Here are my workshops. My instruction fee is $50 per contact hour. Materials fees (per workshop participant) are listed with each workshop. Please note that materials fees are subject to change. Compensation for travel, lodging, and meals is negotiable.
Content and duration of all workshops are adjustable. And I would be happy to format a workshop or presentation to meet your group’s specific needs.
In addition, I offer private lessons for individuals at my home. My fee for those lessons is $20 per contact hour.
Spinning Workshops
Title: Beginning Spinning on the Wheel
Description: This workshop is an introduction to the marvelous craft of spinning yarn on a spinning wheel. We will cover the parts of the spinning wheel and the basics of how it works. In the process of spinning “singles” from wool roving, we will practice how to draft fibers and how twist turns fiber into yarn. We will also practice plying singles together for a 2-ply yarn. We will discuss the basics of preparing fleece for spinning, care of your wheel, and finishing yarns. Participants will leave with a completed skein of their own handspun yarn.
Class level: no experience necessary
Contact hours: 6
Materials fee: $20
Participants to bring: a spinning wheel in good working order with at least one bobbin.
Instructor to provide: samples for examination, notebook with handouts, fibers for spinning, sundry supplies.
Title: Creating the Yarn You Want
Description: This workshop is designed for the spinner who wants to gain greater control over the final characteristics of the yarn she or he spins. We will practice methods for controlling the thickness and twist of yarns. We will cover practical techniques for creating yarns that are consistent from bobbin to bobbin, and that match already existing yarns, either hand spun or commercial. We will also touch on techniques for plying a “balanced yarn”.
Class level: advanced beginning to intermediate spinning
Contact hours: 6
Materials fee: $20
Participants to bring: a spinning wheel in good working order, 3 bobbins, and a lazy kate.
Instructor to provide: samples for examination, fibers for spinning, notebook with handouts, sundry supplies.
Title: Blending Colors at the Wheel
Description: Learn to make unique multi-colored yarns at the wheel, without dyeing or the use of carding/combing equipment. In this workshop, we will take rovings and tops of different colors and combine them by pre-drafting in several simple ways to create yarns that produce more colorful and more textural fiber projects. We will cover techniques that allow you to create the same blends of color from skein to skein. We will practice making singles yarn as well as 2- and 3-ply yarns. We will also cover techniques for making marl yarns (plied yarns with different color singles).
Class level: advanced beginning to intermediate spinning
Contact hours: 6
Materials fee: $20
Participants to bring: a spinning wheel in good working order, 4 bobbins, and a lazy kate
Instructor to provide: samples for examination, fibers for spinning, notebook with handouts, sundry supplies.
Title: The Diversity of Wool (6 hour version)
Description: The wool from different breeds of sheep can vary substantially in softness, elasticity, luster, and feltability. Through hands-on examination of fiber, yarns, and knitted swatches, we will cover these widely varying characteristics of wool. In addition to sheep breed, other factors will be addressed that influence the characteristics of the final fiber project, such as fiber preparation and spinning techniques. We will practice spinning wool from sheep breeds that span the spectrum from fine wool to medium wool to long, luster wool. In addition, we will practice spinning wools that have been prepared in various ways.
Class level: advanced beginning to intermediate spinning
Contact hours: 6
Materials fee: $20
Participants to bring: a spinning wheel in good working order, extra bobbins, lazy kate; hand cards (optional), hand combs (optional).
Instructor to provide: samples for examination, notebook with handouts, fibers for spinning, sundry supplies.
Title: The Diversity of Wool (3-hour version)
Description: Merino, Cormo, Finn, Costwold, Wensleydale, Romney, Corriedale, and more! The wool from different breeds of sheep can vary substantially in softness, strength, elasticity, luster, and feltability. Through hands-on examination, we will explore these widely varying characteristics of wool. In addition to sheep breed, other factors will be addressed that influence the characteristics of the final wool project. We will examine samples of unspun fiber, yarns, and knitted swatches of over a dozen sheep breeds. There will be fiber and yarns to test-spin, -knit, or -crochet.
Class level: no experience necessary
Contact hours: 3
Materials fee: $15
Participants to bring: No supplies are necessary. But, participants may bring a drop spindle or spinning wheel if they want to spin, or knitting needles if they want to knit, or crochet hooks if they want to crochet.
