Yarnspinners Tales's Podcast

Exploring the world of fiber, one draft at a time.

YST Episode 189 Spinning cotton and picking wool 12/04/2021

YST Episode 188 How old is that fiber 09/26/2021

YST Episode 187 The big wash up 09/18/2021

YST Episode 186 09/11/2021

YST Episode 185 A Yin Yang fleece 09/04/2021

Creativity in the midst of a Pandemic 09/04/2021

Creativity in the midst of a Pandemic Back in January 2021, I was doing the New Year thing, thinking about podcasting again, and putting a discussion about the New Year in that podcast. Somehow, the podcast never happened, and this bit of writing I did, was never published. Is it still relevant? I think so, but in a softer way, in that we are really not totally motionless anymore by the Pandemic. I started the musing with the question 'why during 2020 and especially forced to stay at home, did I not burst into a shower of creative work?' I had to look at what I have needed in the past to be creative, for some answers. 1. Life in 2020 was an effort, no matter how little you did. I had to avoid the news, live with constant companionship, and all the noise that came with that. So the extra effort to be creative was asking too much, and I know from experience I am most creative, when there are no distractions. 2. Creativity needs questions. For years, the questions came first, the answer found usually with creative energy, and the results of all that, shared in the podcast. Somehow, in the noise of the pandemic, I could hear no questions. 3. There were no chances for in person sharing with my other creative buddies. As much as I love hubby, his skill is repairing things. Takes a certain creativity for sure, but never applies to spinning or knitting. So I had my answers, and also a year of rote spinning. I was working breed by breed through a 52 weeks of sheep program. I had a great time shopping for those fibers online, and usually enjoyed spinning them. Sometimes it did take great creativity to figure out just what to do with that super scratchy fiber (I made scrubbies). This rote spinning also took me to my fiber stash as much as I could, a goal I have every year and probably accomplished more in 2020 than in the past. This however made me realize what I was doing was productive, and not often creative. What is the difference between productive and creative? Productive feels less satisfying. That's because in my case, once the yarn is made, there is no further step. No financial goal (sell the yarn) no altruistic goal (donate or knit and donate item) The bottom line is that creativity needs goals that have nothing to do with money or charity. My creativity needs to learn something new (ask the question and find the answer), and teach what I learned. It also needs to be enjoyable, so I feel that the time is well spent. Unfortunately, working creatively and not production means the process stops here. Often the yarn I make is not good enough to sell. It may not be soft enough to wear. And for both cases, there may not be enough of the yarn. If I turn to production, I will find the whole creative process stops, and I am working, instead of creating. Here again, as I end this musing, will I stand by my life words, 'It really is all about balance'. Maybe my time scale is off, and several years from now it really will be all about production, after these years of creating. And I will be sharing that with you too, dear listener, probably in this podcast. /episode/index/show/yarnspinnerstales/id/20366213

