Dear Spinning Circle,

Welcome back to another Radio episode! This month, Rebecca sat Rachel down to quiz her about working through longer projects. It came from a discussion back in August at Knit City Calgary 2024. For context, let's set the table: Back in 2019, you were struggling with the idea of how to justify the time and effort to put into a really big spinning project to weave an heirloom piece. Do you remember that feeling?

What is the Biggest Project you’ve ever completed? How long did it take? How did you feel about it at the end vs. the beginning? How did it change things for you?

Gentle Morning by Trin-Annelie here

Cheviot 3-ply handspun for Gentle Mornning here (1000 yards / 355 grams)

Rideau-Arcott/Charollais 4-ply handspun here (1600 yards / 550 grams)

What kind of big project dreams do you have right now? What, for you, is the motivation behind them?

Aside from the obvious limitations of hours in the day (which is huge and should be acknowledged), do you feel like anything else is holding you back from trying one? How do we give ourselves permission to pursue projects like this?

Compare big projects - like spinning to weave for a coat, etc. - a sampling-heavy or learning-heavy big project, like Year of Yarn, Year of Colour (available for purchase), or a Certificate program. How is the process different? How are they easier or harder to justify? How does each one change you as a maker?

A can-of-worms question: do you think of these pieces as “art”? Would doing so change their perceived value?

How do you manage longer spins, especially those that are colour monotonous? How do you plan for these larger projects? Please share below!

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Thank you for tuning in!

Rachel & Rebecca

Dear Spinning Circle,

Rebecca sat down with long-time active community member, Rebecka Roy, known as Becca and @bethy40 on Slack. Becca has been working on her Spinning Certificate of Achievement, from the Association of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers, throughout the past four years. With the recent discussions within the Wool n’ Spinning community about Spinning Certification programs, we thought it would a great opportunity to sit down and hear about Becca’s experience.

I hope you enjoy our conversation. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

Happy Spinning!

Dear Spinning Circle,

Rebecca and I had the pleasure of sitting down with Maxwell Stein of @maxwillspin (IG) over the past month. We chatted about his origin story, spindle spinning and teaching, as well as how his music influences his making. I hope you enjoy our conversation - I would love to have Max back on the show. If you have any questions you'd like to ask him, please post them below so that I can address them next time he appears!

Wool n' Spinning Radio (previous episodes) here

Wool n’ Spinning Radio Collection (Patreon) here

Remember to leave a review of the audio podcast wherever you catch your podcasts - it really helps the show be seen and heard by others looking for similar content! Thank you from the bottom of my toes!

Until next time,

Happy Spinning!