Instructor to provide: samples for examination, notebook with handouts, fibers and yarns for spinning/knitting/crocheting.
Title: Spinning With Commercial Yarns
Description: Here are some strategies for revitalizing your yarn stash! In this workshop, participants will explore ways to “re-spin” commercial yarns as well as ways to spin together commercial yarns and fiber. We will cover techniques for creating and using energized yarns, core-spun yarns, yarns plied more than once, and plying together handspun and commercial. The resulting yarns will look more awake, have more edge, and inspire you more!
Class level: intermediate spinning
Contact hours: 6
Materials fee: $20
Participants to bring: a spinning wheel in good working order, 4 bobbins, a lazy kate, some small balls of yarn of various kinds, a couple pairs of knitting needles or crochet hooks, scissors, and scotch tape.
Instructor to provide: samples for examination; fibers and additional yarns for spinning; notebook with handouts, sundry supplies.
Title: Spinning With Locks
Description: Wool and mohair locks can be used “as is” or prepared in a variety of ways for spinning both highly textured yarns and very smooth yarns. In this workshop, we will cover a wide array of lock structures, from fine crimp to bold curls. We will play with undyed and dyed locks, we will spin yarns from the locks, we will combine locks with rovings in a variety of ways, and we will flick locks for spinning smooth, worsted-type yarns.
Class level: intermediate spinning
Contact hours: 6
Materials fee: $20
Participants to bring: a spinning wheel in good working order, 3 bobbins, lazy kate, flick carder or dog/cat slicker brush or dog “rake”.
Instructor to provide: samples for examination, notebook with handouts, fibers for spinning, sundry supplies.
Title: Spinning Super Stretchy Wools
Description: Some wools are especially elastic: Targhee, Cormo, Romeldale/CVM, Rambouillet, Columbia, Suffolk, Montadale, and others. In this workshop, we will work with these wools to create sproingy-boingy yarns. We will cover a variety of drafting techniques that influence the springiness of yarns; we will card and comb washed fleece of these and other wools to make the most of their elasticity; and we will explore the best uses of such wools.
Class level: advanced beginning to intermediate spinning
Contact hours: 6
Materials fee: $20
Participants to bring: a spinning wheel in good working order, 3 bobbins, lazy kate, hand combs, hand cards (or flick carder).
Instructor to provide: samples for examination, fiber for spinning, notebook with handouts, sundry supplies.
Title: Mechanics of Your Wheel
Description: Spinning wheels are marvelous machines! In this workshop, we will cover how spinning wheels work. There will be spinning exercises to remove the mystery from drive mechanisms, drive ratios, drafting, twist, take-up tension, and wheel maintenance. Along the way, participants will be introduced to concepts of mechanics (such as force, torque, angular momentum, friction) in a non-mathematical way.
Class level: advanced beginning to intermediate spinning
Contact hours: 3
Materials fee: $12
Participants to bring: a spinning wheel in good working order
Instructor to provide: samples for examination, fibers for spinning, notebook with handouts, sundry supplies.
Title: Variations on Long Draw
Description: “Long draw” spinning techniques are often used to create “woolen” yarns – yarns that are airy, lofty, soft and warm! We will cover three variations of long draw using commercially-prepared rovings, drum carded batts, and hand carded rolags. We will create samples of thick, lopi-style singles yarns, as well as thinner, plied woolen yarns. In the process, we will discuss the types of fiber that work best for different long draw techniques, how to create a hand carded rolag, and how best to use woolen yarns.
Class level: intermediate spinning
Contact hours: 3
Material fees for class: $12
Participants to bring: spinning wheel in good working order; hand cards.
Instructor to provide: samples for examination; fibers for carding and spinning; notebook with handouts, sundry supplies.
Title: Plying Balanced Yarns
Description: Consistent and even plying is as important to a high-quality, hand-spun yarn as is the spinning of singles. Matching the twist in plying to the twist in the spun singles is the key. In this workshop, we will cover issues related to controlling tension on the singles while plying and the amount of twist in both spinning and plying. We will practice techniques for plying from one source (Andean plying, Navajo plying), and from two or more sources.
