Dear Spinning Circle,

This month is the follow-up to last month's episode with Melissa Goulet of MellyKnits. We refer back to that episode a few times so be sure to follow the links below to listen to that episode as well.

Episode 107 | Putting Wool back in the Limelight with MellyKnits here

I hope you enjoy our dive into wool, getting started with first-time drum carding and beginning to delve into sheep breeds. For those new to spinning wool, remember that there are roughly four classifications of sheep breeds, including the fine wools, medium wools, longwools, downs and down-like breeds, and primitives. Fine to medium wools are often classed together, rather than separately. Think of them as being on a continuum from one another. We use the term ‘micron count’ several times throughout our conversation but never define the term for those who haven’t heard it previously.

Think of how wool is classified as being on a continuum. At one end, we have the Fine Wools with much crimp and bounce. At the other end, we have the long, lustrous curling crimp structure of the Long Wools. In between are the Medium Wools who, depending on their micron count, fit closer to the Fine Wool versus Long Wool end. Micron count uses computer imaging to assess the diameter of a fibre. The lower the number, the finer the fibre and conversely, the higher the number, the coarser the fibre. Within one fleece, micron count might vary significantly and as hand spinners, we use the averages to help us communicate with one another roughly how fine or coarse a fibre is.

If you have questions about what we discussed in today’s episode, please post them below. Of course, we would love to welcome you to our community. The Join button is also on the landing page here on Patreon for those wishing to learn more.

I hope you enjoy our conversation.

Warmly,

Rachel & Rebecca

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

This episode of Wool n' Spinning Radio has been a long time coming - Melissa and I have been trying to connect for a while, seeing each other at our local Knots & Hops each month, bumping into each other at Knit City and Fibres West throughout the years and so much more. It was a pleasure to sit down with her and chat about her business and love of wool - her enthusiasm is unbelievably infectious. You can't help but feel sucked in by her love of the process from her favourite part of the process, washing, to picking and carding.

Melissa's video on Picking Wool here

Thank you to Melissa for sharing her journey to date and I look forward to chatting with her again this summer to record a Part II. After we stopped the recording, she came up with topics for Part III, as well, so stay tuned!

Find Melissa:

• Instagram @mellyknits here
• Website here
• Ravelry @smellyknits here

If you would like to be featured on Wool n' Spinning Radio, have a story to tell or want to discuss your making, please reach out to Rachel. You can leave a comment below or message her privately!

Until next time,

Happy Processing!

Rachel

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

“Corespinning creates an amazing yarn that can replace a conventional spun yarn.“ -Crystal Hesser

For full shownotes with photos, please visit here

To share your spinning, we have a couple of places to share:

Slack Channel: #texturedyarn

Ravelry Group: CoreSpin Along here

We have talked about corespinning in the community previously:

• 51 Yarns SpinAlong: Corespun, Coils & Supercoils Vlog
• 51 Yarns SpinAlong: Corespun, Coils & Supercoils PDF
• How I Spin: Corespinning & Autowrapping

Tips to Get Started:

1. Don’t give up
2. Good, strong core
3. Add twist to the core prior to starting
4. Even tension so that the core is being moved onto the bobbin steadily (this keeps the twist from building up beforehand)
5. Steam to finish
6. Have FUN!

MUSIC //

Glow & Yellow by Scott Buckley (@ScottBuckley) – released under CC-BY 4.0. scottbuckley.com.au

I hope you enjoy this ALONG with us - even if you just spin a little bit to give the technique a try, I encourage you to do so!

Warmly,

Rachel

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

This month, I chatted with Natalie Redding of Namaste Farms . She is a firecracker of information and incredibly forthcoming about what she does, her knowledge and insights, and her sheep. I want to say a special thank you for her time - it was a pleasure to chat with her.

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

This month, I had the chance to chat with Becca, who many of you know from Slack and the Ravelry group. She is a prolific spinner, incredible cheerleader for many of us taking on a large project and kind. It was incredibly fun to chat with her. 

Thank you to Becca for taking the time to chat with me - I hope to have her on the show again in the future.

Happy Spinning!

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Thank you for tuning in this month to Wool n' Spinning Radio! This month, I am so pleased to have the opportunity to chat with my friend and Wool n' Spinning community member, Nina La Fountaine. 

Nina lives in Santiago, Chile, and designs under the name Fuzzy Love Knots. She chats about spinning, local wool and living in Chile.

I hope you enjoy listening - we had a blast chatting to each other.

For more about Bastidor, please contact Nina  directly as I wasn't able to find the appropriate link for the site or the wool itself. 

Please leave a comment here or join the conversation over on Ravelry  and SLACK. 

Until next month, Happy Spinning!

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Thank you for listening in this month! I am continuing our theme this month about combo spinning since the craze is all over the internet - particularly Instagram. I loop Katrina in for her thoughts on the subject since she has done quite a number of combo spins now. And I use a question from a lovely Patreon subscriber, Rebecca, to anchor the conversation.

Until next month!

