Some Changes & Live Stream Schedule

Dear Spinning Circle,

Happy Spring! I hope this finds you enjoying the brighter days and longer evenings – I love this time of year to go for a walk in the evening and enjoy the family time. It always gives me a breath of fresh air, knowing the hot days of summer are still to come but not quite here yet.

As I look around at the Wool n’ Spinning community, I am completely amazed at the number of friendships that have been built, the supportive environment and the constant championing of all things handspinning and making with handspun yarn. Everyone in the community, from all around the world, is incredibly creative and knowledgeable (even if you don’t necessarily feel like you are! You are!). It’s an amazing place to share and learn.

Each week, I have been sharing through the Live Stream with you all what I’m working on, my projects and progress, and plans for next makes. I have always been a prolific sweater knitter and love the process of a sweater coming together. Over the years, I’ve knit many sweaters, some that fit well, others that are questionable and some that quietly end up in the compost heap. We’ve spun miles and miles of yarn. I’ve made countless items with my handspun and have delved into the world of weaving with handspun. From singles to multi-ply to textured yarn and everything in between, I’ve found myself enamoured with this process of making yarn. I can’t see myself ever not making yarn to be honest. It’s definitely my first love.

Our family made many changes in September 2021. We decided to bring the kids home from traditional school to a blended traditional-alternative school model. It’s gone really well — I’m amazed at the changes we’ve been in the kids, their enjoyment of school again and their individual (and collective) growth. It’s taken a toll on me as I navigate the home learning model and recognize that when I’m home with the kids, my time is not necessarily my own. Without going in the boring details (our kids are endlessly fascinating to us but not necessarily to others!), I see us doing this type of model for another 3 – 4 years as we set our eldest up for success.

Because I want to be able to continue making and creating content for the community, which is my second love, and live streaming The Wool Circle throughout the month to be able to get onto the wheels to share my process in real time, something needs to shift with the podcast. I’ve thought long and hard about what brings me the most joy and what I really love creating — the answer is the content and streams I produce for the community. To be able to be present and interactive with you all! Many of the weeks that I podcast, I don’t have much to share – and I want to be able to bring you value and time well-spent in the Live Stream Podcast.

The reality is that much of my time is spent on community connections within our Wool n’ Spinning world (Spin Group, Queries, Weaving Group, Book Club, Slack and so much more!) and home learning with the kids! As well, my projects tend to be long-term, large endeavours that take time to complete. The quality of sharing is low when there isn’t much progress from week to week BUT! Month to month? The progress becomes more significant.

To that end, I will be Live Streaming the podcast bi-monthly beginning in April. The shows will remain in the same format. They will be on Tuesdays at 12noon Pacific // 3pm Eastern to allow for a bit more of a buffer before I need to pick up the kids at school. We will be streaming the FIRST and THIRD weeks of the month.

As usual, there will be a Patreon post that goes out at 12noon Pacific // 3pm Eastern the day before with links to YouTube as it will continue to remain only for Patrons of the community. The show will then go public for everyone later.

Please don’t hesitate to connect with questions or comments, whether here in the comments or Slack (@welfordpurls_admin) or email (rachel @ welfordpurls dot com).

Thank you from the bottom of my toes (heart isn’t deep enough) for your continued support of the community and work that we do here – I am constantly amazed at the amount of making you all do on a daily, weekly, monthly basis! It is totally amazing and I hope you continue sharing all that you are doing.

Until next time,

Happy Spinning!