Judith, Will You Please Adopt Me?

I am in awe of Judith MacKenzie and worship the ground that she walks on!  I had heard from my friends who have seen her that she was the ultimate teacher.  My friend Fluffysgarden spent some time with Judith when she was at the Black Sheep Gathering last year and pretty much tried to absorb all of Judith's wisdom about fleece.


When I saw that Judith was teaching a electronic spinner retreat in Forks, I put that on my wish list and tried to figure out if I was ready to sign up as I was not a very good spinner.


I overcame my resistance and signed up getting one of the few remaining spots.  The other advantage was that the class size would be small so I would able to get personal instruction from the Master.  I had also heard previously that Judith's classes are always full when she is at the fiber events.


I was amazed at the information that Judith imparted on us.  I tried to take as many notes as possible and even though some of it made sense, other stuff is just floating around trying to find a place to land.  I'm hoping that some of it will click when I become a better spinner and I hope to take another class with Judith in the future.


Here is the class photo with a miniSpinner made of Padauk in the center.

I was also fortunate that she signed my book - The Intentional Spinner.  I now own all 4 of her videos - The Gentle Art of Plying, Popular Wheel Mechanics, A Spinner's Toolbox, and Spinning Luxury Fibers.

Judith is a lovely person and very soft spoken.  She is extremely generous with her time and knowledge.  If it wasn't creepy, I would become a stalker!


She also gave a presentation of her recent Peru trip which was informative.  Here are some photos of woven textiles she brought.

There is a cool binding to some of these pieces.  The binding is finger woven and woven into the piece as it goes along.  Here is the binding and also a photo of the edge of the vest.

All of these pieces used hand spun yarn that was naturally dyed - plants and bugs.


Here are some of her dolls that have different woven garments.  These dolls are only about 6" tall.  The weaving is miniature.

Judith also showed us some spinning whorls made of stone and clay.  It was amazing to feel the different weights of the pieces.  Judith still spins on them.  In the second photo you can see an additional weight you can thread on the shaft to change the weight of the spindle.

You insert the shaft into the whorl for a spindle.

The last thing she showed us was this necklace she bargained for at a market which is made up of spinning whorls.  It was a heavy piece.

It was an informative talk and great for the last night's activity before we all headed back home in the morning.


The retreat was so full of information that it took me quite a while to digest after I got home.  Judith provided so much information that my brain was ready to explode.  I tried my best to write as much as I could down and here are some of her tips that set up the "light bulb" moment for me:

- use slower speeds for finer yarns

- rewind or reload singles (using Schacht weaving bobbins which she thoughtfully provided to us)

- to get the perfect yarn, the angle of twist should be 45 degrees

- the leader you use should match the diameter of the yarn you are spinning (finer leader for finer yarn)

- use short rapid motions for drafting thick yarn

- to spin fine yarn, fill up your bobbin by 2/3 and increase brake tension as you fill up the bobbin

- a condensed drafting fiber will produce the most uniform spinning (see this post for more information)

- top is not made for hand-spinning

There were probably so much more that I missed that I feel that I should go to the class again to try to absorb more if possible.  All in all, it was an awesome weekend.