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Welcome to Wool n' Spinning Radio's Bonus Episode for February! I hope you enjoy my conversation with Becca and Rebecca, both from our Wool n' Spinning Community. We were all in a very reflective, thoughtful mood and the conversation went deep and contemplative very quickly. I hope you enjoy listening!

https://www.patreon.com/posts/wool-n-spinning-15725779

Until next time,

Happy Spinning!

Rachel

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Thank you for tuning in to the first full episode of Wool n' Spinning Radio, a monthly radio show for our Patreon subscribers of the Wool n' Spinning videocast. I truly appreciate your support and wanted to do something in the podcasting realm that would help me to explore something new. The show will be released on or around the 7th of each month. 

This month marks a new year and finally the end of my lack of crafting mojo, which I reflect upon later in the show. First, though, I have a chat with my dear friend Katrina, who all of you as CraftyJAKS. 

I hope you enjoy listening - as always if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me or Katrina. 

Links to the things you need:

Katrina's Etsy shop is here

The ongoing colour studies and information you need about that is here.

Katrina's Instagram page is here

I hope that's everything! 

Remember to change your pledge levels if you are in WORKSHOPS or FIBRE CLUB to something else prior to the 20th of January as they will be deleted prior to the end of the month.

Again, thank you for your support. See you either over in Ravelry, the SLACK channel or Instagram!

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

I'm really excited to annouce something I have been contemplating for a while that will be coming in January 2017. Have a listen for more!

Happy New Years!

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

Today. On Wool n’ Spinning Radio. Rebecca and I had the pleasure of sitting down with Rebecca’s mom, Linda Jennings, the dyer and curator of Color Storms. She is based in Maryland, USA, and created a small dye studio in her home. Specializing in natural dyeing, Linda creates amazing gradient sets, plays with various dye stuffs that she is able to harvest locally, while also using some extract powders to be able to dye the variety of colours available to us in nature. Her enthusiasm for natural dyeing, natural fibres and creativity is infectious. It was a pleasure to talk with her, hearing about her journey and enjoying some time together. I hope you enjoy our conversation.

Find the original show notes here, along with photographs of Linda's fleece packs spun up.

The Fleece Packs that Rebecca and I have been spinning for the Year of Colour 2023, are all showcased here in the web shop.

Find ColorStorms here

ColorStorms Web Shop here

Find Linda on Instragram here

To listen to previous episodes of Wool n' Spinning Radio, have a look through the Index here.

Remember to subscribe and leave a review on all your favourite podcast collectors to help Wool n' Spinning Radio get out there to others!

Until next month,

Rachel

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

Today. On Wool n' Spinning Radio. Crystal Hesser is a well-known face around Wool n' Spinning but there are some who haven't had the absolute pleasure in meeting her, so I wanted to spend some time today introducing her to you. Throughout Tour de Fleece, she has been posting daily photos of her yarns as she spins them on her wheel, supported spindles and shares her ideas along the way.

Crystal shares her inspiration process, why spinning textured yarns is so important, and how to she started with supported spindles. Join me in welcoming Crystal to the show.

Because Crystal's yarns are both beautiful and inspirational, I have posted photos of the ones we talked about in this episode here

Where to Find Crystal:

• Instagram as @spin_up_girl
• Facebook as Crystal Hesser
• Slack Channel as @Crystal Hesser

Thank you to Crystal for joining me today - I felt so inspired afterwards, wanting to pull my wheel out right away and starting playing again.

Until next time,

Keep Spinning!

Warmly,

Rachel

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Today. On Wool n’ Spinning Radio. Rebecca and I sit down to check in with one another as the half-way point of our Year of Colour is reached. We discuss how the two tracks, namely Spinning Purls and The Wool Circle, has been to facilitate, as well as our own growth in our understanding of colour. We start to talk about Rebecca’s Deyapalooza that is coming this summer and even into next year. 

I’ve included some of the photos of the Colour Wheel experiments that we have been working on. You can see those images at Patreon.com/woolnspinning. While you are looking, consider a 7-day free trial of Wool n’ Spinning and give yourself a chance to explore all the content there, along with others, specifically for handspinners looking to share with others their passion for handspun yarn. 

An Index of all the previous Wool n' Spinning Radio episodes can be found here.

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

Today, on Wool n' Spinning Radio, Rebecca & Rachel sit down to further explore our individual and ever-evolving clothing philosophies.

Exploring Clothing Philosophies (Part I) here

Rebecca and I started off by picking up where we left off in Part I of our conversation with Rebecca sharing what’s changed with her daily clothing evolution. For images of Rachel's clothing that she discussed, please check them out here.

Thank you for joining us today. Please consider leaving a review and subscribing wherever you download all of your podcasts and episodes.

As always, thank you for listening and spending the time in this place. It was a pleasure to continue this conversation with you all.

