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

Back to School Spinning

How do you celebrate back to school time? If you have kids, there’s the relief of getting fall routines back. Maybe you can find the time for some extra spinning. Everyone enjoys buying new school supplies, for spinners it may mean a new spinning journal or some new small tools. Organization is in the air in the fall. I know I’m more of a fall cleaner and organizer than a spring cleaner. Fall is a great time to set yourself up for your own learning. What spinning skills do you want to learn next? Will you take classes online, at a local shop or at a fiber show, or use books, magazines or the knowledge of ...

Handspun Summer Sachet

This summer I challenged myself to make a quick handspun project that I could make while traveling, something portable, something useful. I made a Summer Sachet. It needs two Schacht Zoom Loom squares, a bit of yarn for embroidering and sewing and a little dried lavender. Zoom Loom squares only need 8 yards of yarn, quick to spin on a spindle. The stitching yarn uses even less yardage. I used a braid of Lisa Souza’s gorgeous (and so soft) Superfine Merino in her South Pacific colorway. I spun and wove it as it came into a almost-worsted weight 2-ply for the square. For the embroidery, I broke out purple and ...

Is Rigid Heddle Weaving for You?

Weaving. I know you’ve thought about it, maybe even looked at classes or looms. It seems like everyone has started weaving. It’s such a good way to use up stash! Rigid heddle weaving seems like a good starting point, but you’re not sure if it’s really for you. Liz Gipson is a genius at teaching rigid heddle weaving and she used to write a great weaving column, Get Warped for Knitty. She has just put up a free class called Why This Loom to help folks decide if rigid heddle weaving is for them. I really like using my rigid heddle loom with handspun, but I’m not doing it as much as I want ...

Get Spinning: Jillian’s Fall Teaching Schedule

School supplies have hit the big box stores, that means fall is on the way. I have a busy teaching schedule this fall, I hope to see some of you in my classes! Here’s a quick list of where I’m teaching for the rest of 2018: August 17-19: Shuttles Spindles and Skeins, Boulder, Colorado September 6-8: Wisconsin Sheep and Wool September 22: Kalamazoo Fiber and Dye Studio September 27-29: Vermont Sheep and Wool October 5-7: WEBS Spinning Summit October 12-14: Yarn Underground, Moscow, Idaho October 25-28: SAFF November 8-11: Ross Farms Magical Fiber Fantasy Retreat Retreat, Disney World For 2019 I won’t ...

Madrona Fiber Arts Retreat 2019 Is the Last

  Last week Suzanne Pederson, the founder and heart of the Madrona Fiber Arts Retreat, sent out an email that was not surprising, but still sad. 2019 Madrona will the be the last. Suzanne is retiring after 20 years of delighting the fiber world. Madrona stands head and shoulders above other fiber retreats. It started small, but grew into a large and boisterous retreat, educating, raising money for charities, and just being an excellent coming together of fiber minds. It is one of the most inclusive and friendly retreats I’ve attended, no one is a stranger. Madrona was the first big retreat that I knew of ...

What Do You Make with Your Handspun?

I’ve been excited and curious about many crafts lately besides knitting, I want to learn everything about them, and if they have anything to do with fiber or cloth I want to spin for them. The two that are big on my radar are embroidery and weaving. Other crafts that are jumping up and down trying to get my attention are sewing, punch needle, and watercolor. I want to be more methodical about some more than others. With embroidery I’m just jumping in, buying some gorgeous preprinted patterns to stitch, and every once in a while I’ll spin some yarn and stitch with it for part of the pattern. Weaving ...

Tips for Teaching Spinning

There is something about the summer, maybe it’s because I spin out of my house more, or because of the abundance of fiber shows, but I get more brand new people asking me to teach them to spin in the summer than any other time. I bet it happens to you too. Here are some of my tips for teaching a newbie.   Give them the ability to start and stop easily. Use the park and draft method on a spindle, and if you use a wheel make sure it’s one that is very responsive to stopping and going with just the treadles, and will spin smoothly with the drive wheel going slowly. New spinners should feel comfortable ...

Tour de Fleece Update, Sheepspot Breed Club, TdF Tip

The Tour de Fleece is underway and people are spinning up a storm! Take a peek at the Instagram hashtag #tourdefleece2018 there are already close to 2,000 posts. I t’s all so inspiring. If f I’m honest it inspires me to shop as much as it makes me want to spin, there is so much beautiful fiber. What fiber are you spinning?         Looking for a breed study or fiber club? How about both? The Sheepspot Fiber Club is now open! Working with commercially prepped fiber, you can learnabout a different breed every month and spin some beautifully dyed fiber as you learn.       ...

Wisconsin S&W Registration is Open; So You Want to Be a Dyer?

Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival is a little gem of a fiber show. Held the weekend after Labor Day in Jefferson Wisconsin it has everything bigger shows have but without the stampeding crowds. This is a show that runs at a relaxing pace, everyone is having a good time, no need to rush. There are classes, vendors, a fleece competition and sale, sheep dog trails, and food trucks roll in from Madison. I’m teaching there again this year, Friday-Sunday, my classes are: The Gist of Grist, Pretty Maids All in Row: Successive Color Plying, Yarnitecture, and Colorplay: Stress-Free Ways of Spinning Color. Already ...

TNNA 2018 – Things That Aren’t Knitting

Amy, Kate and I are just back from the annual National Needlework Association convention, where we get to touch yarns and plan with yarn companies and designers. Amy posted to the Knitty Instagram all about the knitting side while we were there. I get so caught up in looking and touching new fiber things and the hugging of friends that I forget to take pictures, but I have a few. I do have to mention one yarn company that always makes me smile with their creativity, Freia Fibers. That dress is knit from their gradient yarns. I have a crush on Tina’s yarn akin to the crush I had on Noro in the 1990s. She has a ...
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