Uploaded June 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Get free access to this course here: lowimpact.org/categories/spinning
(under 'what can I do?').
A bit about our tutor.
Janet works from home in South West Scotland, earning a living by writing and teaching spinning and weaving. Spinning or weaving for at least ten minutes a day helps keep her calm and focused and she uses it as a form of meditation.
Having learned to knit at the age of six, Janet had become bored with it, until one day she saw someone spinning. Rushing home, she tried it with a hand spindle made from a pencil and a potato, and was amazed when it worked. The rest, as they say, is history and in 1995 she did the Certificate of Achievement in Handspinning and became a spinning teacher. The weaving soon followed and Janet has taught many people to weave on her favourite kinds of looms – frame looms and ‘rigid heddle’ looms over the years.
She is a registered teacher with the Association of Weavers Spinners and dyers, and has taught at their renowned Summer School. Janet has also taught courses for many spinning and weaving Guilds, community groups, shops and voluntary organisations.
Her booklets on spinning, dyeing and knitting have proved popular with students who take her courses and this course is a natural progression.
Campaigning and environmental issues has played a significant part in Janet’s life and she loves low-tech and sustainable craft equipment such as hand made looms and spindles, as well as the amazing contemporary spinning wheels and looms that are now available. She and her husband Lee run their home based business jointly and sell Lee’s hand made looms as well as Ashford Handicrafts spinning and weaving equipment, along with Janet’s books.
Lee and Janet moved from the country into a nearby village with amenities years ago, in order to develop a more sustainable and simpler lifestyle. They both work part time and have a lifestyle with very low overheads, meaning there is time to have a lot more fun!
They grow a surprising amount of food in an average sized if vertically challenged garden and are Working Weekend on Organic Farm hosts. Their house has solar panels and a wood burning stove.
Janet is the author of 'How to spin just about anything'.
COURSE STRUCTURE
Spinning Course - 1 Meet your tutor
Spinning Course - 2 Introduction to Spinning
Spinning Course - 3 Pre Drafting
Spinning Course - 4 Spindles
Spinning Course - 5 How to twirl the spindle
Spinning Course - 6 How to spin on a spindle
Spinning Course - 7 Joining the yarn on a spindle
Spinning Course - 8 How to thigh roll and kick the spindle
Spinning Course - 9 How to ply the yarn on a spindle
Spinning Course - 10 Spinning Wheels
Spinning Course - 11 How to treadle the spinning wheel
Spinning Course - 12 How to oil the spinning wheel
Spinning Course - 13 Understanding the Scotch Tension
Spinning Course - 14 Let's start spinning
Spinning Course - 15 How to ply yarn on a spinning wheel
Spinning Course - 16 How to hank the yarn on a niddy noddy
Spinning Course - 17 How to correct an underplyed yarn
Spinning Course - 18 How to sort a fleece
Spinning Course - 19 How to wash a fleece
Spinning Course - 20 Carding
Spinning Course - 21 Resources
Get free access to this course here: lowimpact.org/categories/spinning
(under 'what can I do?').
A bit about our tutor.
Janet works from home in South West Scotland, earning a living by writing and teaching spinning and weaving. Spinning or weaving for at least ten minutes a day helps keep her calm and focused and she uses it as a form of meditation.
Having learned to knit at the age of six, Janet had become bored with it, until one day she saw someone spinning. Rushing home, she tried it with a hand spindle made from a pencil and a potato, and was amazed when it worked. The rest, as they say, is history and in 1995 she did the Certificate of Achievement in Handspinning and became a spinning teacher. The weaving soon followed and Janet has taught many people to weave on her favourite kinds of looms – frame looms and ‘rigid heddle’ looms over the years.
She is a registered teacher with the Association of Weavers Spinners and dyers, and has taught at their renowned Summer School. Janet has also taught courses for many spinning and weaving Guilds, community groups, shops and voluntary organisations.
Her booklets on spinning, dyeing and knitting have proved popular with students who take her courses and this course is a natural progression.
Campaigning and environmental issues has played a significant part in Janet’s life and she loves low-tech and sustainable craft equipment such as hand made looms and spindles, as well as the amazing contemporary spinning wheels and looms that are now available. She and her husband Lee run their home based business jointly and sell Lee’s hand made looms as well as Ashford Handicrafts spinning and weaving equipment, along with Janet’s books.
Lee and Janet moved from the country into a nearby village with amenities years ago, in order to develop a more sustainable and simpler lifestyle. They both work part time and have a lifestyle with very low overheads, meaning there is time to have a lot more fun!
They grow a surprising amount of food in an average sized if vertically challenged garden and are Working Weekend on Organic Farm hosts. Their house has solar panels and a wood burning stove.
Janet is the author of 'How to spin just about anything'.
COURSE STRUCTURE
Spinning Course - 1 Meet your tutor
Spinning Course - 2 Introduction to Spinning
Spinning Course - 3 Pre Drafting
Spinning Course - 4 Spindles
Spinning Course - 5 How to twirl the spindle
Spinning Course - 6 How to spin on a spindle
Spinning Course - 7 Joining the yarn on a spindle
Spinning Course - 8 How to thigh roll and kick the spindle
Spinning Course - 9 How to ply the yarn on a spindle
Spinning Course - 10 Spinning Wheels
Spinning Course - 11 How to treadle the spinning wheel
Spinning Course - 12 How to oil the spinning wheel
Spinning Course - 13 Understanding the Scotch Tension
Spinning Course - 14 Let's start spinning
Spinning Course - 15 How to ply yarn on a spinning wheel
Spinning Course - 16 How to hank the yarn on a niddy noddy
Spinning Course - 17 How to correct an underplyed yarn
Spinning Course - 18 How to sort a fleece
Spinning Course - 19 How to wash a fleece
Spinning Course - 20 Carding
Spinning Course - 21 Resources