 Until next time, 

Rachel

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

Thank you for joining us in another episode of Wool n' Spinning Radio. I welcome onto the show today, Ahn Wilson, who is two spirit Atikamekw and French on her mother's side and German on her father's side. Ahn is the visionary behind a very ambitious project, The Loving Blanket Project, to commemorate and share the collective weight of grief that all people experience as more and more graves are unearthed at the residential schools throughout Canada. In Ahn's words,

When the first 215 were returned home, I felt the collective weight of grief through the nations. In my grief I shaved my head. No amount of time on the water (my medicine) would soothe it. More keep being found and it's been hard being alone. I've been trying to find a way to hold and collectively share in this grief in a meaningful way. Covid has made it hard for folx to gather in Ceremony. Or hold one another. Thus, after many months of thinking, by way of dream, came to me the idea to make a blanket. A very large blanket. One square to represent each child. One person to make one square. 'You may cut my hair, but the medicint is in the roots" (song by Digging Roots). We are the roots. We are the medicine. By each person stitching a square, we stitch outselves together in strength. We metamorpically hold one another and share the weight of collective grief.

Have a listen to our converation and I hope you feel pulled to make a square, mailing it off to Ahn when you are done. You can send you work here:

C/O Ahn Wilson

PO Box 936

Nelson PO Main, BC

Canada V1L 5P9

There are some things you need to know when you go to make your blanket - I have uploaded two PDFs that I have scanned from Ahn. Please download these before you start and read them through. There is increbibly important information in both of them, including problematic wording or imagery that would be important to leave OUT of the squares, alongside WELCOMING imagery and powerful words that one can place in your square(s).

It might be helpful to make a square that you might dedicate to an individual child, group of children and place they lived. Think about how resilient those children are, what it might look like to welcome them home in celebration and warmth, and how you would wrap them in a blanket, feed them and love them. This might help you to get started. Gather your family, friends or maybe just yourself! '[Create] your square [to] have a connection to it; keep in mind your heritage and culture ... these squares are meant to bring a sense of joy with them, an energy of warmth and welcoming' (Ahn Wilson).  Think about Ahn's comments from the episode about a party!

Please leave your comments below so that I can help to clarify anything - if I'm not sure, I will reach out to Ahn.

As always, thank you for listening and spending the time in this place. It was a pleasure to welcome Ahn onto the show.

Until next time,

Rachel

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Today. On Wool n’ Spinning Radio. Rebecca and I sat down to begin discussing our respective clothing philosophies. If you haven’t heard of clothing philosophies before, it is characterized as a way of expressing an inner truth or belief about an idea, oneself or the world through the medium of clothing. Some believe that all aspects of a garment can speak to a person’s personal philosophy about the world, themselves, or anything else (Scenes Media, 2022). This might be attention paid to texture, drape, colours, cut and style and many other aspects of clothing and fabric that help us to shape messaging, whether about ourselves or the world around us (Scenes Media).

While we can talk about high fashion and those designing clothing, who might have well-established clothing philosophies that help them in their creative process to continue to create, just as we see in true art. A philosophy might be simple and basic or there might be heavy-duty thought behind it. Taken from Scenes Media, our call to action is to think about what you wear, how it reflects (or doesn’t reflect) the person that you are, and what that tells the world about you (Scenes Media, 2022).

To see Rebecca & Rachel's Colour Palette Generated Photos from their personal wardrobes & Ravelry Project Pages, please head to Patreon. 

Thank you for listening today - please comment below on your personal Clothing Philosophy or some of the things you think about when you look at your wardrobe, the items you're planning to add, or anything else you'd like to share!

Warmly,

Rachel & Rebecca

References

Sierra, S. (2016, December 1). The Philosophy of Fashion | SCENES. SCENES Media. Retrieved March 14, 2023, from https://scenesmedia.com/2016/12/philosophy-fashion/

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

Find the episode notes and more about Wool n' Spinning here

It's the 1st of the month, so it's time for another amazing episode of Wool n' Spinning Radio! This month, Rebecca and I had the immense pleasure of welcoming Tazhiana Gordon of the Stitches & Starlight podcast on YouTube (here). Tazhi is an active and vibrant member of the Wool n' Spinning Community. It was my pleasure to welcome her onto the show - she is a whirlwind of positivity, kindness, creativity and so much more!

You can find this episode everywhere you get your podcasts - please take a moment to like and subscribe when you check out the episode (wherever you listen). It helps the show get discovered.

Once again, thank you for Tazhi for joining us - we will be recording a Part II since I didn't get to even half of my questions I wanted to ask her! I hope you will look forward to that with bated breath, as am I!

You can find Tazhi on Slack as @Tazhiana for Wool n' Spinning Community members to get in touch with her.

YouTube @ Stitches and Starlight

Instagram @tanglesandstarlight

Shop & Website @ Starlight Blends

Let her know how much you enjoyed her presence on the show by sending her a message and telling her how much she is appreciated!

Until next time,

Rachel & Rebecca

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

Thank you for joining us here on this episode of Wool n' Spinning Radio with Rachel's mom, Janet Smith. Mom talks about her art education, quilting and art journalling, as well as getting into a discussion about pigments, saturation and value, and more!

Thank you again to my mom, Janet, for joining us on the show! It was a pleasure to host you!

The audio podcast is available on all your major podcast apps - please search, like and subscribe!

I promised some photos of my mom's work. I tried to share some of her quilts, as well as some of her paintings and journals. Please go to the Patreon post associated with this episode to see them! Patreon link here.

