Dear Spinning Circle,

Welcome back to another Radio episode! This month, Rebecca sat Rachel down to quiz her about working through longer projects. It came from a discussion back in August at Knit City Calgary 2024. For context, let's set the table: Back in 2019, you were struggling with the idea of how to justify the time and effort to put into a really big spinning project to weave an heirloom piece. Do you remember that feeling? 

What is the Biggest Project you’ve ever completed? How long did it take? How did you feel about it at the end vs. the beginning? How did it change things for you?

Gentle Morning by Trin-Annelie here

Cheviot 3-ply handspun for Gentle Mornning here (1000 yards / 355 grams)

Rideau-Arcott/Charollais 4-ply handspun here (1600 yards / 550 grams)

What kind of big project dreams do you have right now? What, for you, is the motivation behind them? 

Aside from the obvious limitations of hours in the day (which is huge and should be acknowledged), do you feel like anything else is holding you back from trying one? How do we give ourselves permission to pursue projects like this?

Compare big projects - like spinning to weave for a coat, etc. -  a sampling-heavy or    learning-heavy big project, like Year of Yarn, Year of Colour (available for purchase), or a Certificate program. How is the process different? How are they easier or harder to justify? How does each one change you as a maker?

A can-of-worms question: do you think of these pieces as “art”? Would doing so change their perceived value?

How do you manage longer spins, especially those that are colour monotonous? How do you plan for these larger projects? Please share below!

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Thank you for tuning in!

Rachel & Rebecca

I hope you enjoyed our conversation. If this is your first time tuning into Wool n’ Spinning Radio, welcome. This audio podcast is a spin-off from the original podcast available on YouTube at youtube.com/RachelSmith. Rachel has been podcasting since 2014, talking about handspinning and making yarn. Her passion is working with her handspun yarns in projects, both knit and woven. Links to the website, Instagram and more are available in the show notes and at Patreon.com/woolnspinning.

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Thank you for listening! If you would like to be a guest on Wool n' Spinning Radio, please reach out below, in the comments, or send an email to [email protected].

Until next month, keep wool close and your spindles closer!