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Clara & Her Wool Pillow

Do you follow Clara Parkes on Instagram? She is a font of knowledge for all things wool, and lately, all ways wool as used in everyday objects. It’s from her that I learned about All Birds shoes, which I love. I’ve never worn a silkier feeling pair of shoes. Did you know there are wool coffins? I guess we can take it with us! I also find them beautiful. She wants everyone to use wool as much as they can. The more we use wool in the US or anywhere in the world, the more we need sheep. She wants people beyond spinners, knitters and all the fiber folk to discover how amazing and versatile wool is. An ...

@jillianmoreno
Spinning Tuesdays
February 12, 2019

Spinner-Worthy Yarn: Liverpool Yarns

Just because I spin yarn doesn’t mean I have stopped buying commercially spun yarn. No way! I love using all types of yarn, handspun is my favorite, but carefully sourced and spun smaller batch yarns are a close second. Some folks call these farm to needle yarn, I call them spinner-worthy. To me a spinner-worthy yarn has a few specific things that make it a yarn worth looking at. It’s really the main things that I think about when I spin a yarn: the fiber and where it comes from, the spinning process – is it woolen or worsted spun (and I love to know about the mill), and intention in the ply to ...

What if Fiber Labels Were More Like Yarn Labels?

Lately I’ve been thinking about what information is helpful to know before I start to spin a commercial braid of fiber. That led me to thinking, “What if Fiber Labels Were More Like Yarn Labels Yarn labels have lots of useful information for knitters. Granted, knitters are mostly trying to do one thing, hit that mighty gauge number, but the information on the the label helps then know what their fabric will be like. Spinners are working with a more open road, as far as the yarn we’ll make. Looking at a recent fiber purchase and comparing the label to a yarn label, I pondered what other information ...

How Much Fiber Do I Need? Rhinebeck Edition

Rhinebeck is this weekend, I can feel the shopping fever mounting! I get asked “how much fiber should I buy?” in most of my spinning classes. The urgency ramps up when I’m teaching at a fiber show or there’s a big show coming up. Do you know what you’re going to buy yet? I usually make a shopping map. Here are my quick and dirty shopping amounts for commercial fiber: 4oz – socks, hats, small cowls 8 oz – infinity scarves, big cowls, small shawls 12oz – big shawls, vests 16oz-32oz+ – sweaters. I make an x-large sweater; I always buy 2 pounds. Here are some of the ...

Spinning at WEBS

WEBS had their second Spinning Summit this past weekend and I was lucky and grateful to teach. It was a mighty gang that gathered to spin with Amy King, Beth Smith and me. We taught three classes each. The attendees somehow picked three out of the nine classes. I taught Fractal Frolic, Successive Plying, and premiered a new class – Match Game. It’s all about learning to match, project, intention and yarn for a knitting project. I’m teaching this next in a couple of weeks at SAFF. My students were dedicated and really fast spinners. They had a ton of questions and burned through all of the material ...

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 ...