As always, share your findings with us, either on the Slack Channel, #general, or in the Ravelry group! Be sure to share your projects, spins and makes using #woolnspinning so that others can see your progress! And don’t hesitate to tag me and Rebecca so that we can see your stuff as well!

Until next time, happy spinning and experimenting!

Warmly,

Rachel & Rebecca

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

We're starting fresh with Episode 89 and will be posting the back catalogue of episodes over time. 

Rebecca and I kick-start this episode with a look back at 2022 and hear from Rebecca about her year-long Sock Colour SAL that she hosted in the community. I really like the idea of having a smaller ALONG with everyone, based on a specific learning outcome around socks - about a yarn structure, colour management, fibre blend, etc. that would last a set amount of time. Let me know in the comments what you think! 

For those who haven't met Rebecca before, find out more on The Wool Circle Index here & find Rebecca Osborn here.

From there, we talked about challenges that came up in the year and finally, we introduce our Year of Colour! We talk about remaining nimble to be able to pivot, as well as spend more time on things as we need to. 

Our Year of Colour will begin with a couple of months on theory with Rachel and building our personal Colour Wheels with Rebecca. There seems to be three ways that people in our community are interacting with colour at this time:

• Dyeing
• Blending
• Managing colour (ie. in handpainted braids, combing colours in knitting/weaving, or other ways of engaging in colour)

Rachel will be putting out calls to the community each month for help with sampling and showing these different concepts in our handspun yarns - if you are interested, be sure to watch the Slack Channel (channel @spinningpurls) and Ravelry group (thread here) for more. 

See you next month with an interview with Rachel's mom, Janet! We can't wait!

Things we talked about on this episode:

• Spinning Staples Virtual Group here
• Queries & Explorations Virtual Group here
• Sock Colour SAL - Ravelry thread here
• Rachel's How I Spin: A Sock Study here (PDF)
• Color in Spinning by Deb Menz here
• ColorWorks by Deb Menz here

Music: Felicity by Scott Buckley – scottbuckley.com.au

Happy New Year!

Warmly,

Rachel & Rebecca

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

Today on the Radio show, Rebecca and I sat down to talk about the sheep and breeds that she came across at Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival recently. We chat a little bit about getting fibre preparation done, some of the road blocks to getting things started and more.

Patreon Post here

This was a stream-of-consciousness at 6am Pacific time - I hope you enjoy this off-the-cuff episode!

For more on Spinning Sheep Breeds and getting further down the rabbit hole of various classifications of wool, check out my workshop on the School of SweetGeorgia here.

We have explored washing sheep fleece in previous posts, specifically here. Within this post contains a list of posts that go through the classification of sheep breeds, including Fine & Medium, Longwools, Down & Down-like, and Double-Coated in multiple parts.

I also chronicle (through photos) a Farm-to-Yarn-to-Sweater prep, spin, dye and knit that I made several years ago, right after my dad died. It was a meditative project that offered a ton of quiet while I processed what had happened in such a short period of time. This sweater still holds an incredibly special place in my heart.

Comment below if there's a topic you'd like us to discuss & explore!

If you would like to be featured on Wool n' Spinning Radio, have a story to tell or want to discuss your making, please reach out to Rachel. You can leave a comment below or message her privately!

Until next time,

Keep Spinning!

Rachel & Rebecca

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

This month, we are joined by Emily Grace, who lives on a very small island off the coast of British Columbia. She is a long-time member of the Wool n' Spinning Community and I hope you enjoy getting to know her a bit better!

Direct YouTube Link

To find Emily Grace, you can find her on Slack as @Emily Grace

Patreon Link here

Thank you again to Emily Grace for coming onto the show!

If you would like to come onto Wool n' Spinning Radio as my guest, tell your story and let us get to know you some more, please send me a message and we will coordinate a time! You are always welcome!

Until next time,

Rachel

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

This month, we are joined by Rachel Richardson, who is a long-time member of Wool n' Spinning -- she's been an endless cheerleader for me and I hope you gain some knowledge, inspiration and maybe even develop your own daily practice from watching/listening to Rachel!

Direct YouTube Link.

Find Rachel on Instragram @raerich

and on the Slack channel as @Rachel Richardson

Please don't hesitate to reach out to Rachel! 

Thank to Rachel for joining me this month - I will definitely seek her out again once she's finished her flax journey to talk about that -- I'm sure we are all on pins and needles wondering about that! I hope you enjoyed our conversation!

Thank you again to Rachel for coming onto the show!

Patreon Link here

If you would like to come onto Wool n' Spinning Radio as my guest, tell your story and let us get to know you some more, please send me a message and we will coordinate a time! You are always welcome!

Until next time,

Rachel

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

This month we are joined by Brittany Vogt of Crux Fibres! I'm so excited to have Brittany on the show because she's a super active member of the Slack channel and if you've have a chance to follow her on Instagram, her feed is beautiful with amazing stories as well!

YouTube Link here

Follow Brittany on social media:

Crux Fibres on Instragram: @cruxfibres

YouTube channel: Crux Fibres

Website: Crux Fibres

Crux Fibres on Ravelry: @cruxfibres

And of course on the Slack Channel: @Brittany

Thank to Brittany for joining me this month! It was such a pleasure to chat with her and learn more about her journey. I hope you enjoyed our conversation!

