Category: Yarn Structure

1 days

Thick, soft, fuzzy yarns make quick projects and have a special charm. Claims that thick yarns are harder to spin as you gain experience, can be put out to pasture. A few easy techniques and some intentional practice will have you spinning thicker yarns. Bring your spinning wheel with the largest orifice, to improve your techniques. Blending boards and drum carders are the excellent preparation tools. Learn how to use both and fatten up your yarn stash.

1 day

Simply ply! The task sounds so easy, but this last step can make or break a handspun plan. Hidden in many closets, poorly plied yarns reside with a corresponding fear of ruining the whole project. Over-plying and under-plying can be easily recognized and corrected. Banish your fears and learn various ways to ply and finish smooth lovely yarn.

1-2 days

Novelty yarns are usually the first yarns to catch our eyes with their alluring textures. Although there are untold variations to these yarns, there really are five basic recipes – that shape most of the hand spin-able yarn types. Learn to do a cable yarn, a knotted yarn, a lopi-style singles, a textured spiral, and a core-spun bouclé. Then you can vary each type by fiber, color and sizes spun. The worksheets for this class focus on wool and mohair fibers.

1 day

Amazingly resilient and strong, spiral yarns can be created by breaking the cardinal rule of always plying together singles that were spun in the same direction. Isn’t it illegal to ply an S and a Z together? Learn the important factors and avoid the problems spinning teachers warn against. Master this yarn construction and adapt it to several different fibers. This construction is favored by students who spin soft yarns.

1-2 days

How CAN I make that yarn? Inquiring minds want to know. Start with Patsy’s secret yarn decoder! Student pairs will decode fancy yarn samples to understand the variety of structures utilized and how they affect later usage. You will be ready to spin the yarn you want once equipped with the structure information and wheel mechanics. Worksheets, a decoder, yarns and fiber will be provided. You may bring a commercial yarn and fiber for matching. Open to all textile students.

1 day

A distinctive interlocking cable or braided look differentiates cable or crepe yarns from all of the other 4-ply yarns. Cabled yarns are very decorative, round and fascinating. Plying a plied yarn on itself creates it. A few easy to learn techniques guarantee success. They can be made thick or thin, multicolored or solid, smooth or textured. Spend a day learning all of the ins and outs of cabling and making crepe yarns.

1-2 days

Wondering how to get the most out of your painted rovings? This class encourages and teaches you how to explore a variety of options and yarn styles with painted rovings. Learn to anticipate and spin toward your desired goals. Spin tweedy or colorful yarns, or perk-up or tone-down the roving colors. You can create thick or thin or fancy yarns for accents, plus you can spin coordinating yarns for a project. We will explore, spin, and discuss many options.

1 day

Bubbly, bouncy, bewitching, and beautiful! Break out of the spinning doldrums and put some excitement back in your projects. Bouclé yarns add that special spark to your knitted or woven creations. You will be taught techniques to spin wild and imaginative or reproducible and warp-able bouclé yarns. Explore the possibilities and spin the most expensive, fancy, bouclé-style yarns. You’ll learn techniques for record keeping, allowing you to repeat the yarns you wish to spin again.

1-2 days

Wonderful options begin with the blending process. The workshop focuses equally on hand-carding and drum-carding. Sampling with hand cards shows how various factors affect the blending process. Drum carding is used to understand the different dynamics that come with blending fibers in quantity. A large batch of fibers is blended by two partners, pooled together and divided among all students. You will learn how to sample and record the processes for future reference.