July 26 2021 An Open ended Absence 07/26/2021

YST Episode 184 07/21/21 07/23/2021

YST Episode 183 07/19/21 07/20/2021

YST A Brief Hello 03/24/2021

YST Episode 182 Welsh Sheep breeds review 12/30/2020

Current episode list 12/10/2020

Current episode list When you go to my web page yarnspinnerstales.com there is a drop down box in the upper right of the page. In that, you can find archives. You will need to know the date of the podcast you want to find, then in those archives, go to that year and month. In that area you will find the specific podcast you are looking for. Use this list below, to know the podcast title, general information and the date. Epi # Topic Date 1 Using Combs/Shetland 10/28/07 2 Spin In General Chatter 11/13/07 3 Raising Angora Rabbits 12/01/07 4 Christmas music only 12/16/07 5 Spinning Angora 01/18/08 6 Border Leicester and BFL 02/02/08 7 Skirting a Shetland Fleece 02/16/08 8 Cheviot and Corriedale 03/02/08 9 Washing a fleece 04/02/08 10 Finn and Perendale 04/22/08 11 Book reviews 05/09/08 12 Cotton Dyeing part 1 Chemical 05/30/08 13 Cotton dyeing part 2 Natural 06/01/08 14 Cormo and Montadale 06/20/08 15 Cotton prep and spinning 07/08/08 16 Romney and Targhee 07/31/08 17 Andean Ply, Fleece Picking 08/17/08 Spinning Bulky yarn 18 CVM and Maine Island Sheep 09/01/08 19 Wheels and how they work 09/16/08 20 Navajo Churro and Jacob 09/30/08 21 Felting a fleece, faking pelts 10/27/08 22 Alpaca 10/31/08 23 Drop Spindles 12/20/08 24 Spinning and Dyeing Silk 01/25/09 25 Cashgora 01/31/09 26 Woolen vs Worsted spinning 02/15/09 27 Tunis and Karakul 03/14/09 28 Dyeing wool Discolored fleece 03/30/09 29 Spaelsau and Icelandic 04/23/09 30 Plying 04/30/09 31 Bamboo and tencel 05/16/09 32 Silk, Soy and Milk fibers 06/01/09 33 Dog hair,Spinning DesignerYarn 06/22/09 Review of Intentional Spinner 34 Carding and Blending fibers 07/07/09 35 Angora rabbits and the heat 07/31/09 Washing alpaca fiber 36 Spinning with a Charkha 08/21/09 37 Southdown,Polworth 09/13/09 Setting up a wheel to spin 38 Selecting a wool fleece 10/10/09 39 Selecting non wool fiber,storing fiber An original ghost story 10/24/09 40 Spinning for a specific yarn 11/21/09 41 Discussing grist 11/29/09 42 Changing yarn size by adjusting 12/18/09 tension 43 Spinners block unlocking creative 01/20/10 juices 44 Fiber Fairs 04/05/10 45 Coopworth and Polypay 04/18/10 46 Spinning tools 05/08/10 47 Natural Dyeing book reviews 05/31/10 48 Planning a dye day 06/22/10 49 Carbonized bamboo TdF 07/12/10 history of wheels I own 50 Saran Wrap dyeing 08/14/10 51 Dyeing for specific colors 08/28/10 tertiary color study 52 Natural dyeing with walnut leaves 09/28/10 53 Front porch spinning Creativity 10/23/10 54 Color Theory with digitaldurga 11/10/10 55 Color Theory part 2 11/10/10 56 Blending the Tertiary colors 01/10/11 57 Blending Hackle 01/29/11 58 Types of Fiber combs 02/14/11 59 Washing and combing 5 breeds 02/28/11 60 Spinners’ single study 04/07/11 Forsyth product review 61 A new Wheel Majacraft Aura 05/07011 62 Black Welsh Mountain Clun Forest 05/17/11 63 Lock and fold spinning 06/02/11 64 Oogie McGuire interview BWM breed 07/22/11 65 A podcast for knitters who want to 08/20/11 become spinners 66 Learning the Aura and beaded yarn 08/21/11 67 Spinning Woolen 10/05/11 Special Episode Happy fourth Year YST 10/15/11 Promo podcast for The Spinners Journal 11/05/11 68 Interviews with two scholar spinners 11/16/11 69 Leicester longwool, lincoln longwool 01/07/12 spinning DVD review and Stitches 70 Drum Carding projects 02/21/12 71 Digital Sheep 03/31/12 72 Support Spindles 04/28/12 73 Chatting with Fiber folks 05/26/12 74 Let the Spinning Begin 07/02/12 Tour de fleece 2012 75 The Wheel Keeps Spinning TdF12 07/05/12 76 Listen to your inner spinner TdF12 07/08/12 77 Is it rest day yet? TdF12 07/11/12 78 Two types of plying TdF12 07/15/12 79 How the fiber speaks to me TdF12 07/18/12 80 Fractal spinning and finished yarn 08/02/12 81 The finish line TdF12 08/07/12 82 California Red and combing CVM 08/16/12 83 Ryeland and Salish 09/17/12 84 Positive