Are now mostly up on our Classes page.

There are a few things still to be posted, like so:

Scheduled but not on the website:

Cast On/ Bind Off with Mona: October 20, 27 6:30 - 8:30

Welcome to Weaving with Colette: October 3, 2:00 - 5:00

Learn to Entrelac: September 29, 6:30 - 8:30

Intro to Stranded Knitting (Fair Isle) October 6, 6:30 - 8:30

Intro to Intarsia: October 20, 6:30 - 8:30

Lace Basics: October 27th, 6:30 - 8:30

I’ll let you know when those are up.  If you are interested or want more information, call me at 514-932-0770 or email ariadne@ariadneknits.com.

Could it be that Autumn is almost here? I think our fair city can’t decide. Either way, Ariadne feels the slight chill in the air, sees a hint of the change of colour in the trees and feels the desire to get started on a new project (or maybe a new skill)

We have been getting our fall and winter class schedule sorted out, here’s a little look at what we have so far.

HOP ON SOCKS WITH MOLLY ANN

Knit along and make a real, full sized sock in 3 classes with Molly Ann.

This 6 hour class will not only provide you with the skills to make all your socks (forever and ever), you wil also receive Kate Gilbert’s Generic Sock Pattern so you can learn how to calculate your way to perfect fitting feet! Go here for more information, or to sign up.

BASIC SPINNING WITH MOLLY ANN

Learn to spin yarn on a drop spindle with Molly Ann. In this 3 hour class you will learn the basics of spinning. We’ll cover important terminology and concepts, basic technique and get up close and personal with some fibre and a drop spindle. Practise will be limited to spinning on a drop spindle, but everything you’ll learn also applies to wheel spinning. You’ll get a booklet covering what you learn, plenty of fibre, and your own drop spindle to take home and practise with. No previous spinning experience is required. For more info, or to sign up, head over here.

 

Leslie Ordal is back for special appearances this November!

SPINNING 102 WITH LESLIE

Build your spinning skills with this follow-up to Learn to Spin. You’ll learn different drafting techniques to help create the yarns you want, get some experience working with a variety of fibre preparations, play around with other fibres besides wool. We’ll also go over other ways to ply and how twist affects the character of your yarn. Students should be able to spin a continuous yarn, (or have taken our Spin 101 / Basic Spinning Class) and the course fee includes all fibres and notes. Please bring a spindle if you have one, or you can purchase one of ours with a class discount (10%).  Go here to sign up!

FIBRE PREP WITH LESLIE

Learn how to turn a raw fleece into spinnable fibre in this workshop. You’ll learn about choosing and washing a raw fleece, preparing it for spinning using handcards and combs, as well as a demonstration on how to use a drum carder and how different preparations are suited for different types of spinning. We’ll be working with raw and cleaned wool and a variety of fibre prep tools. If you have your own handcards or wool combs, feel free to bring them to the workshop, as well as your spindle or wheel if you’d like to try spinning your prepared fibre right away! Course fee includes all fibre and notes to take home. For more information, or to sign up, visit our class page.

 

As always, you can also call us on 514 932 0770, send us an email, or drop by the store to sign up!

Hey all! We hope you enjoyed the long weekend that is labour day.

We are getting our classes together for this fall and winter, and wanted to announce also that we are now renting out our Louet S17 spinning wheel for your presonal enjoyment and education! Here’s the scoop:

Spin Club

• Rent the wheel in store only, for $10 / hour or $6 per half hour. You can aslo purchase a non-transferable card for $50 that will give you $60 of wheel time.
• For new spinners there is a mandatory introduction to our wheel, which costs $20 and comes with 2oz of practice fibre. We’ll sit down with you and go over all the parts of the wheel and show you the basics about how it works and what you need to do to make yarn on your own.
• If you need to, we will order bobbins for you at a 10% discount so that you can keep spinning onto the same bobbin at a later date.
• Please call in advance to book time on the wheel! You can call us on 514 932 0770, and we’ll hook you up.
• If you like it so much, and want to purchase a wheel, while still in posession of an active prepaid card, the remaining value of the card will be creditied toward your purchase.

In the next week. we’ll be adding more classes to our fall and winter schedule. Also, if you are looking for an early Christmas gift, we will happily make Gift Certificates for specific classes.

Talk to you all soon!

With all the beautiful rovings (and tops) widely available these days, people sometimes ask me, “Why do you buy raw fleece and prepare it yourself?  Why go to all that trouble when you can buy something ready-to-spin?”  Well, I’ll tell you why!

It’s true, buying a raw fleece and prepping it yourself is a lot of work.  First off, sheep aren’t exactly the cleanest creatures, being that they’re covered in lanolin and other, less pleasant stuff.  You’ve got to wash the fleece, pick out the bits that aren’t worth spinning, and card or comb it–all this before actually sitting down behind the spinning wheel.  So why do I do it, and love it?

- It’s “greener” than buying commercially prepared fibre.  By buying a fleece from a local farm or wool market, you’re not only minimising your carbon footprint and supporting small-scale producers, but you can avoid the caustic chemicals used in conventional wool processing.

- More spinning options.  Most commercial roving and top is densely compacted, meaning you have to thin and loosen it to spin it easily.  You can avoid this by making your own roving and top, as well as rolags and punis and batts and other forms of fibre that you can’t buy in a store and are essentially for making certain types of yarn.

- Access to more types of fibre.  “Heritage” or “heirloom” breeds of sheep rarely have their fleece made into commercial roving because there just aren’t very many of them.  If you know how to prep a raw fleece, however, you can find out what it’s like to spin not just Merino and Corriedale, but Soay, Jacob, and California Red.

- It’s fun!  When I learned how to use handcards and combs, it opened up a whole new side of working with fibre.  Come find out for yourself at Ariadne’s Fibre Prep Workshop on July 19!