Teaching at Kings Lynn Arts Centre

 I wanted to tell you about the last part of my arts award, the teaching. I went into the Kings Lynn arts centre the other day to teach spindle spinning to a few people. I had talked to Nick before and he had told me that it was going to be very informal so no need to worry. I had planned it before and made some notes on how I was going to teach and a materials list as to what I was taking. The planning is below.

Teaching Notes
1- Start with explaining how the spindle works and what the leader is used for ( it attachs the yarn to the    spindle).
2- Then go onto explaining how to draft the fleece and why it is so important ( it loosens the fibres and makes the fleece easier to spin).
3- Show the process of spindle spinning from attaching the fleece to the leader, to drafting out the fleece into a  yarns width and spinning the spindle to let the spin go into the yarn.
4- Next hand out the spindles and let them choose the fleece they wish to start off with.
5- Talk them through the process again whilst spindle spinning with them.

Materials List
Spindles
Fleece
Notes
Instructions for them to take home if its something they wish to look at further

So that was the planning sorted. Then I felt quite confident about it.
When I arrived, Nick took me down to the box office where a lovely woman called Jenni Rayner introduced herself and told me that I was going to be teaching her to spindle spin. So I got everything out and we got started. I was looking at my notes and talking her through the process. Once we got the fleece attached, Jenni quickly picked it up and ended up producing a sizeable amount of yarn. This was something Jenni is thinking about taking further so I gave her wingham wool's website address for her to order a spindle if she wants to. When we had finished, she wrote me a comment to put on my blog for how well she thought I did. This is what she wrote.

Meghan gave me a short lesson is spindle spinnig this morning. Her instructions were concise and clear and she showed great enthusiasm for her subject. I managed to produce a short piece of yarn (to my delight) and have been given instructions and information by Meghan should I wish to carry on. In all it was a fun and informative session.
Jenni Rayner


Her are some photos of her at work.

So now the teaching is done the only thing left is the moderation.

I will let you know when I know when the moderation will be.

Meghan