Over the past few months, basically since the middle of December 2016, I have been spending some time thinking about Wool n’ Spinning and the podcast. I reflected on how Patreon changed things here in my little corner of the internet, as well as the different things I tried out over the course of the first six months of Wool n’ Spinning becoming an intentional endeavour for me. The community on the Ravelry group, SLACK channel, Instagram and Patreon have given me the nudge I needed to start thinking about taking things to ‘the next level’ – a really heartening thought when a year ago, I wasn’t sure how to move forward! The ebb and flow of beginning a new venture are real!

To keep you up to date on things happening here, I thought I’d write a relatively quick note about what is coming down the pipeline and invite you to join:

1. Colour Studies

Beyond my wildest imagination, I did not expect the degree of enthusiasm and involvement from Colour Studies! The SLACK channel and Ravelry group has buzzing with Colour Studies since it started! After a really fun conversation with Katrina, we’ve decided to keep it going for the later half of the year. For Patreon subscribers, Katrina and I will be inviting you to participate in another split complement study from a different fibre prep. We will be offering batts in split complements to explore how this prep changes how we manage these colours. Katrina will look through the photos you submitted back in November for inspiration and the process that we engaged in prior will be similar this time round. I have a full reflective blog post coming soon about the ‘Summer’ colourway I just finished spinning to give you some context about how spinning complements in combed top maybe differs from in batt form. I’m excited to explore more of these colours studies with you – stay tuned!

2. How I Spin – Enhanced Teaching Content

After some mulling, I sent out a questionnaire to a few Patreon members to see what they wanted to see for the future. I didn’t want to overwhelm the community and ask everyone but I thought starting with a small sample was a great place to start. If the answers were wildly unrelated to one another, I could increase the number of people I asked! Instead, everyone gave me the same answers: How I spin and technical spinning posts. One example of this would be what whorl I settle on for a project, why and how. I asked. You answered and so it will be so! Starting April 1st, after another Patreon group beta tested for me, gave me amazing feedback and I updated a few things, I will be creating content that I’ve dubbed in my mind as ‘Enhanced Teaching Content*.” This is basically workshops in a different form if you took workshops in the Fall and Winter. The big difference is no homework or assignments. As the participant, you can choose to work through the yarn technique with me or one your own later, or just enjoy reading about something possibly new to you and watching some video of how I personally make the yarn. Yes, you read right! Video! You can expect a Patreon-only post near the beginning of the month with a link for both a video and PDF download each month. The PDF explains the materials, set-up, plying  and finishing techniques I used with photos. Then you can watch the video to spin along with me, using the video as a reference or to bring it all together about how to make that yarn. Some months will highlight textured yarns, other months more traditional techniques. You can also send me requests of things you’d like to see over time!

*Please note that at this time, Patreon only offers USD for subscriptions. In an effort to remain transparent, I wanted to remind my Canadian subscribers. Hopefully, this will change over time as Patreon grows, similar to Etsy.

3. Live Streaming

This is huge and I’m really, really nervous to announce it. Really nervous. Part of my reflection over the past few months has been around sustainability, authenticity, excitement for what we do, and content development. I love teaching but I love connecting personally even more. Geeking out about yarn is one of my favourite things to do … possibly more so than just making yarn. As part of a vision to grow that conversation, which has always been a part of my vision here, is to have that conversation Live. A few nights ago, I changed the milestone tiers to reflect just that: When we hit $500 per month, I will begin Live Streaming Events for Patreon subscribers each month. The goal will be to go to a Live Streaming Event weekly, when we hit $1000 per month. This milestone means that I will be to more fully commit to the hours involved in creating the show and content here – that is really, really exciting!

If you are currently a Patreon subscriber of the show and have some ideas about what you’d like to see, please get in touch.

I often field questions about Patreon and why I chose it. Patreon has a few advantages for me, which is why I use it:

• There are ongoing costs associated with hosting a weekly show, including download and domain costs,
• Yearly subscriptions for software or on-time purchases of software are costly,
• Shipping in Canada is a necessary evil but important for giveaways and other items, and
• The time that I spend making content is valuable but really awesome, so some compensation for that value is appreciated.

I hope you will consider joining us in this next chapter of Wool n’ Spinning!

Until next time,

Happy Spinning!