Spin YST on Stash naming 10/05/12 85 Five year anniversary podcast 10/31/12 86 Katahdan review and porch spin in 12/10/12 87 A Fresh Start Review of 2012 spinning 12/31/12 88 Exchanges, an angora spinning 01/27/13 exchange 89 Thin, thinner, thinnest, a froghair 02/04/13 spinning exchange 90 Plying with commercial yarns 03/16/13 91 The more I teach, the more I learn 04/26/13 92 Chain plying (navajo plying) 05/31/12 93 Preparing for TdF 2013 06/25/13 94 TdF13 day 1 and 2 07/02/13 95 TdF13 days 3 thru 5 07/06/13 96 TdF13 days 6 thru 9 07/09/13 97 TdF13 traveling with baby 07/19/13 98 TdF13 final report 07/30/13 99 Book Review Hand Designs for 09/09/13 Spinners and Knitters 100 Finishing yarn 10/20/13 101 Machine Washing alpaca 01/11/14 102 Spinning alpaca 01/30/14 103 Norfolk Horn 02/11/14 104 White faced Woodland 02/14/14 105 Portland fiber 02/18/14 106 Ravellenic spinning 02/22/14 107 Manx Loaghton and Hill Radnor 03/16/14 108 Dyeing Alpaca 04/24/14 109 Greencastle Fiber event 06/02/14 110 Ky Sheep and Wool Festival 06/25/14 111 Preparing for TdF14 07/09/14 112 TdF14 Team Painted Tiger 07/16/14 113 TdF14 Team Majacraft 07/21/14 114 TdF14 Team Farm Fiber Marketplace 07/26/14 115 TdF14 Team Support Spindlers 07/31/14 116 TdF14 Final recap 08/10/14 117 A Wool Gathering Yellow Springs Ohio 10/04/14 118 Spinzilla 2014 11/07/14 119 Fortuitous fleeces 11/27/14 Interview with Digitaldurga 120 Roc Day 2015 01/07/15 121 Wool Wash review interview with 02/03/15 Natalie Redding 122 Review of Norman Kennedy’s DVD 03/26/15 123 Alpaca in the dye pots 05/16/15 124 Spin In General Chatter 06/30/15 125 TdF15 part 1 07/15/15 126 TdF15 part 2 07/23/15 127 TdF15 final update 08/03/15 128 Washing handspun yarn 09/13/15 129 Spinzilla 2015 Ashford spinning quill 10/22/15 130 This, that and daydreams spin in chat 11/26/15 131 New Year, New spinning 01/07/16 132 A Hand spun hat and a mystery yarn 02/17/16 133 Review of Craftsy, and more knitting 03/30/16 with hand spun yarn 134 Fiber purchases, state fair prep and 06/15/16 Tdf spinning plans 135 Pre TdF and a swap 07/03/16 136 TdF16 podcast 1 08/01/16 137 TdF16 podcast 2 08/15/16 138 TdF16 podcast 3 08/27/16 139 Ravellenics 2016 and State Fair 09/27/16 140 Spinzilla and Natural Dye mordants 12/02/16 141 Spinning New Year’s resolutions 02/02/17 Book review Yarn.i.tec.ture A Spinning Sabatical 03/10/17 142 Life Changes,Why Worry? 06/16/17 A conversation with my daughter 143 Counting Treadles for even plying 07/03/17 144 Dyeing with Lichens part 1 07/14/17 145 Dyeing with Lichens part 2 08/19/17 146 Spindle Crane review 10/01/17 147 Spinzilla 2017 Recap 11/02/17 148 Dyeing with Lichens part 3 11/21/17 149 Ten Years of Podcasting 01/25/18 150 Ravellenics 2018 03/28/18 151 Episode 151 Fiber Fairs 04/20/18 152 Episode 152 July 2018 Spin in 07/04/18 153 TdF 2018 part 1 08/17/18 154 TdF 2018 part 2 09/03/18 155 Stitches Midwest 2018 10/09/18 156 Drafting 01/08/19 157 The Pegosa Project Alpaca 03/18/19 158 Post Op Spinning 05/15/19 Book Review Creative Spinning Allison Dayker 159 Finally a Fiber Fair 06/17/19 160 Book review Spindle Spinning 07/02/19 161 TdF2019 part 1 07/28/19 162 TdF2019 part 2 08/24/19 163 Review of a spinning video 09/18/19 found on Kanopy through library 164 Oct 2019 part 1 10/28/19 165 Oct 2019 part 2 Herding the Stash 11/02/19 166 Book Review Spinning Beyond the Basics 11/18/19 Anne Field 167 A Year of Perfect Vision 2020 01/22/20 168 Bleu de Maine and Charolais Breed reviews 02/29/20 169 Interview with Deborah Niemann Shave em to Save em project 03/25/20 170 Cheviot Breed review 04/25/20 171 East Fresian breed review 05/01/20 172 Black Welsh and White Welsh breed reviews 05/16/20 173 Gulf Coast Native breed review 06/19/20 174 Oxford down breed review 07/07/20 175 Shropshire breed review 07/07/20 176 Whitefaced Woodland breed review 07/07/20 177 Ryeland breed review 08/12/20 178 Coopworth breed review 08/20/20 179 Spinning yak fiber 09/12/20 180 Lonk breed review 10/29/20 181 Hebridean breed review 10/29/20 /episode/index/show/yarnspinnerstales/id/17141585

