Yarn Spinning Workshops and Tutorials
Learn how to masterfully spin yarn today!
Ready to spin your way to the yarn of your dreams? Let me guide you through the process and give you the tools and techniques you need to bring your vision to life.
With my workshops, you’ll have the power to create custom yarns perfectly suited to your projects, and gain the confidence to take on even the most challenging spinning endeavors.
And with live online, on-demand, and in-person options available, there’s a workshop format that’s perfect for your learning style and busy schedule.
Sign up today and take your spinning skills to the next level!
Online and On-demand Workshops
Skill-Focused
Workshops that build foundational yarn spinning skills and techniques
Beginning Spinning: Back to Basics
Perfect for:
Beginners – Advanced
Quality handspun yarn starts with strong foundational skills and habits. Learn how with best practices, tips, and tricks to create the handspun yarn of your dreams with guidance from a Master Spinner.
Plying Fundamentals
Perfect for:
Beginners – Intermediate
Gain essential skills and discover the necessary tools to create beautiful, well-balanced plied yarns.
Fiber Preparation & Drafting Techniques
Perfect for:
Beginners – Intermediate
Learn essential fiber prep and drafting techniques for successful spinning. Build a strong foundation for achieving your desired yarn results.
Spinning for Consistency
Perfect for:
Beginners – Advanced
Spinning consistent yarn might seem like a challenge, but that’s only when you don’t know the tricks and tips! Let me show you how to achieve consistent handspun yarn quickly and easily.
Spinning For Drape
Perfect for:
Advanced beginners – Advanced
Discover how to infuse your handspun yarns with the desired quality of drape, adding elegance to shawls, tops, and various handspun yarn projects.
Copying a Commercial Yarn
Perfect for:
Advanced beginners – Advanced
Learn how to create handspun yarns that seamlessly match commercial yarns for your next knitting, weaving, or crochet project.
Plying Beyond The Basics:
Novelty Yarns
Perfect for:
Advanced beginners – Advanced
Once you’ve mastered basic plying techniques, come learn advanced plying approaches to create novelty art yarns that are unique and designed by you!
Mastering
Twist & Grist
Perfect for:
Intermediate – Advanced
Twist and grist impact the density of your handspun yarns and resulting projects. Learn how to control them to create stunning and functional pieces!
The Organized Spinner
Perfect for:
Beginners – Advanced
Being an organized spinner doesn’t mean buying extra storage bins. Learn tips and techniques to help you free up your creativity and time for projects.
Infectious Enthusiasm & Great Class!
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Right out the gate I felt like Alanna was there cheering me on and truly wants all of her students to succeed. Her enthusiasm for spinning & fiber arts is infectious and I feel more confident in my spinning!
Project-Focused
Workshops that guide you when you’re spinning yarn with a project in mind
Spinning For Socks
Perfect for:
Advanced beginners – Advanced
Learn how to create handspun yarn that will be perfect for your next pair of handmade knitted socks in this on-demand workshop. Everything from fiber prep to controlling yarn diameter will be explored.
Yarn & Fiber Planning
Perfect for:
Intermediate – Advanced
This workshops will show you how to effortlessly calculate fiber and spin exquisite yarn for your next handspun project.
Spinning For A Project
Perfect for:
Intermediate – Advanced
Spin yarn for your projects with confidence as I share essential techniques and masterful tips for achieving your envisioned handspun yarn outcomes.
Planning & Spinning For a Project
Get the best of both workshops with my ‘Spinning for a Project’ and ‘Yarn & Fiber Planning’ workshop bundle.
These sessions combined will give you a comprehensive look at spinning techniques ensuring you have just the right amount of fiber and type of yarn for any project you dream up.
Grab this bundle now and save 10% off my spinning strategy playbook.
This was a joy to experience!
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Color & Creativity-Focused:
Workshops exploring color’s impact and creative approaches to making handspun yarn
Spinning With Color
Perfect for:
Beginner – Advanced
Master the art of color control in your handspun yarn. Learn blending techniques, carding methods, and drafting skills to transform your projects.