Thank you again to Brittany for coming onto the show!

Patreon Link here

If you would like to come onto Wool n' Spinning Radio as my guest, tell your story and let us get to know you some more, please send me a message and we will coordinate a time! You are always welcome!

Until next time,

Rachel

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

In my mind this month I had rendered this and posted it, looking forward to everyone in the community 'meeting' Jenny and hearing her story, then wondering why those who have EARLY ACCESS weren't saying anything like they normally do ... Go check Patreon ... Oh. I forgot to actually schedule the post! But here it is now!

Join me in welcoming this month to Wool n' Spinning Radio, Jenny Solvaki, which is a very active member of the Slack community. You can also find her cheerleading others in the Ravelry group. We chat about her journey and how she found spinning, then we really get into her growing flax experiments from last summer. I hope you enjoy our conversation! Jenny is a magnetic personally - warm and friendly. Don't hestitate to reach out to her in the community to ask more questions. 

Direct YouTube link here.

Slack Channel: @Jenny S (redhead77)

Ravelry // Instagram: @redhead77

As with all of our guests, if you would like to hear more from them, please let me know so that I can invite them back!

Thank you again to Jenny for coming onto the show!

If you would like to come onto Wool n' Spinning Radio as my guest, tell your story and let us get to know you some more, please send me a message and we will coordinate a time! You are always welcome!

Until next time,

Rachel

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

This month, Dionne Carter from our very own community joined me to chat about her colour inspiration, how she got started spinning and more! Thank you to Dionne for taking the time to let us see a glimpse into her inspiration, thought process and amazing ability to combine colours. 

Direct YouTube link here. 

You can find Dionne on the Slack channel as @Dionne(Deej) 

For more about Charan's pottery, you can check him out here. 

Thank you again to Dionne for coming onto the show!

Patreon Link here

If you would like to come onto Wool n' Spinning Radio as my guest, tell your story and let us get to know you some more, please send me a message and we will coordinate a time! You are always welcome!

Until next time,

Rachel

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

I can't believe we are here already, again! Again! Another year and another Breed & Colour Study! This one is really exciting - it will last ALL YEAR. We will be studying Radnor and the colours are as you see them below! Super exciting.

Thank you once again to Katrina for dyeing, organizing and working so incredibly hard to make these happen for us. I know we've talked about how much work goes into the back-end of these studies, but this is another opportunity for us to just remind ourselves of the effort and work. Let's take a moment to say a special thank you to Katrina! 

I hope you enjoy our conversation about the study this time round, our reasons for making just the one for the year and more!

Patreon Link here

Happy Spinning & Happiest of New Years to you and yours!

Warmly,

Rachel

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

Direct YouTube link here.

I am so pleased to welcome another Wool n' Spinning Community member onto the show this month: Amanda Buckley. Many of you know Amanda from both the School of SweetGeorgia and Slack community but it's wonderful to welcome her here!

To find more of Amanda, here are some places to look her up:

Slack: @amanda

Instagram & Ravelry: @mandythephilomath

Please don't hesitate to reach out to her!

Thank you again to Amanda for coming onto the show!

If you would like to come onto Wool n' Spinning Radio as my guest, tell your story and let us get to know you some more, please send me a message and we will coordinate a time! You are always welcome!

Patreon Link here

Until next time,

Rachel

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

This month, we are joined by community member, Ange, who some of you will know from our Maker Mornings. Ange has been a part of our community for a long while and has been incredibly supportive of those spindle spinning in our #spindlespunsummer along that we've been finishing up! 

Watch on YouTube here

In answer to some questions she'd fielded on her YouTube channel, she made a great video about support spindling that many within our community have watched and found incredibly helpful! It can be found here if you haven't seen it (highly recommended!). 

YarnNYarns YouTube channel here

RainbowAnge on Instagram here

Things we talked about:

Soulful Spinning YouTube channel here

Enid Ashcroft spindles here

Woodland Handcrafts spindles here

The Spindle Shop here

Pattern via Ravelry: Aurealis by Jennifer Stiengass

Pattern via Ravelry: Bluebird of Happiness by Sara Elizabeth Kellner

Pattern via Ravelry: Hellik by Stephen West

Thank you so much to Ange for spending the time with me today & for sharing her journey!

I hope you will tune in again next month as I chat with more fibre people about their love of all things spinning, making & more!

If you would like to come onto Wool n' Spinning Radio as my guest, tell your story and let us get to know you some more, please send me a message and we will coordinate a time! You are always welcome!

Patreon Link here

Until next time,

Rachel

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

Welcome to a new month and a new fibre! We have never explored Pygora together and this is the month to do that! What fun!
Direct YouTube Link here.

Autumn has been working with Pygora for a while now and came to it organically as she was looking for cashmere fibre locally. Thank you for spending some time with me on the podcast today, Autumn! I truly appreciate your time and expertise!
There are links that need to be uploaded to this post but I will do that in the next few days so please check back soon!