YST Correction on Livestream Archiving information 10/30/2020

YST Episode 181 Hebridean sheep breed review 10/29/2020

YST Episode 180 Lonk Sheep Breed Review 10/29/2020

YST Episode 179 Tour de Fleece 2020 09/12/2020

YST Episode 178 Coopworth Breed review 08/20/2020

YST Episode 177 Ryeland sheep breed review 08/12/2020

YST is going live stream on Twitch TV 07/07/2020

YST Episode 176 White face Woodland breed review 07/02/2020

YST Episode 175 Shropshire Breed review 07/02/2020

YST Episode 174 Oxford Down breed review 07/02/2020

YST Episode 173 Gulf Coast Native Breed Review 06/19/2020

YST Episode 172 Black Welsh and White Welsh fiber 05/16/2020

YST Episode 171 East Fresian Sheep fiber review 05/01/2020

YST Episode 170 Cheviot Breed Review 04/25/2020

YST Episode 169 Shave 'Em to Save 'Em 03/26/2020

YST Episode 168 Bleu du Maine and Charollais sheep breed 02/29/2020

YST Episode 167 A Year of Perfect Vision 01/23/2020

Episode list 01/05/2020

Episode list When you go to my web page yarnspinnerstales.com there is a drop down box in the upper right of the page. In that, you can find archives. You will need to know the date of the podcast you want to find, then in those archives, go to that year and month. In that area you will find the specific podcast you are looking for. Use this list below, to know the podcast title, general information and the date. Epi # Topic Date 1 Using Combs/Shetland 10/28/07 2 Spin In General Chatter 11/13/07 3 Raising Angora Rabbits 12/01/07 4 Christmas music only 12/16/07 5 Spinning Angora 01/18/08 6 Border Leicester and BFL 02/02/08 7 Skirting a Shetland Fleece 02/16/08 8 Cheviot and Corriedale 03/02/08 9 Washing a fleece 04/02/08 10 Finn and Perendale 04/22/08 11 Book reviews 05/09/08 12 Cotton Dyeing part 1 Chemical 05/30/08 13 Cotton dyeing part 2 Natural 06/01/08 14 Cormo and Montadale 06/20/08 15 Cotton prep and spinning 07/08/08 16 Romney and Targhee 07/31/08 17 Andean Ply, Fleece Picking 08/17/08 Spinning Bulky yarn 18 CVM and Maine Island Sheep 09/01/08 19 Wheels and how they work 09/16/08 20 Navajo Churro and Jacob 09/30/08 21 Felting a fleece, faking pelts 10/27/08 22 Alpaca 10/31/08 23 Drop Spindles 12/20/08 24 Spinning and Dyeing Silk 01/25/09 25 Cashgora 01/31/09 26 Woolen vs Worsted spinning 02/15/09 27 Tunis and Karakul 03/14/09 28 Dyeing wool Discolored fleece 03/30/09 29 Spaelsau and Icelandic 04/23/09 30 Plying 04/30/09 31 Bamboo and tencel 05/16/09 32 Silk, Soy and Milk fibers 06/01/09 33 Dog hair,Spinning DesignerYarn 06/22/09 Review of Intentional Spinner 34 Carding and Blending fibers 07/07/09 35 Angora rabbits and the heat 07/31/09 Washing alpaca fiber 36 Spinning with a Charkha 08/21/09 37 Southdown,Polworth 09/13/09 Setting up a wheel to spin 38 