A Visit to The Newbury School of Weaving

Earlier this year I signed up for a day-long workshop at The Newbury School of Weaving in Newbury, VT. The class I enrolled in is called "Introduction to the Great Wheel" and my class was held Saturday, 9:30 am to 4:30 pm. It was a fabulous experience.

Now, I have spun on my great wheel before, learning from videos (mostly) and articles and books. Although I can make yarn this way, I have always felt that having a real-life teacher would go a long way to filling in gaps and answering questions. I was right.

Newbury is just over the border in VT, less than 30 miles northwest of here. It's a very pretty town and the school occupies an old church on the common.

The drive up was beautiful, skirting the west side of Mount Moosilauke and the sometimes rugged looking terrain to the northwest of it. It was covered with a fresh coat of snow from the night before! I took this picture of Moosilauke some years ago, in the winter time, not far from my house: 

Stepping into the Newbury School was like time traveling. The sights, the sounds, the smells, all of it. A large cavernous space just beyond the entry vestibule is filled to capacity with counterbalanced barn looms. I have never seen so many humongous looms in one room before. A veritable forest of looms and accoutrements. At the far end of the room were 3 or 4 rows of spinning wheels of all shapes and sizes. A large work table separates the wheels from the looms.

Some of the looms had works in progress on them. The makings of warmth-providing blankets of wool that had been processed, spun, and woven there. What a joy. Here and there, bits of woven cloth, and shelves full of cones of yarn add splashes of color to the ambience. But wood, old patinated wood, predominates this large gathering place of antique weaving machinery. Heaven.

The class was everything I had hoped for and was very well structured. After a morning chit-chat to introduce ourselves and talk about our spinning, we were given some pencil roving to spin according to the demonstration our instructor had provided. This was a brilliant way to learn the movements of spinning on the great wheel. We learned how to wind off onto a reel and keep track of yardage.

When we returned from lunch, it was time to pick some scoured wool. We sat in a ring, encircling a large galvanized tub into which we tossed our fresh picked locks. This was conversation time. It felt like days gone by when people would get together to tackle a time-consuming task. Our lovely conversation touched on the historical aspects of spinning and weaving techniques, and quite a range of other making-related topics. It is an atmosphere from which one drinks deeply of the joy of life.

We were then given cards--cotton cards, much to my surprise! No. 10 cotton cards, and they worked fabulously. As soon as I got home Saturday evening, I found a pair on eBay and ordered them immediately. Then we approached the wheels again with our newly carded rolls and revisited our spinning moves only this time drafting out with the left hand.

At the end of the day I felt very satisfied with all that I had experienced and learned. The holes in my knowledge were filled in, new knowledge obtained, and confidence built.

Here is the 120 yds of highly energized singles I made during class, waiting to be bathed in hot water:

(Footnote. Progress on the rug was good last week as the weather was suitable for working on it outside.)