There are fewer than 65 spaces total for this incredible handspinning experience! Spend four days expanding your skills and deepening your passion for spinning in one of America’s most beautiful places, the Colorado Chautauqua in Boulder. Learn from some of the greatest spinners and fiber artists in the world, including:
You’ll study with accomplished fiber arts teachers, connect with fellow spinners from around the world, and appreciate the natural beauty and historic surroundings of the Colorado Chautauqua.
All accommodations, breakfasts, lunches, dinners, classes, materials fees, and evening events are included, but space is limited. Tickets start at $2,499.99 for the full retreat.
All COVID-19 CDC guidelines will be followed throughout the event. We will offer full refunds for any reason until August 24, 2021 (30 days prior to the event).
There’s a leap of faith when you draw back your fiber source before the twist enters. Will the loose fibers come together as yarn? Will the inevitable lumps and bumps resolve themselves, even out in plying, or remain as uneven spots? From cashmere for airy Orenburg lace to alpaca for hard-wearing Andean warp, learn to use these versatile drafting methods to spin versatile yarns.
Springy, crimpy Clun Forest wool is “not known well enough for such a versatile, elastic, bouncy wool!” says Deborah Robson in The Fleece & Fiber Sourcebook. In this class, spinners will fix that, exploring washed locks from this threatened heritage breed. Sourced from nearby Niwot, Colorado, the fiber will be enough to qualify for a sticker in your Shave ’Em to Save ’Em Passport.
Have you been wanting to try some Florida Cracker? The newest addition to The Livestock Conservancy’s sheep list, it has the highest conservation priority of the breeds in the Shave ’Em to Save ’Em Initiative. Spinners will explore and spin washed locks of this unusual breed, which Deborah Robson calls “a fun wool, finer and slicker than Clun Forest.” Participating in Shave ’Em to Save ’Em? You’ll receive a qualifying quantity of the fiber (and a sticker for your Passport).
Book- and briefcase-style charkhas—largely used for spinning cotton singles—are captivating, self-contained little devices. However, the learning curve can feel steep. Learn tips and tricks to begin a charkha practice: exploring multiple types and preparations of cotton to find your best fit, understanding adjustments and lubrication, seated positions and ergonomics, troubleshooting, yarn handling, the beauty of corn-husk bearings, and more. Learn to listen to your charkha, tune it like an instrument, and adjust your movements to spin in harmony.
Do you want a yarn that is textured but still subtle? Have ends, little scraps of yarn, no matter the fiber, too precious to throw away? Want the perfect yarn for making that classic walking coat for the rainy moors of Scotland? Tweed is the yarn that can make these all happen. Learn to spin yarns that embrace flecks, neps, and even felted wool and recycled yarn.
If you’re fascinated by shifu and washi paper or just looking for a new cellulose fiber, try spinning paper, an old and honorable art that’s also fun and easy to do. It makes beautiful, washable and oh-so-wearable yarn. In this workshop, we’ll spin several different types of paper, including mulberry, recycled, and handmade. We’ll learn how to spin a variety of diameters, produce different surfaces and textures, and look at interesting ways to use these wonderful and unusual yarns.
Weave your own shoelaces! Tablet weaving uses a set of simple cards as a loom to create ribbons or bands that rely on twist direction to create intricate designs. Besides being beautiful and fun to weave, these are superstrong laces that may very well last longer than your shoes. And your shoes will thank you for taking the time to make them look even better.
Are you frustrated with an older spinning wheel? Does the repair seem impossible? In this session, Heavenly will present and demonstrate the in’s and out’s for assessing a spinning wheel for repair and the appropriate materials for the job. This session involves hands-on instruction, including replacing a footman with other materials, flyer hook repair, and other neat tricks and tips for future repairs.
Fine luxury fibers like cashmere, camel down, qiviut, and buffalo work really well when spun into finer yarns. This can have you treadling briskly as you spin them—or you could reach for a small spindle and get more yarn faster. This class is an introduction to fine yarn spinning on small supported spindles. We will be spinning many luxury fibers using the tahkli, bead whorl, and Ahka or Thai-style spindles.
Two Navajo holy people, Spider Woman and Spider Man, gave weaving to the Navajo. Spider Man constructed the first loom, composed of sunshine, lightning, and rain, and Spider Woman taught the people how to weave on it. As Lynda teaches and demonstrates the art of traditional Navajo weaving, she will also teach about Navajo history, culture, and the weaving legacy of her family. Students will begin with a fully warped upright loom and learn to weave and design in the traditional way.
Just as artists mix paints to get the colors they want, spinners can do the same with dyed fiber and handpainted braids. You’ll blend dyed roving to make a color wheel and play with color theory, then design and spin yarns that can be quietly heathered, brightly marled, or tweedy. You can design your own “braid” or spin a gradient with smooth transitions. Next, you’ll look at how different braids are dyed, spinning a braid to see how many looks you can get. Get all the fun of playing with color, without the dyepot.
Learn to spin beautiful strong silk yarn suitable for tablet weaving—and learn the basics of tablet weaving, too. This two-day workshop will teach you the secrets of spinning the most glorious fiber created by worm. You’ll create a tablet-woven sample using cotton yarns, giving you the skills to make beautiful silk ribbons with simple tools.
When you think about the “Wild West” of North America, you may picture horses, cowboys, and great rolling grasslands full of long-horned cattle. But when Judith moved to Montana, she found an amazing range of fibers. Many, like sweet grass, had been used for thousands of years. New ones, like bison down and locally produced cashmere, were still exciting experiments. Exquisitely fine wooled sheep were abundant, and new sheep breeds including the Columbia were developed here. In this class, we’ll have a look at fibers that were used precontact and some of the fibers such as Columbia, Montana cashmere, and bison that have become available recently.
Wild silks are unique, exquisite fibers that are perfect for the handspinner’s stash. When compared to bombyx silk, they are less slippery, shorter, and often easier to spin. These silks are quite desirable and great candidates for blending especially considering their beautiful range in natural colors. Let’s go wild and learn special blending techniques and get comfortable using a variety of wild silk on a drumcarder, blending board, and handcards. In this class, you will learn how to create colorful, elegant, and sophisticated blends that are worthy of spinning.
Hemp may seem like the newest fiber craze, but spinners have been working with bast fibers for millennia. For fabric that’s cool and comfortable in the summer heat, long-lasting, and improves with each washing, there’s nothing better than bast fibers such as flax, ramie, and hemp. This is an introduction to the unique ways to prep and spin the bast fibers with skill, ease, and pleasure.
If you weave, spin, knit, crochet, cross-stitch, needlepoint, hand-stitch, braid (kumihimo), create silk fusion, fiber art, nuno felt, mixed media or make paper, you'll find the silk that works for you at Treenway Silks
Visit Eugene Textile Center's retail shop for equipment and materials for the fiber arts, as well as studios for weaving and surface design. They offer classes and studio support for anyone with an interest in handweaving, surface design on cloth, and other non-woven fiber techniques.
We have been designing handweaving and handspinning equipment since 1969. It's been pleasurable and challenging to learn how closely our products tie in with the craftsperson's work. We realize that the quality of this work depends on the quality of our tools.
Long Thread Media serves content for the handspinning, handweaving, and traditional needlework communities online, in person, and in print. The company was founded by Linda Ligon, Anne Merrow, and John Bolton to publish Handwoven, PieceWork, and Spin Off, as well as offer information, education, and community to crafters in those fields.
SOAR is brought to you by Long Thread Media LLC.
