The New York State

Dutchess County Fairgrounds • Rhinebeck, NY

October 15-18, 2026

NYS Sheep & Wool Workshop

Registration Opens Sunday, July 26th, 12:00 PM EDT
Freestyle Weaving for the Creative Spirit - Thurs PM
Date: Thursday (10/15)
Time: 1:00 PM-
4:00 PM
Fee: $75.00
Duration: Half Day
Skill Level: Open to All
Category: Weaving
Sold Out

Weave your heart! Learn to weave freestyle and free-spirited on a simple, easy-to-use floor loom. Experiment with color, texture, and technique, and go home with a unique piece of woven art that reflects your creative spirit (yes, you do have one!). Students will learn the basic skills of freestyle weaving on a highly approachable, easy-to-use two-harness floor loom. The class will emphasize play and individual exploration of color and texture in the service of personal expression; a few simple weaving techniques will be taught along the way. Students will take home what they weave.

Freestyle Weaving for the Creative Spirit - Thurs PM
Liza Q Wirtz
Liza Q
Wirtz
Foldout Cat

Liza Q. Wirtz, better known as Q (aka the Chief Feline), runs multifaceted fiber-arts business The Foldout Cat from her home studio in Alabama with the frequent and welcome assistance of partners Fiber J and Maker J and the help of a fluctuating number of cats. Q has been weaving in a freestyle/free-spirited tradition since 2015, carding multi-fiber batts and rolags since 2018, spinning since 2018, and dyeing since 2021. She teaches freestyle weaving, art-batt carding, and basic experiential spinning with the same philosophy that infuses her praxis: create from your heart, make what gives you joy, and put beauty into the world. Q wholeheartedly believes that everyone's an artist and that giving people access to fiber-arts tools and learning lets them prove it to themselves.

Q also sells one-of-a-kind art batts built from the Foldout Cat's unique Batt Buffet, handspun yarn, hand-dyed microbatch yarn and fiber, simple fiber-arts tools, and handwoven finished items. She has taught, vended, or both at fiber events and workshops in multiple states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. Find her as FoldoutCat on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok and on her website, foldoutcat.com, or email her at queue@foldoutcat.com.

All Workshops By This Instructor

Workshop TitleCategoryDateStart TimeFeeDetails
Freestyle Weaving for the Creative Spirit - Thurs AMWeavingThu (10/15)9:00 AM$75.00
Freestyle Weaving for the Creative Spirit - Thurs PMWeavingThu (10/15)1:00 PM$75.00
Freestyle Weaving for the Creative Spirit - Fri AMWeavingFri (10/16)9:00 AM$75.00
Freestyle Weaving for the Creative Spirit - Fri PMWeavingFri (10/16)1:00 PM$75.00
Electric Sheep: Exploring E-Spinners - Sat AMSpinningSat (10/17)10:00 AM$75.00
Electric Sheep: Exploring E-Spinners - Sat PMSpinningSat (10/17)2:00 PM$75.00
Material fee
$65
fee includes
Use of warped two-harness floor loom; use of associated tools (shuttles, bobbins, etc.); access to and use of a wide variety of different weaving materials, such as yarn in various fibers, colors, and textures, embroidery floss, fabric scraps, fiber, trim, beads, wire, Mylar, etc. Each student will also get a bag of fibery treasures to keep; these can be used in class, in a future weaving, or both.
Payment instructions
The instructor will invoice via PayPal and expect to be paid ahead of time.
prerequisites
None
Homework
None
Items to bring
N/A; instructor will provide all necessary tools and materials. If students want to bring something personally meaningful to them to incorporate into their weaving if possible, they're welcome–indeed, encouraged–to do so. Some past examples: specialty paper, pieces of jewelry (this is a fun use for unmatched earrings and stray pendants), dyed or undyed fiber, handspun (their own or someone else’s), leftover quantities of treasured yarn too small to knit or crochet into a finished item. (Note: any yarn students bring MUST already be wound into a cake or ball.) Otherwise, students just need to bring their willingness to experiment and explore–and to practice imperfection!

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