Hi! I’m Michelle.

I spin, knit, weave, write, and teach.

I’ve always loved yarn and cloth, but I was determined to be a “real” artist. Then I moved to a community where there were few jobs for artists and I had to learn to fill my time. Knitting gave me the creative outlook I needed, and as often happens, knitting led to spinning, then dyeing, then weaving.

But it was spinning that absolutely captivated me. I taught myself to spin on a suspended (drop) spindle shortly after my youngest was born and I knew I had found the art I was meant to make. I graduated from the Master Spinners Program at Olds College of Agriculture and Technology in 2007 and went to work as an instructor there that same year. I taught for 12 years and that teaching experience pushed me to learn more and more about spinning.

I would never have considered being a “technical spinner” when I started, but it turns out I love the math and physics of making yarn! The more I explore the how’s and why’s of spinning, the more intrigued I am about what happens when we twist fibres together to make yarn.

I believe there are no firm rights or wrongs in spinning, but I can tell you that there are definitely some things that work better than others. And I believe that having and understanding of how twist and fibre meet can help us all make better yarns.