• Pygora Breeder’s Association for breed and fiber information  pba-pygora.org
• Pygora Goat interest group on FB (open to anyone interested in reading and discussing pygora goats and their fiber) facebook.com/groups/PygoraGoats

Patreon Link here

Until next time,
Rachel

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

This month, we have a very special episode of Wool n' Spinning Radio with my friend and shepardess extradinaire, Rebecca Lamperd. Remember that the Radio show is most often available as video so click the link below!

Direct YouTube Link here.

To find her website, please have a look here. 

Rebecca is also a member of the Slack community, so please take a moment to say hello - she is @Rebecca Lamperd. 

Thank you for sharing your journey with us, Rebecca!

If you have an interesting journey and would like to tell your story from within our community, please reach out to me on Patreon, Slack or through email: rachel @ welfordpurls [dot] com

Patreon Link here

Until next time,

Rachel

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

This month, on Wool n' Spinning Radio, Rebecca answered a bunch of questions from myself about preparing for a long trip. As many of you know, Rebecca and her family will be on Sabbatical from their work in Nunavut for 5 months. I wanted to understand more about how she prepared for the making she would be doing while away!

Patreon Link here

Here are the rough questions I asked Rebecca about her preparations to travel:

1. What were you thinking about when you were first preparing for your trip? What were some of the projects you thought about initially? Did that change in your preparations?

2. What kind of preparation did you do? Carding? Combing? Etc.

3. How do you envision travelling with your projects? IE. Do you see yourself crafting while you are actually travelling (planes, trains, etc) or are you prepping more for when you are actually staying in places?

4. Do you have any plans to pick up projects along the way? Purchasing while travelling? Any ideas about where you would like to go? Anything you are particularly excited about?

Thank you for tuning in today!

If you have a story to tell about how you got started on your handspinning journey, a project you're working on that you think others would be interested in or anything else, please reach out! We'd love to have you as a guest.

Be sure to check out last month's episode of Wool n' Spinning Radio here.

Until next time,

Rachel & Rebecca

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

Direct YouTube link here. 

This month on Wool n' Spinning Radio, Katrina is joining me again for our introduction to Breed & Colour, as well as the breed reveal -- which I am SO EXCITED about! 

For FAQs, please check the #breed-and-colour-faq channel on Slack. Katrina will be watching that channel.

Ordering will be on Monday, July 12th @ 9am PDT. There will be a password to access the link closer to for patrons with DISCOUNT and after the first hour, the listing will be open for all but no discount. 

Patreon Link here

Super exciting! Welcome to those who are new to Breed & Colour Study! 

Warmly,

Rachel & Katrina

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

Direct YouTube link here. 

This month, we are chatting with Katrina of Crafty Jaks Boutique - our colour creator and dyer behind our bi-annual Breed & Colour Studies. As many of you know, we chat about the studies at the beginning and end to ground the colours, breed and more. It's good to connect with Katrina, hear her story about the study since her unique perspective is unlike ours in the community and hear about the process!

Thank you to those who participated in the study this time round, regardless of whether you ordered or not - it is wonderful to see these studies grow!

Patreon Link here

Information for our next study on carded fibre in coming in early July 2021. Please stay tuned!

Until next time,

Rachel & Katrina

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

Welcome to Heidi Lucey of Mad Caper Farms onto Wool n' Spinning Radio! I've known Heidi through Slack and Ravelry for a while now and her family runs their farm with Cheviots about 2-3 hrs from myself! While on the other side of the border in Washington, we share many things in common from weather to rain to sunny, happy summers. I hope you enjoy our conversation!

YouTube Direct Link here.

You can find Heidi in the following places:

Instagram: @MadCaperFarms

Facebook: @MadCaperFarms

Ravelry: @MadCaper

Slack: @MadCaper

More on Fiber Fusion here

Patreon Link here

Until next time,

Happy Spinning!

Rachel

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

Thank you for joining us this month! I am so pleased to be chatting with Erica this month about weaving with handspun yarns. 

Direct YouTube Link here. 

Erica can be found on the Slack channel as @jahanara and Instagram as @weavemage

She also has a podcast, called Fiber at the Speed of Life. 

Erica shares some of her learnings about weaving with handspun, sampling and organizing. We will be getting together to run you through some tutorials about weavolution.com (Patreon here) and organizing your yarns on there - stay tuned! 

Sarah Lamb's video here. Spin to Weave book here. 

In the meantime, please post any questions below you have that we can address next time we chat! 

Patreon Link here

Until next time,

Happy Spinning!

Warmly,

Rachel

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

Thank you for joining me this month with Greta Lyn! She is an active member of our community and can be found in the Ravelry group and Slack as @thewarmestrows -- as in the knitting rows of our garments (genius!). Please say hi to her as you get to know her on this fibery path to wonderful handspun!

If you would like to watch the interview, versus listening (or both), you can find our chat on YouTube here. 

Patreon Link here

Thank you for watching and thank you to Greta Lyn for chatting with me after her full morning, weaving! 

Warmly,

Rachel

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

For those wishing to watch instead of listen, the Direct YouTube link here.