Selecting a wool fleece 10/10/09 39 Selecting non wool fiber,storing fiber An original ghost story 10/24/09 40 Spinning for a specific yarn 11/21/09 41 Discussing grist 11/29/09 42 Changing yarn size by adjusting 12/18/09 tension 43 Spinners block unlocking creative 01/20/10 juices 44 Fiber Fairs 04/05/10 45 Coopworth and Polypay 04/18/10 46 Spinning tools 05/08/10 47 Natural Dyeing book reviews 05/31/10 48 Planning a dye day 06/22/10 49 Carbonized bamboo TdF 07/12/10 history of wheels I own 50 Saran Wrap dyeing 08/14/10 51 Dyeing for specific colors 08/28/10 tertiary color study 52 Natural dyeing with walnut leaves 09/28/10 53 Front porch spinning Creativity 10/23/10 54 Color Theory with digitaldurga 11/10/10 55 Color Theory part 2 11/10/10 56 Blending the Tertiary colors 01/10/11 57 Blending Hackle 01/29/11 58 Types of Fiber combs 02/14/11 59 Washing and combing 5 breeds 02/28/11 60 Spinners' single study 04/07/11 Forsyth product review 61 A new Wheel Majacraft Aura 05/07011 62 Black Welsh Mountain Clun Forest 05/17/11 63 Lock and fold spinning 06/02/11 64 Oogie McGuire interview BWM breed 07/22/11 65 A podcast for knitters who want to 08/20/11 become spinners 66 Learning the Aura and beaded yarn 08/21/11 67 Spinning Woolen 10/05/11 Special Episode Happy fourth Year YST 10/15/11 Promo podcast for The Spinners Journal 11/05/11 68 Interviews with two scholar spinners 11/16/11 69 Leicester longwool, lincoln longwool 01/07/12 spinning DVD review and Stitches East 70 Drum Carding projects 02/21/12 71 Digital Sheep 03/31/12 72 Support Spindles 04/28/12 73 Chatting with Fiber folks 05/26/12 74 Let the Spinning Begin 07/02/12 Tour de fleece 2012 75 The Wheel Keeps Spinning TdF12 07/05/12 76 Listen to your inner spinner TdF12 07/08/12 77 Is it rest day yet? TdF12 07/11/12 78 Two types of plying TdF12 07/15/12 79 How the fiber speaks to me TdF12 07/18/12 80 Fractal spinning and finished yarn 08/02/12 81 The finish line TdF12 08/07/12 82 California Red and combing CVM 08/16/12 83 Ryeland and Salish 09/17/12 84 Positive Spin YST on Stash naming 10/05/12 85 Five year anniversary podcast 10/31/12 86 Katahdan review and porch spin in 12/10/12 87 A Fresh Start Review of 2012 spinning 12/31/12 88 Exchanges, an angora spinning 01/27/13 exchange 89 Thin, thinner, thinnest, a froghair 02/04/13 spinning exchange 90 Plying with commercial yarns 03/16/13 91 The more I teach, the more I learn 04/26/13 92 Chain plying (navajo plying) 05/31/12 93 Preparing for TdF 2013 06/25/13 94 TdF13 day 1 and 2 07/02/13 95 TdF13 days 3 thru 5 07/06/13 96 TdF13 days 6 thru 9 07/09/13 97 TdF13 traveling with baby 07/19/13 98 TdF13 final report 07/30/13 99 Book Review Hand Designs for 09/09/13 Spinners and Knitters 100 Finishing yarn 10/20/13 101 Machine