Creative Color Play – Stash Diving
Perfect for:
Advanced beginners – Advanced
Unlock endless color possibilities by learning how to combine different dyed rovings and tops from your stash into creative projects by taking this workshop.
Spinning Gradient Yarns
Perfect for:
Advanced beginners – Advanced
Gradient yarns can set off a knitting or weaving project so come learn how to utilize color theory and make your next handspun project stand out!
Planning For A Gradient Tutorial
Perfect for:
Intermediate – Advanced
Wouldn’t it feel great to know exactly how your color pairing with a project will turn out before you begin? This tutorial will help you envision your final project’s color layout instantly.
Lectures
How I Approach Creativity as a Fiber Artist ( & You Can Too!)
Discover new ways to spark ideas and grow your creative practice with my hour-long pre-recorded lecture on approaching creativity in fiber art. In this session, I share the many pathways I use when creating my own work, from playful experimentation with color and texture to developing ideas through weaving, spinning, and dyeing.
You will see how I move from inspiration to finished pieces and how you can do the same in a way that feels authentic to you. This lecture is designed to give you practical tools and encouraging guidance so you can explore your ideas with confidence, curiosity, and a sense of joy in the process.
Created for spinners, dyers, weavers, and anyone who wants to feel more connected to their creative voice.
Weaving with AI
Curious about AI but want a fiber first approach? In this one hour lecture, I share how I use my weaving as the starting point for AI driven experimentation. You will see my process, learn how to write better prompts, and get ideas for using your stash in fresh, creative ways.
Perfect for spinners, dyers, weavers, and anyone who wants to learn how AI can be incorporated into your creative practice.
Another Stellar Class!
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Yarn Dyeing Content
Dyeing workshops, lectures, and resources designed to help dyers like yourself improve their organization, consistency, and creativity.
Creating A Digital Dye Notebook
Perfect for:
Beginners – Advanced
Streamline your dyeing documentation with the Digital Dye Notebook workshop. Get a customizable template for recipes, inventory, and color inspirations. Perfect for efficient dye management.
Color, Fiber, & Dye Lecture
Perfect for:
Beginners – Advanced
A lecture exploring how our perception of color influences how we utilize color as dyers, spinners, weavers, and fiber artists.
Planning For A Gradient Tutorial
Perfect for:
Intermediate – Advanced
Gradient yarns are gorgeous but If you would like to know exactly how your color pairing with a project will turn out before you begin, this tutorial is for you!
Dyeing Tips & Methods
Perfect for:
Beginners – Intermediate
Setting up your dye space and materials can be daunting but it doesn’t have to be if you have someone with experience to guide you. Check out my tips and tricks to help make your first time dyeing go smoothly.
Upcoming live virtual workshops
Color Alchemy Masterclass
An online course
Learn how to confidently translate inspiration photos into intentional dye palettes and repeatable color results through an in-depth combination of color theory, practical dye techniques, and creative experimentation.
- Color matching & palette development
- Dye formulas, sampling & repeatable results
- On-demand lessons + live support sessions
Sign up for my newsletter to be informed when new live virtual spinning workshops are scheduled.
Upcoming in-person spinning workshops
Lambtown
(October 1st – 4th)
Dixon May Fairgrounds
Dixon, California
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Spinning for a Project
- Color Exploration with Dyed Tops
- Continental and Combination Knitting
- Spinning Back to Basics
NY Sheep & Wool at Rhinebeck
(October 15th-18th)
Dutchess County Fairgrounds,
Rhinebeck, NY
- (SOLD OUT) Beginning Spinning
- Plying Beyond The Basics
Sign up for my newsletter to be informed when new in-person spinning workshops are scheduled.
Previous Festivals & Fiber Events:
NY Sheep & Wool Rhinebeck, NY
Workshops run the 3rd weekend in October and I usually teach on the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday sessions.
TWIST Fiber Festival Quebec, Canada
Workshops run around the second weekend in August starting on Thursday through Sunday.
MAFA (Virtual)
Workshops run throughout the year with their in person event taking place in June. I will teach virtual workshops for them throughout the year.
