The stuff of ring shawls, Fair Isle colorwork, tweeds, and taatit rugs, Shetland wool represents the story of humans in relationship with sheep through thousands of years. Described as exceptionally fine wool "of uncommon softness and fineness" and as "scratchy" and as a double-coated representative of primitive wools, might it be all of these? Discuss how to use the Shetland that best suits your goals. Students must be able to spin singles and make a two-ply independently. $

Every mountain household once practiced spinning and knitting. Learn to select and prepare a sheep’s fleece and/or cotton, spin it on the great or walking wheel, then discover several ways to knit the yarn into traditional, triangular shawls like those worn by generations of mountain women. Return home with small skeins of handspun yarn and the beginnings of a shawl of your own design. Basic knitting experience is helpful; no spinning experience needed.

Crochet is surging in popularity. You can make almost anything once you have the basics. Learn to count stitches and read patterns and charts. Make a small basket, a granny square bag, and a washcloth or towel to give you the skills you need to get started with this quick and addictive craft. Explore amigurumi–those adorable crocheted stuffies–and do some yarn detective work to become a better yarn connoisseur. Lefties welcome. Let's get hooking!

Learn numerous elements of hat design in this exciting and colorful class. Experiment and elevate yarn as you would colors on a painter’s palette. Discuss design goals, attributes of different fibers, and stitches per inch. Examine tensioning techniques, choosing and combining stitches to create texture, making eye-catching patterns, and multiple ways to decrease the crown/top of the hat. Learn to wash yarn and use the ball winder, umbrella swift, and niddy noddy. Basic knitting skills required.

...or rug, tapestry, and socks. If you weave, crochet, or knit, personalize your pieces by acquiring the age-old skills of combing, carding, natural dyeing, and spinning. Make your own yarn to add visual interest, softness, color, and texture to any fiber project. Discover the qualities of various breeds of sheep, and play with color, fiber blends, and simple novelty effects. The Folk School has all the equipment needed for this yarn-intensive week for beginning to intermediate students.

Learn to dye wool yarn to produce the effects you want in your knitted projects. Explore space dyeing for repeated colors, random dyeing, dyeing for stripes and dots, dip dyeing, as well as gradients. Cover studio safety, dyeing safely in your home, designing colorways, preparing your yarn, and matching your yarn to a project. No previous dyeing experience required; crocheters, weavers, and spinners welcome. 

...or rug, tapestry, and socks. If you weave, crochet, or knit, personalize your pieces by acquiring the age-old skills of combing, carding, natural dyeing, and spinning. Make your own yarn to add visual interest, softness, color, and texture to any fiber project. Discover the qualities of various breeds of sheep, and play with color, fiber blends, and simple novelty effects. The Folk School has all the equipment needed for this yarn-intensive week for beginning to intermediate students.

Explore sprang, an ancient technique for making a very elastic fabric in which every row of work yields two rows of cloth. Sprang–once practiced widely–was nearly lost to the machine age, found from Bronze Age Scandinavia to ancient Persia and now in Brasstown! Start on your prewarped frame learning the basic stitch and how to hold and manipulate the threads to create cloth. Explore variations, flat and circular warp, and discuss shaping techniques required to create unique garments.

Do you know how to knit and purl comfortably but wonder what could be next? Learn different cast-ons and bind-offs, increases and decreases, simple cables and lace, and maybe a bobble or two–plus tons of tips and tricks. Finish the week learning how to seam like a pro. This fun experience will springboard your knitting far beyond the basics. Advanced beginners and above welcome.

A visit to Shetland reveals colorful, circular, seamless garments created by the fastest knitters in the world! Get the Fair Isle technique firmly “in hand” as you experience the exciting and effective use of color, carrying only two colors per row. Sample colors with typical pattern repeats (handspun and/or thicker yarns welcome), and then choose and design your next project–a tea cozy, fingerless gloves, or holiday stocking! For knitters comfortable with circular knitting.

Don’t be limited by the colors you can buy! Dye your own base colors to blend in different proportions to create subtle variations. Learn to dye solids, using hand and drum carding and other ways to create gradient rovings. Experiment with yarn structure (plies, marling, chain plying, etc.). Understand considerations for dyeing, blending, and spinning for specific projects so you can design and spin exactly the yarn you want. Must be able to spin a single and a simple ply.