25232 Preparing and Spinning Cotton
Class | Available
Registration Deadline: 7/29
Please note that this deadline has been changed. Register by 7/29 to ensure this class will run. Late registrations will only be accepted IF enough students have registered by this date.
Bolls, punis, linters, top, ginning, bows, tahklis, charkas! All cotton fibers are less than 2” long, and most are shorter than that—so the techniques and terms used for removing fiber from the seeds, cleaning and carding them, and spinning them into yarn are unique. We will try our hand at all these things! Bring your questions, and any tools (spindle, wheel, or charkha) or cotton you have to class or come empty-handed, and we will explore ginning, bowing, rolling punis and spinning from top and linters in a round-robin format!AGE: 16 and up
**This Class has a special tuition rate for children. At the top of the page, select Youth Discount. At checkout, a child's tuition will be discounted to $20. The student must be registered as a child in your account profile to receive the discount.
- MATERIALS FEE: $10 paid to instructor for cotton
Marcia Weinert
Though I learned to knit in childhood, it was not until my homeschooled daughter (then age 9) asked me to learn to knit socks with her that I discovered the wonder of soft engineering that knitting represents. Together, we learned to spin our own yarns and explored the world of felting and weaving. Every technique in the world of knitting can find its place on the tiny and pragmatic sock, which remains a favorite canvas on which to practice my creative craft. My handspun skeins have taken top honors at America's largest fiber festivals and my original sock designs have appeared in print. I also assist with judging for the New York State Fair and teach throughout the northeastern U.S.
I always prefer to let "curriculum" play second fiddle to my students' needs and questions and to find a way to translate pattern instructions and techniques into methods that will best serve and make sense to the person making the project. I welcome students to bring in projects that have them stumped or which they're leery of attempting without guidance. I constantly aspire to have students reach beyond a particular technique, color, shape or pattern into the arena of their own creativity.