I have a real treat for you this month with Rebecca (@rebbiejaye) and Alide joining me on this episode of Wool n' Spinning Radio! They were able to join me to chat about harvesting and spinning Qiviut, some thoughts about Arctic life and Alide's experiences with Qivuit. 

It was a lovely way to pass an evening and I want to say a special thank you to both of them for allowing me the time and space so that I could release this episode to you! If you choose to watch this month, Alide shares an actual Muskox hide with us and shows how she combs out the downy undercoat to be able to harvest the qiviut fibres. 

Enjoy listening and/or watching! 

Patreon Link here

Happy Spinning your luxury fibres this month!

Warmly,

Rachel

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

Direct YouTube link here. 

Those who are active on the Slack channel or Queries & Explorations will know Liz well -- she is the owner and operator of Kingdom Fleece & Fiberworks in Vermont! She has an aamzing story that I hope you enjoy hearing!

To get in touch with Liz or to find out more about the mill, the produces she carries and more, check it out here. 

She is @kingdom_fleece_and_fiberworks on the Slack channel - say hello!

Patreon Link here

Thank you again to Liz for the time to record and chat!

Warmly,

Rachel

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

Direct YouTube link here. 

This month, I had the immense pleasure of sitting down and chatting with active community member, Kelly of Kelly G. Knits, in Edmonton, Canada. Kelly is a very active member of our community. She is always lifting others up with encouragement, knowledge and kindness. 

You can find Kelly on social in the following places:

Her Ravelry profile (go friend her!) is here and her designs are here.

Instagram is here. 

Say hello on Slack - she is simply @kelly

Patreon Link here

Thank you again Kelly for joining me this month to chat - it was a lovely way to spend a morning!

Warmly,

Rachel

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

Direct YouTube link here. 

I have a real treat for you! Marce, Grace & Mina kindly joined me on Zoom to record a (very long) conversation about all things #flufftostuff2021! If you haven't heard about this really fun year-long make-along, please watch or listen on! 

To find out more about these amazing ladies, please check out their respective YouTube channels and give them a follow:

Mina  of The Knitting Expat Podcast

Grace of Babbles Traveling Yarns Podcast 

Marce of Hey BrownBerry Knitting Podcast

Thank you all for joining me and taking the time to chat!

 The Linktree of all the links for Fluff to Stuff is here. 

Enjoy this conversation - and I hope you will follow along with their journies, maybe participating yourself! I will be a guest on their Monthly Zoom Meetings in September so if you're interested in attending, be sure to buy a ticket & mark the date on your calendar when it is available. Links in the Tree! 

Patreon Link here

Until next time,

Rachel

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

This month, I have a really special guest to share with you! Sasha joined me to talk about The Flock, Spinning School and Breed Studies, and much more. 

This month's podcast episode is also available in video format for those wanting to watch the episode! That is available here. 

Thank you to Sasha for joining me - it was a pleasure to chat!

For more from Sasha, please visit sheepspot.com!

Patreon Link here

Warmly,

Rachel

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

This month, Rebecca and I sat down to discuss a slightly different topic that we don't often explore, which is about our journey to intentional spinning. Rebecca asked some incredibly thoughtful questions to ground our discussion and I would love to hear some of your thoughts - please leave your comments here!

Link to Patreon post here

The Journey of Intentional Spinning:

1. Can you describe your journey toward becoming an intentional spinner? What was your spinning like when you started? What drove you to become more intentional? Who were your teachers/resources? What practices helped you the most? Do you remember a breakthrough yarn or project?

2. ⁠Now that you’ve been an intentional spinner for a long time, what has changed? What is easier or harder now? How is your perspective different than you thought it would be? What practices have you held onto or let go of?

3. ⁠As a podcaster and spinning teacher, how does that impact your intentionality? How do you spin differently when you are teaching or producing “content” vs not?

4. What are some areas you'd like to continue to grow as an intentional spinner? Have you ever plateaued in your spinning - are there more advanced skills you'd still like to work on?

A few of the resources that Rachel discussed throughout the conversation:

Yarn-i-tec-ture: A Knitter's Guide to Spinning by Jillian Moreno here

The Essentials of Handspinning by Mabel Ross here

If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio and share your story, please get in touch, either on Patreon through direct message or email (rachel (@) welfordpurls (dot) com).

Do you have any practices in your spinning that revolutionized your yarns? We'd love to hear about it - please share in the comments here. 

Be sure to share this podcast episode with friends and family, like and subscribe, and leave a review if you are able - it helps to increase the podcast's visibility when searching for new things to listen to!

Until next time,

Happy Spinning!

Warmly,

Rachel & Rebecca

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

Katrina and I were able to connect and discuss the newest Breed & Colour Study! I am excited to announce that we will be spinning Shetland this time round. We will also be studying natural shades, as well as an interesting mix of colour - including yellows, peach and oranges, against black and blue. 

The natural shades for the bases include creamy-white, warm oatmeal grey and moorit. All are interesting in their own way, changing the handle of the colours. How will you spin yours?!

As always, I'm excited to be starting another study. Purchasing fibre is not necessary -- anyone can join us! Katrina and I just provide the option for you! You can source your own and dye it yourself ... the sky's the limit!

