Learn to Spin with Pia Skaarer Nielsen
Join fibre artist, sheep farmer and wood turner Pia Skaarer Nielsen as she teaches the ancient and amazing art of making yarn with a drop spindle.
duration: 3 hours
Sunday, April 25th, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
fee: $70 + HST
NOTE: Workshop fee includes a hand-turned drop spindle and 100g of fibre.
Pia describes her fondness for this method of spinning:
I love to use a drop spindle.
It puts me at ease and relaxes my head and my body.
When one is working with a drop spindle, the best way to make it work is to be relaxed and go with the flow–-or shall we say twist.
Learning how to use a drop spindle challenges our eye/hand coordination and the way our eyes measure our progress in the world. Knowing when to draw out more fleece comes easily when the brain and the body both are relaxed and joyful at the prospect of the yarn to come.
Babies crawl before they walk and run and when we learn how to use a drop spindle (which will fall to the floor, otherwise it wouldn't be a drop spindle!) we go slow at first, do a lot of 'parking', drafting and pre-elongation of the fibres.
I will touch on fibre preparation and the multitude of fibres available to the avid handspinner.
Pia Skaarer-Nielsen is a self-taught spinner and weaver. She moved to Nova Scotia in 1989 with her family from Copenhagen, Denmark. Her first spindle ever, purchased in Copenhagen in 1986, now has many siblings.
Pia is involved in exploring and growing fibre, and in sharing her knowledge with anyone interested. Since she acquired a loom and eventually also a spinning wheel, each day has been an entanglement of twisted and warped pleasure-filled discoveries.
Pia has participated in weaving workshops in Scandinavia and Nova Scotia and has been actively involved with spinning workshops and retreats in the Maritimes for the last 10 years.
Pia lives with her family in an old farmhouse and has recently renovated her weaving studio for teaching anyone interested in working with a loom and piles of wondrous yarn.