Is there a festival or fiber event you would like take a workshop with me at?
Let me know where I should teach next!
Free Tutorials & Resources
Check out the interviews, presentations, and demonstrations that delve deeper into the world of the fiber arts and spinning.
Fiberside Chat Interviews
I talk with dyers, shepherds, and other fiber arts related individuals to learn more about what they love about the fiber arts and to get to know a little bit more about the products they produce.
Fiber Art Lectures
The lectures consist of either presentations I’ve put together for other groups or discussions I’ve had with others in the fiber arts community.
Yarn Spinning Demos
Short educational clips from either workshops I’ve taught or demos that I put together to help people improve their spinning skills. Watching these will give you a sense of what taking a workshop with me would be like.
Guild Programs
Workshops & Lectures For Fiber Groups & Guilds
(Both Virtual & In-person)
Are you part of a guild or group looking to spice up your fiber arts game? I’m here to help you design an unforgettable learning adventure for your members!
Drawing from over 20 years as a fiber artist and educator, I specialize in creating workshops and lectures that are just the right fit for your group. Tailoring content to your unique interests, I share insights and techniques that have shaped my journey, aiming to inspire and elevate your own.
Starting a Fiber or Breed Study? Let’s dive deep! I’ll lead your members through a workshop packed with organizational hacks and valuable insights, drawing from the very techniques I embraced on my way to becoming a Master Spinner. It’s all about enriching your journey with knowledge and fun.
Fascinated by Color Theory? Dive into the world of color with me. My live virtual lectures (don’t worry, they’re recorded for everyone to catch up) will immerse your members in the vibrant side of the fiber arts. Get ready for a wave of creativity to sweep through your group’s projects after they embrace my approach to color work.
Let’s make your guild’s next session a memorable one. Together, we can transform your fiber arts experience into something truly extraordinary.
What Is A Virtual Workshop Like?
Haven’t attended or organized a virtual workshop or lecture for your guild before?
No worries!
Check out what taking an online workshop with me is like.
I’ll take care of all the tech, recording, and distribution so your members can enjoy the experience wherever and whenever is convenient for them.
Hosting An In-Person Workshop
Do you have a group of 10 or more people interested in learning about spinning yarn, color theory, or project planning with handspun in mind?
I can teach any of the workshop topics listed above or I can create a unique learning experience with a topic that is focused around what you and your friends are interested in learning more about.
Possible workshop topics to explore:
Foundational spinning skills
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- Drafting
- Worsted & Woolen spinning
- Plying
- Fiber preparation
- Wheel mechanics and maintenance
Spinning with a project in mind
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- Sweaters
- Socks
- Knitting
- Weaving
Exploration of spinning concepts
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- Twist
- Grist
- Wraps per inch
- Twists per inch
- Twist angle
- Consistency
- Color theory for carding
- Spinning dyed fiber
- Novelty yarns
Color, Fiber, & Dye
My most popular virtual lecture
Beginner – Advanced
An on-demand lecture exploring how our perception of color influences how we utilize color as dyers, spinners, weavers, and fiber artists.
Let's plan something fun together!
Looking to stay informed?
We’ve got you covered!
Even though I’m the lead instructor and creative force behind this operation, Glenn is our brand ambassador and resident goofball.
Together, we aim to bring the joy of creation, vibrant color, and a touch of humor to fellow fiber artists and enthusiasts.
Want to stay connected with us?
The best way is to sign up for my monthly newsletter (and don’t forget to add my email to your safe sender list!).
After that, be sure to explore my other social media links to keep up with all the fun.
Interested in exploring color matching by blending dyed fiber or dyeing your own fiber?
Check out my in-depth course, Color Alchemy Masterclass, and go from color inspiration to color application quickly.
Struggling working with color in your handspun yarns?
If your spinning results don’t match your color vision, it’s time for a new approach. A New Spin On Color offers clear, step-by-step guidance on mastering color in spinning, transforming frustration into creativity and confidence.
Discover over 20 techniques to control color outcomes in your yarns. See the difference in both skeins and swatches, and envision your success with ease.
Ready to spin with intention?
