Author: @jillianmoreno

Tour de Fleece this year is July 7-29 and it’s going to be here before we know it! Are you spinning? Do you know what you’re spinning? For those that don’t know about the Tour de Fleece here’s the scoop. Every year during the run of Tour de France bicycle race spinners spin. They challenge themselves to spin every day for about three weeks following the schedule of bicycling Tour, resting on days that the riders rest. Lots of spinners join teams for camaraderie, fun and prizes, check out Ravelry for lots of team info. Some spinners watch the Tour as they spin, some spinners spin with no team, ...

What I didn’t really realize when I said yes to teaching at the NwRSA conference this year is just how many spinners there are in the upper left hand corner of the US. The North West Regional Spinners Association conference is a whole bunch of guilds coming together. It was all spinning all the time and it was wonderful! I taught Yarnitecture and the Gist of Grist to very enthusiastic and talented spinners. The conference was in a hotel in Olympia and we pretty much took over. The main ballroom was ours and it was full of a gallery (check out the giant felted spinning wheel!), vendors and spinners from the ...

  This week I’m teaching at the  Northwest Regional Spinners Association Conference in Olympia, Washington. It’s going to be an outstanding conference with a big list of creative teachers, an outstanding keynote speaker, and , of course, all of the visionary spinners attending. I’m ready to teach and to soak up all innovative thinking at the event.         I am very grateful to my friend Lisa who has invited me to stay with her in Seattle for a few days after the conference. I haven’t been to Seattle since the 90’s, and I’d love to know what you suggest I ...

My friend and amazing spinning teacher, Beth Smith, is having a spinning retreat at Rhinebeck. The retreat is October 18-22. The price includes two days of classes,class materials, lodging, meals, a weekend pass to the Sheep and Wool festival and a goodie bag. Beth explains the whole weekend in this post. This is a great opportunity to take classes with Beth. She won’t be teaching much in 2019 because she’s spending the year learning and working on something new.         The classes she’s teaching are ones I’d love to take (but I’m teaching elsewhere). There is a full ...

Ok, these buttonholes aren’t only for knitting with handspun. This article is so perfectly succinct in the construction of six different buttonholes for hand knits that every spinner who knits needs to have it as a reference. Knitty’s own Tech Goddess, Kate Atherley, wrote this buttonhole article for Mason-Dixon Knitting. It shows how to make eyelet, eyelet in ribbing, horizontal, vertical, and afterthought buttonholes. Plus my new favorite, Slipped-Stitch Cable Buttonhole, I’ve never seen that one before and am in instant love. Being ever helpful and wickedly smart, Kate tell us how to fix a ...

Did you know Miss Babs has spinning fiber? I saw it announced on her Instagram and hopped right on over to shop. Miss Babs has colors that are beautiful with so much variety in tone and depth. Plus Babs and all of her employees are the nicest people! I bought 8 ounces of two colors on BFL, Coffee Break and Deep Sea Jellyfish. She has added more colors since the last time I looked; someone hide my credit card. She has BFL, BFL/silk, Merino, Merino/silk, and Merino/bamboo/silk bases.  Her descriptions say they are roving, but they sure look and feel like top to me. Her colors are divided into Wild Iris – not ...