Patreon Link here

Warmly,

Rachel

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

Welcome! I had an opportunity to sit down at the end of November 2020 to chat with Megan and Rebecca to discuss their study of 51 Yarns over the past 2 years! Group A started their study in January 2019 and worked through the book over 24 months. It was a marathon of yarns but amazing as well!

Group B is continuing their study for one more year and will be finishing in December 2021. Thank you for your continued participation in this marathon study! 

This month's conversation is available as both an audio pocast AND videocast - the link for the videocast is here. Enjoy!

Direct YouTube Link here.

Patreon Link here

Until next month,

Happy Spinning!

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

Note: This episode has been updated to include a ~15 minute conversation - please check it out and listen from ~27 minutes in!

Can you believe that we are at the end of another Breed & Colour Study?! 

We started Breed & Colour Study in July 2016. The evolution of the study has grown and changed over the years but the overall goals are the same - learn, study, reflect and grow! 

This study was challenging for a few reasons: 

1. Staples are short (1.5 - 2.5 inches),

2. Might be many second cuts since these are not sheep kept for fleece (shearing is utilitarian - it's a means to an ends - ie. get the fleece off), and

3. Matte, lack-lustre striking of the dye on this wool leaving almost chalk-like colour

It's actually too bad that these sheep are mainly meat-centric because, although the fleece is short stapled, in a woollen preparation with woollen-style spinning, it is a finer wool and spins easily. It is fine to medium in quality but I think it has tremendous potential and certainly pushes us out of our often limited focus on certain wools. This is where and how we grow as spinners -- to spin other breeds and fibres! 

To learn about my study on the Charollais, please check out these links:

How I Spin Transcript - Part I

How I Spin Vlog - Part I

How I Spin Transcript - Part II

How I Spin Vlog - Part II

How I Spin Transcript & Vlog - Part III (bonus content, public links)

Community Participation

Sherri's finished yarn here

Megan's pillowcases here

Maggie's waffle shawl here

References

Ekarius, C. & Robson, D. (2011). The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook. Storey Publishing: North Adams, MA. 

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

Rebecca (@rebbiejaye) and I were able to connect back at the end of August. As always, I so enjoyed our time together and we inevitably got talking about luxury fibres. Rebecca lives in a part of the world where coming across qivuit is not rare and we chatted about making some luxury blends from the amazing fibre. 

This marks the beginning of our How I Spin study on Luxury Fibres for the next number of months - I'm not sure how long we will remain in this place of studying 'luxury' but I hope you will comment below about what constitutes a luxury to you.

Thank you for listening!

Warmly,

Rachel

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

This month on Wool n' Spinning Radio, Marce (@heybrownberry) and I sat down to have a knit and a chat! Marce is enthusiastic, kind, creative and mindful. It is a pleasure to chat with her, hear about her projects and listen to some of her ideas about the greater making community. I hope you enjoy our conversation. 

As with previous months, Wool n' Spinning Radio is also available in video format. Please check it out here. 

If you would be interested in joining me on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out! 

All photos featured in the videocast & thumbnail are copyright Marceline Smith 2020.

Some of the things we talked about:

Tarheelbilly Farm's website here (American Tunis)

Cat & Sparrow Fibers here

John Arbon Textiles here

Ankestrick JUist 2.0 Sweater here

Shave 'em to Save 'em - rarewool.org

Patreon Link here

Until next time,

Happy Spinning!

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

Welcome to another month of Wool n' Spinning Radio! 

This month, the episode is available on video and audio! For the videocast this month, please head here.

Direct YouTube Link here. 

Catherine and I talk about lots of things. Here are some of the links and the ways to get in touch with Catherine:

Small Bird Workshop on Etsy here

Small Bird Workshop website here

Small Bird Workshop Instagram here

Patreon Link here

Until next time,

Happy Spinning!

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

Thank you for tuning into Wool n' Spinning Radio this month! I am pleased to welcome my friend, Leah Churchley, to the podcast. I have worked with Leah on the video editing for SweetGeorgia Yarns for my classes but have known Leah for longer. She has a very interesting story to tell in relation to her making and I hope you enjoy our conversation. Please share in the comments your thoughts about chronic illness & making - I am curious about your journey. If you'd like a chance to tell your story, please reach out: rachel @ welfordpurls [dot] com.

To watch the video production of this month's Wool n' Spinning Radio episode, please check it out here. 

Direct YouTube Link here. 

To follow Leah's journey (and her cats), you can find her on Instagram @thecraftycolon

Patreon Link here

Until next time,

Happy Spinning & Making!

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!

Dear Spinning Circle,

This month I was able to catch up with Lauraline, a new spinner who's made an amazing jump in spinning skill due to some really useful tips that helped her make quick progress. She shares what she's done and her reflections in this episode - I hope you find it helpful! Be sure to reach out to her and let her know also!

Find Lauraline on IG & Ravelry as @LauTricote

Slack ID @Lauraline

Patreon Link here

Until next time - happy sample spinning!

Warmly,

Rachel

If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

***

Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to rachel@welfordpurls.com.

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!