Class level: advanced beginner to intermediate spinning
Contact hours: 3
Material fees for class: $12
Participants to bring: a spinning wheel in good working order, 2 bobbins partially filled with Z-spun singles plus 1 empty bobbin, and a lazy kate.
Instructor to provide: samples for examination, fiber for spinning, notebook with handouts, sundry supplies.
Title: Plying for Texture
Description: In this workshop, we will practice making textured yarns by manipulating the way we ply singles together. We will spin snarl yarns, cabled yarns, two kinds of knot yarns, and two kinds of spiral yarns. These are all yarns that can be created with “ordinary” Z-spun singles. Along the way, we will discuss how to create a smooth, balanced two-ply yarn.
Class level: intermediate spinning
Contact hours: 3
Material fees for class: $12
Participants to bring: spinning wheel in good working order, 2 bobbins partially filled with Z-spun singles (they should be about the same thickness and twist, but of different colors) plus 2 empty bobbins, a lazy kate.
Instructor to provide: samples for examination, fibers for spinning, notebook with handouts, sundry supplies.
Title: Spinning Marl Yarns
Description: Marl yarns are often defined as plied yarns in which the plies are different colors. We will cover techniques for making those yarns, as well as making marl yarns in which the plies are from different fiber sources. In the process, we will cover strategies for controlling thickness and twist of singles and for plying to create 2- and 3-ply balanced yarns.
Class level: advanced beginning to intermediate spinning
Contact hours: 3
Material fees for class: $12
Participants to bring: spinning wheel in good working order, 4 bobbins, lazy kate.
Instructor to provide: samples for examination, notebook with handouts, fiber for spinning, sundry supplies.
Knitting Workshops
Title: Slip-Stitch Knitting (12 hour version)
Description: Slip stitches are terrific for blending colors and creating complex-looking patterns with both subtle and dramatic texture. We will cover several categories of slip stitches: simple slip stitches, “mosaic” stitches, extended slip stitches, manipulated slip stitches, and brioche. We will explore effects of changing the “background” stitch of patterns (stockinette, garter, rib, seed), using yarns of solid colors and variegated colors, using yarns of various textures, and combining slip stitch patterns with non-slip stitch patterns. Participants will knit swatches, modify stitch patterns to create new stitch patterns, practice converting stitch patterns between flat and circular knitting, and practice graphing stitch patterns.
Class level: intermediate knitting skills.
Contact hours: 12
Materials fee: $30
Participants to bring: several balls of yarn of different colors and textures, knitting needles, cable needle, pencil or pen.
Instructor to provide: samples for examination, additional yarns, notebook with handouts and stitch patterns, graph paper, sundry supplies.
Title: Slip-Stitch Knitting (6 hour version)
Description: Slip stitches are terrific for blending colors and creating complex-looking patterns with both subtle and dramatic texture. We will explore the knitting and use of simple slip stitches, “mosaic” stitches, extended slip stitches, manipulated slip stitches, and basic brioche. Participants will practice several of these stitch patterns and will leave with patterns for purses or hats that use slip stitches.
Class level: intermediate knitting skills
Contact hours: 6
Materials fee: $20
Participants to bring: three colors of yarn all of similar thickness, knitting needles appropriate for the yarn, and a cable needle.
Instructor to provide: samples for examination, additional yarns, notebook with handouts, knitting patterns for hats or purses, sundry supplies.
Title: I-Cord Edges and More!
Description: “I-cords” make wonderful, stable edges on a knitted piece, worked along with the knitted piece or added later. In the process of knitting a sample wrist warmer, we will cover using I-cords for side edges, binding off, buttonholes, as well as added I-cords. We will also cover techniques for making I-cord fringe, for grafting I-cord ends together to make continuous I-cord circles, and for using I-cords in all kinds of knitting. Students will leave with a pattern for full-sized wrist warmers.
Class level: advanced beginning to intermediate knitting
Contact hours: 3
Materials fee: $12
Participants to bring: worsted weight yarn and knitting needles appropriate for the yarn (including straight needles, double pointed needles, and circular needles), an extra double pointed needle that is a few sizes smaller, and a darning needle.
