Workshop Info

Spinners are usually reluctant to spin luxury fibers for many reasons; not only can they be costly and hard to come by, they require knowledge of the fibers to spin them successfully. This class will take the mystery out of spinning some of the well known luxury fibers. As a successful fiber farmer of 15 years, I have had been surrounded by luxury fiber production from beginning to end and have honed my skills in luxury fiber yarn producing. This class will focus on Tibetan Yak, Angora, Cashmere, Mohair and Alpaca.

The class will spend time with each of the above fiber types. A discussion of the animals that produce each fiber, the fiber types, and how they are harvested will start each section. A discussion on how the age of the animal, its herd management, health and environment will be explored. Many samples will be offered for review to back up the material presented.

Many luxury fibers are presented to spinners in an altered state, some processing has occurred to make the fibers easier to spin, or to cut down on the manual work of dehairing a down fleece, separating a locked fleece, etc.. Fleeces will be presented in their raw state first, followed by a discussion of hand processing techniques for each fleece type. Samples will be provided for each spinner to work with.

Spinners will be spinning raw both raw and processed samples of each fleece type and best spinning practices for each fiber type will be explored as well as some special tips and tricks for spinning luxury fiber exclusive to the instructor. Spinning locked fleeces into a simple art spun lock yarn will also be learned.

We will also explore popular luxury fiber blends. We will discuss the viability and use of these popular blends and students will be given samples to spin during class.

Prerequisites: Beginner - Must be able to spin a continuous stand on either a spinning wheel or drop spindle. 

There is a $30 material fee included in the price of registration.  It includes: Prepared fleece samples from all fibers explored including raw samples and samples of popular luxury fiber blends.

Students must bring:  A spinning wheel in good working order and bobbins or a variety of spindle weights. Hand cards and a Niddy Noddy are nice to have but not required (the instructor will have some to borrow) The instructor also has a limited number of wheels that students may borrow.

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