Washing alpaca 01/11/14 102 Spinning alpaca 01/30/14 103 Norfolk Horn 02/11/14 104 White faced Woodland 02/14/14 105 Portland fiber 02/18/14 106 Ravellenic spinning 02/22/14 107 Manx Loaghton and Hill Radnor 03/16/14 108 Dyeing Alpaca 04/24/14 109 Greencastle Fiber event 06/02/14 110 Ky Sheep and Wool Festival 06/25/14 111 Preparing for TdF14 07/09/14 112 TdF14 Team Painted Tiger 07/16/14 113 TdF14 Team Majacraft 07/21/14 114 TdF14 Team Farm Fiber Marketplace 07/26/14 115 TdF14 Team Support Spindlers 07/31/14 116 TdF14 Final recap 08/10/14 117 A Wool Gathering Yellow Springs Ohio 10/04/14 118 Spinailla 2014 11/07/14 119 Fortutous fleeces 11/27/14 Interview with Digitaldurga 120 Roc Day 2015 01/07/15 121 Wool Wash review interview with 02/03/15 Natalie Redding 122 Review of Norman Kennedy's DVD 03/26/15 123 Alpaca in the dyepots 05/16/15 124 Spin In General Chatter 06/30/15 125 TdF15 part 1 07/15/15 126 TdF15 part 2 07/23/15 127 TdF15 final update 08/03/15 128 Washing handspun yarn 09/13/15 129 Spinzilla 2015 Ashford spinning quill 10/22/15 130 This, that and daydreams spin in chat 11/26/15 131 New Year, New spinning 01/07/16 132 A Hand spun hat and a mystery yarn 02/17/16 133 Review of Craftsy, and more knitting 03/30/16 with hand spun yarn 134 Fiber purchases, state fair prep and 06/15/16 Tdf spinning plans 135 Pre TdF and a swap 07/03/16 136 TdF16 podcast 1 08/01/16 137 TdF16 podcast 2 08/15/16 138 TdF16 podcast 3 08/27/16 139 Ravellenics 2016 and State Fair 09/27/16 140 Spinzilla and Natural Dye mordants 12/02/16 141 Spinning New Year's resolutions 02/02/17 Book review Yarn.i.tec.ture A Spinning Sabatical 03/10/17 142 Life Changes,Why Worry? 06/16/17 A conversation with my daughter 143 Counting Treadles for even plying 07/03/17 144 Dyeing with Lichens part 1 07/14/17 145 Dyeing with Lichens part 2 08/19/17 146 Spindle Crane review 10/01/17 147 Spinzilla 2017 Recap 11/02/17 148 Dyeing with Lichens part 3 11/21/17 149 Ten Years of Podcasting 01/25/18 150 Ravellenics 2018 03/28/18 151 Episode 151 Fiber Fairs 04/20/18 152 Episode 152 July 2018 Spin in 07/04/18 153 TdF 2018 part 1 08/17/18 154 TdF 2018 part 2 09/03/18 155 Stitches Midwest 2018 10/09/18 156 Drafting 01/08/19 157 The Pegosa Project Alpaca 03/18/19 158 Post Op Spinning 05/15/19 Book Review Creative Spinning Allison Dayker 159 Finally a Fiber Fair 06/17/19 160 Book review Spindle Spinning 07/02/19 161 TdF2019 part 1 07/28/19 162 TdF2019 part 2 08/24/19 163 Review of a spinning video 09/18/19 found on Kanopy through library 164 Oct 2019 part 1 10/28/19 165 Oct 2019 part 2 Herding the Stash 11/02/19 166 Book Review Anne Field 11/18/19 Beyond the Basics of Spinning /episode/index/show/yarnspinnerstales/id/12622292

Yarnspinners Tales's Podcast

TOPICS