Instructor to provide: samples for examination, extra yarns, notebook with handouts, pattern for wrist warmers, sundry supplies.
Title: Circles, Hexagons, and Octagons (or Knitting Petoskey Stone Medallions)
Description: In this workshop we will knit a medallion that was inspired by the state stone of Michigan, the Petoskey stone. The medallions are flat circles, knitted from the center out. When a series of these medallions are crocheted together, you can change the circular shape to 4-, 5-, 6-, or more-sided pieces. We will cover a circular crochet cast-on, how to knit circularly with 2 circular needles, 2-stitch cable patterns, and crocheting medallions together. With this approach, you can make scarves, afghans, hats, pillows, and more.
Class level: intermediate knitting
Contact hours: 3
Materials fee: $12
Participants to bring: 100 yards or so of yarn (1 or more colors), 2 circular knitting needles of the same size (but can be of different lengths) appropriate for the yarn, a crochet hook similar in size to the needles, and a darning needle.
Instructor to provide: samples for examination, additional yarns, notebook with handouts including written instructions for 2 versions of the Petoskey stone medallion, sundry supplies.
Spinning & Knitting Workshops
Title: Spin Knit Nexus
Description: In this exploration of the intersection of spinning and knitting, we will cover several spinning techniques for creating combinations of yarns that are not found among millspun yarns. We will explore how to use those yarn combinations to create unique knitting projects. We will focus on spinning and combining yarns that are different but complementary by 1) blending fibers at the wheel; 2) combining solid color fiber sources in multiple ways; 3) spinning yarns of different thicknesses and textures from a single fiber source; 4) spinning and plying handpainted tops in a variety of ways. We will knit swatches from the spun yarns.
Class level: advanced beginning to intermediate spinning and knitting
Contact hours: 18
Materials fee: $45
Participants to bring: spinning wheel in good working order, 4 bobbins, lazy-kate, knitting needles of various sizes.
Instructor to provide: samples for examination, fibers for spinning, notebook with handouts, knitting stitch patterns, sundry supplies.
Title: Spinning & Knitting Energized Singles
Description: Yarns that are not “balanced” can create biasing fabric when knitted. Most knitters try to avoid this effect, but yarns with extra twist energy can be used to create intriguing textural effects while using fairly simple knit stitches and we will explore some of these possibilities. We will also cover techniques on how to create balanced yarns and unbalanced yarns (with energized twist) as well as “management” of energized singles yarns for knitting.
Class level: advanced beginning to intermediate spinning and knitting
Contact hours: 6
Materials fee: $20
Participants to bring: a spinning wheel in good working order, extra bobbins, lazy kate, and several sizes of knitting needles.
Instructor to provide: samples for examination, fibers and yarns for spinning, notebook with handouts, knitting patterns
Title: Spinning & Knitting Goat Fibers
Description: Mohair! Cashmere! Pygora! From long & lustrous to short & soft, goat fibers make wonderful yarns. This workshop is a survey class in which we will spin these fibers as well as blends with wool and silk. There will be some discussion of the animals themselves. We will also knit swatches of commercial mohair and cashmere yarns, and discuss advantages and challenges of these fibers for knitting.
Class level: intermediate spinning skills; advanced beginning knitting skills
Contact hours: 6
Materials fee: $20
Participants to bring: a spinning wheel in good working order, extra bobbins, lazy kate; knitting needles of various sizes
Instructor to provide: samples for examination, fibers for spinning, yarns for knitting, notebook with handouts, sundry supplies.
Title: Spinning & Knitting With Silk Hankies
Description: Silk hankies are a “mawata” silk that consist of very thin layers of silk cocoons that have been stretched over a square frame. We will learn techniques for preparing these hankies for spinning, and then we will spin them in a variety of ways, including Navajo plying. We will cover strategies for making your hands smooth to minimize snagging of silk on your hands, and strategies for knitting unspun and spun silk hankies.
Class level: intermediate spinning skills and basic knitting skills
Contact hours: 6
Materials fee: $20
Participants to bring: a spinning wheel that works, 3 bobbins, a lazy kate, and some knitting needles of various sizes.
Instructor to provide: samples for examination, fibers for spinning, notebook with handouts, knit stitch patterns, sundry supplies.