About

I think some of the best things to acquire are skills and tools.  And cheerful friends with skills and tools.

I started this blog some months after I learned to spin yarn.  I think my posts might be helpful to someone going through the same discovery process.  Along the way I've improved my knitting skills, learned to weave, learned to do språng (braiding on stretched threads), tried out lots of equipment, read many books, hung out with passels of handspinners, gotten a fair whack of people started on spindles, and gone to wool festivals near and far.  I've been fortunate enough to meet and talk with a number of makers and producers of fiber arts supplies.

Some of the themes of this blog are re-skilling, the environment, fair labour practices, and history.  And Shakespeare, just because I like Shakespeare and sometimes his plays mention textiles.

As it says on the home page of the blog, my name is Kristen Hughes.  I can twist fibre into yarn with a hand-powered drop spindle, and I see handspinning as a worthwhile and relevant skill.   This blog records what I learn and do.  You may be here looking for a story, a solution, or information.

I am a homesick Canadian from Vancouver Island, and I live in Virginia, U.S.A.

Here are some blog posts that will tell you how sheep got hold of my brain:
Hello World (2009)
No Longer a Beginner Spinner (2009)
Why I Spin Yarn and Why You Should Care (2011)
Handspun in my Real Wardrobe (2013)
Map of Yarnia (2016)
Somebody Set Up Fibershed Virginia, Please (2018)
My Taste in Yarn (2018)
The Portfolio page has an overview of my work in handspinning, knitting, handweaving, tablet weaving, natural dyeing, and språng.

You can find my how to videos (mostly språng) and interviews on YouTube as thesojourningspinner and my pins of fiber arts objects (mostly språng) in museums on Pinterest as thesojourningspinner.  

By mentioning or describing any product, producer, vendor, manufacturer, fibre artist, external link, content provider, technique, book, or the like, I make no endorsement, recommendation, or guarantee. Their views and mine may disagree.  I disclose it when I accept an unsolicited gift from a business.  Links to external websites work at the time of posting but may become broken over time.

I have principles regarding privacy and how I blog.

I write a post when I have something to say about yarn and the fibre arts.  I usually schedule the post to go live on a Saturday morning at seven in the morning.