Dear Spinning Circle,
First, I want to wish you all a Happy New Year! I hope the holiday season has left you feeling excited for the year ahead after a lovely rest. We had a lovely holiday season here at Casa del Welford and enjoyed a lot of really quality family time, which exactly what we needed after a packed Fall season.
The overarching theme of the next two years will be Sarah Anderson’s The Spinner’s Book of Yarn Designs. We will be tackling the book in regular increments – see the syllabus attached – with regular releases of content (Spinning Purls) from myself that touch on key points from within the book. There will be about 2-4 of these per month, depending on the topic.
There are a few ways to engage in the next couple of years of content from watching on the sidelines to joining a study group. Let me tell you about them and remember, you can change your mind at any time, and bump up or down on Patreon by editing your pledge!
If you just want the Spinning Purls releases, which will focus on key aspects of the book, you can join The Coffee Circle ($3/month). There’s no group to sign up for or anything outside of sharing within the community here on Ravelry, joining us in the Live Streams and receiving the Spinning Purls vlogs throughout each month.
Chatter about our deep dive into the book will occur in a Ravelry thread, and a dedicated Slack channel (#year-of-yarn-2024) for discussion and sharing. To join only the Slack channel and receive the Spinning Purls vlogs, join The Spinning Circle ($5/month). I’ve included a screenshot of what Slack looks like so you get the gist. You download the app to your phone or tablet, I send you an email invite and you can watch a how-to video I created here to learn more.
Lastly, if you would like a deeper dive into the content covered in Sarah’s book, then you can consider joining The Wool Circle ($10/month) or for even more, Spinning Staples ($35/month).
The Wool Circle is a SECOND show that airs twice/month, hosted by Rebecca Osborn, and I send out the links through Patreon and Slack the day before. Rebecca covers information that is pertinent to her learning jounrey, as well as those in the community. There is a 7-day free trial associated with The Wool Circle so that you can try it before committing! For a list of previous episodes that you would have access to once you sign up, check here.
Spinning Staples meets twice/month @ 12noon Pacific on Wednesday afternoons. Rebecca will be guiding everyone through a deeper dive of the book. Think of The Wool Circle as the course lecture and Spinning Staples as the time with the Teacher’s Assistant in University.
I hope you will consider one of these tiers to be the place for you as we engage in this big book study!
Key Points:
1. To receive only the Spinning Purls vlogs dripped throughout each month for the next 2-months, join The Coffee Circle,
2. To engage in community on a deeper level, jump into the ‘grassroots’ Zoom groups & receive the Spinning Purls vlogs, join The Spinning Circle,
3. Everything above PLUS learning from Rebecca as she takes you through her learning journey, sampling & education, join The Wool Circle, and finally,
4. Again, everything above PLUS a dedicated study group associated with the book, join Spinning Staples, which means twice monthly on Zoom.
Find the syllabus that Rebecca and I will be working from throughout the year here. It is very detailed but it gives you an idea of what we are thinking about as we go forward! This is a working document and will change overtime. One of the ideas that you will find in the syllabus is Tracks: You can engage with the book however you want, at whatever depth you want. However, if you find structure helpful, Rebecca has made suggestions for how you can participate in this study with your own spinning. In the syllabus, there is much more detail about each track!
Track 1: Samples
- Make a selection of samples for your own learning and records.
Track 2: Single Project
- Dig deeper into some aspects of these chapters with a larger project over several months.
Track 3: Choose Your Own Adventure
- Rebecca has included a schedule with the “assignments” area blank, so you can make your own plan, or skip the planning and use that page to record your explorations as you follow your own path.
For some, who crave structure, one of these tracks will offer a great opportunity for you to learn and deepen your spinning practice. Others will want to follow along and watch from the sidelines while they work on other things! Whatever feels correct for you, we welcome you!
Have a wonderful holiday season – Happy New Year once again! Comment below with questions as they come up – if you’re wondering, so are others!
Warmly,
Rachel
