Details of the beginner, intermediate and advanced spinning courses held at Steeple Ashton can be found below.  Please contact Liz at spinwiltsswd@gmail.com if you are interested  in learning to spin, or take either the intermediate or advanced spinning course.  

 

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BEGINNER SPINNING COURSE

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If you want to learn how to spin on a spinning wheel, then this is the course for you!  

This 4 week course (2 ½ hours on consecutive Sundays) will take you through the skills needed to take a sheep’s fleece to a 2 ply yarn ready to use in a knitting, weaving or crochet project.

All equipment is provided, and you get to take the spinning wheel home with you to practice on for the duration of the course.

The cost is £120, which includes all materials and use of equipment.

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Booking is essential – please email spinwiltsswd@gmail.com to check availability

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INTERMEDIATE SPINNING COURSE

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This course is designed for those who have already learnt to spin, either on the Guild’s Beginner course or elsewhere, and would like to take the next steps in broadening their skills.

This course will take you from spinning a basic 2 ply yarn to becoming more purposeful in your spinning.  

This is a 4 week course (3 hours on Sundays)

You will learn about different wheel types and styles and their applications.  

You will perfect making rolags,  learn how to comb and diz fleece and also try drumcarding and some techniques for blending colours and fibres.  

We will focus on the two main spinning draws (woollen and worsted) and also look at techniques for spinning a purposefully thick yarn and spinning over the fold – and learn about where these techniques might be useful.  

During the plying sessions, there will be a chance to learn Andean plying and chain plying, and we will look at plying effects and managing multiple plies.

On this course we will be mostly using wool fibre.

This course will cover many of the skills that you need to demonstrate for the AGWSD Foundation Certificate in spinning.

All fibre will be provided – it will be most useful for you to work on your own wheels where possible.

The cost is £120, and will include all materials and specialist equipment – it will be most useful to bring your own spinning wheel

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Booking is essential – please email spinwiltsswd@gmail.com to check availability

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ADVANCED SPINNING COURSE

 

You will have been spinning for some time and feel that you have a good grasp of techniques to spin wool. 

 This course will look in more depth at spinning other fibres (both long and very short staple fibres).  We will build on your skill with English longdraw, tackling very short fibres and downs.  We will learn how to comb very long fibres on English wool combs (Peter Teal type) for a perfect worsted draw.  

We will learn about grist, spinning to crimp, twist angle,  and discuss techniques to calculate yardage for a project and how to produce a consistent yarn.  We will look at some more involved plying techniques, including cabling and boucle, and spin a balanced singles yarn.

This course would be a good start if you are considering the AGWSD Certificate of Achievement, although we will not be covering spinning flax or cotton on this course (both compulsory fibres for the CoA).

As more experienced spinners, this course will be more collaborative – all participants will have their own techniques and tips and will be encouraged to share them with the group.  There may be homework!

The cost is £120.  Fibres and specialised equipment will be provided – bring your own spinning wheels.

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Booking is essential – please email spinwiltsswd@gmail.com to check availability