knitting classes, where I tend to be tense from the learning, sitting and working of ...

What Do You Gift A Spinner?

It’s full-on fall in the northern hemisphere and my mind is turning to the up coming gifting season and the many birthdays of my fiber friends that happen in the fall. What do you gift a spinner, or a knitter? My go-to gift used to be a spindle or other fiber tool, but now I’m rethinking fiber gifts. I think this season I’ll be giving roving that I’ve picked specially or dyed specially for the the recipient. I’m also thinking about handspun yarn. I’ve never been much for giving my handspun yarn, but why not? Who better to appreciate handspun than a another spinner? Every time ...

View From My Wheel: Friends

I just got back from a blissful weekend away with fiber friends. There were seven of us holed up in a cabin for 2 1/2 days, doing nothing but fiber, watching movies and overloading on carbs. This weekend got me thinking about how I spin with friends. Spinning with friends is all about relaxing. It’s impossible for me to learn or teach something new, because I might miss out on my share of the conversation. I did find I can practice skills that I already have a seed planted for in my head and hands, thick and thin or trimming my yarn diameter. But something new or something not in my realm of my usual woolen ...

What’s Your Groove?

Not too long ago my friend Erica & I both spun worsted weight-ish types of yarn. We’re both part of a group of fiber friends who meet weekly at a coffee shop to spin, knit and generally laugh off our weekly stresses. Our worsted weight yarns, hers worsted spun, mine woolen, were our groove yarns, our sitting on the couch go-to yarns. What our hands and wheels just spun when left to their own devices. Erica decided she wanted to spin thinner, she used smaller whorls and weekly I could see her yarn getting finer and finer. I decided to spin fat lofty yarns, I took some classes and practiced a lot and my yarn ...

How do you sort your stash?

I’ve culled and reorganized my main floor  stash space. As I was deciding on what to keep upstairs and what to banish to the basement stash, I realized I have very particular ideas about the sorting of my fiber stash. For my new upstairs stash I have: a cubby of my own handspun yarn, waiting to be patterns all of my Briar Rose fiber, because I wanted all of something for that feeling of abundance and it’s gorgeous a cubby of new to me fiber, right now it’s Southern Cross fiber a cubby of inspirational fiber, right now it’s Lynne Vogel fiber most of my spinning tools – bobbins, niddys, ...

Stash Control and a New Shelf

I don’t know about you, but I love to have all of my spinning stash around me. Well, a lot of it anyway. I’m lucky enough to have a family that understands the need for piles of stash. We have an inactive fireplace in our family room that I have claimed , using the hearth as my stash home. Not in any organized fashion, mind you. Though I organize it periodically, it never stays that way. It’s subject to whims, shopping trips and current deadline projects. Because I know you’ll understand, here is an un-doctored, un-neatened photo of my fireplace stash. You spinners who are in long term ...

Keeping Track with Tags

Sometimes it’s the little things that save your sanity in knitting. The humble hang tag has come to my rescue many times. I’m a process knitter. Which is a nice way of saying I love to knit but it take me a while to finish projects. I might have a dozen or so projects and swatches for future projects going at once. I’ve tried keeping track of it all with sticky notes, with notebooks, with computer programs, for me, none of that works because they are all separate from the knitted piece. When I start a project or swatch I attach a hang tag after a few rows of knitting. I note the pattern name, yarn, ...

5 Tips for a Dye Day

Two or three times a year, my fiber gang gets together for a dye day.  Here are 5 tips from our group to yours to keep your dye party running smoothly. 1) Plan and work ahead and after. Know how many people are coming and what’s for lunch. Mix your dyes ahead of time and soak your fiber the night before. Plan on rising and drying your fiber at home. Just dye and play on dye day. 2) Time and space for all. No one wants to wait on dye day. Have spots for everyone to work their color magic and enough pots, crock dyers, burners, etc to set the fibers. 3) Have some color ideas, but let it flow. I usually come with ...

The View from My Wheel – Vacation Spinning

In my quest to become a more conscious spinner, (I won’t say a better spinner, because I spin just fine, thank you) I’m learning to be aware of what’s going on with my hands, feet and wheel for a certain level of consistency when I want it. I’d like to be one of those spinners who seem to have a Vulcan mind meld with their wheels. “I’m going to spin a worsted 3-ply that will be a dk weight yarn”, they say, and twist, turn, treadle they do, effortlessly. My latest observation is that my spinning is influenced dramatically by where I am, who I’m with and others things ...
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