Spin the Wild Woods

Creative spinning and textile design inspired by the autumn woodland

Saturday 14 November 2026 · Brandon Country Park, Suffolk
10am–4.30pm · Arrive from 9.30am · £95

Join me for a full-day creative-spinning workshop exploring how woodland inspiration can become beautifully expressive, individually designed yarn.

Through a gentle woodland walk, art-yarn demonstrations and plenty of supported experimentation, we’ll explore new ways to work with colour, texture and structure — and give your own creative ideas room to flourish.

Held in the Engine House at Brandon Country Park, surrounded by woodland, this is a day to immerse yourself in fibres, learn exciting techniques and enjoy making alongside fellow spinners.

Find your inspiration and follow your curiosity

The woodland offers a wonderful palette: coppery leaves, soft moss greens, silver-grey bark and the rich, dark colours of the forest floor. Look closer and there are curled edges, tangled roots, feathery seed heads and flashes of unexpected colour.

We’ll begin with a walk through the park’s woodland, noticing what draws our eye. You might photograph a colour combination, sketch the rhythm of branches or make a few notes about a texture you love.

Back inside, we’ll explore how to translate those discoveries into yarn. How might you capture the colours, textures and feeling of the woods in your spinning?

What we’ll explore

I’ll demonstrate five families of creative-spinning techniques, showing how each can become a tool for your own designs.

• Singles: thick-and-thin yarn, nubs and knots

• Thread: candy striping, core spinning, tufts and auto-wrapping

• Plying: thread plying, coils, granny stacks, twists and spiral effects

• Add-ins: pom-poms, bows, fabric and small objects threaded onto yarn or unspun fibre

• Locks: lock spinning that celebrates the curls, tips and character of fleece

You’ll see the full range demonstrated, then have time to practise a selection and develop the combinations that excite you most. I’ll be there to help with both technical questions and creative decisions: choosing materials, adjusting scale, balancing textures and finding ways to bring an idea to life.

Your yarn might become delicate and misty, earthy and textured, or full of unexpected colour. You’ll be encouraged to trust your eye, experiment freely and see where the possibilities take you.

Materials

Choose the £95 bring-your-own-materials ticket, or add a specially prepared woodland fibre pack:

• 150g fibre pack: £30 extra (£125 total)

• 300g fibre pack: £55 extra (£150 total)

Fibre is not included in the standard ticket. Each pack will include a carefully selected woodland palette of spinning fibres and textures. The 300g collection gives you more material to continue exploring at home; full contents will follow.

Please bring a few treasures of your own too: a favourite fibre, a ribbon you’ve been saving, scraps of meaningful fabric, a handful of sequins or a yarn whose colour you adore. This is a lovely chance to finally use those intriguing little things you’ve kept because you knew they could become something special.

As your ideas unfold throughout the day, you’ll be able to choose and combine materials in your own way. Bringing saved yarns, ribbons and fabric scraps is also a resourceful way to give small remnants a new creative purpose.

Who is it for?

This workshop is for spinners who can already spin independently and would love to explore art yarns, broaden their technical skills or feel more confident designing original yarn.

You don’t need previous art-yarn experience. Whether you arrive overflowing with ideas or wondering where to begin, you’ll have encouragement and individual guidance in a friendly, small-group setting.

This is not a beginners’ learn-to-spin workshop.

What to bring

• Your spinning wheel, spare bobbins and usual spinning tools

• A lazy Kate, if you have one

• Suitable spinning fibres and threads if you choose the standard ticket; a materials checklist will be sent beforehand

• Any personal embellishments you’d like to use

• A phone, camera, notebook or sketchbook for recording inspiration

• Suitable footwear and a warm layer for our woodland walk

Please contact me before booking if you need to discuss borrowing equipment.

Your day includes

A full day of creative-spinning and textile-design tuition, a woodland inspiration walk, tea, coffee and refreshments.

Bring your own suitable fibres and threads, or add an optional woodland fibre pack separately. A materials checklist will be sent before the workshop.

Optional catering is being arranged with the park; lunch options and prices will follow separately.

You’ll leave with experimental yarn samples, fresh technical possibilities and ideas to carry into future projects — along with the pleasure of having spent a day giving your creativity your full attention.

£95 for the day, or £180 for the complete Spin the Wild Woods weekend. Optional spinning fibre packs cost £30 for 150g or £55 for 300g, in addition to the ticket price.

Join me for Sunday’s creative-weaving workshop too, and explore how some of Saturday’s yarn can become part of your own woodland-inspired cloth.

Bring your wheel, your curiosity and a few treasured materials. Let’s see what the woods inspire you to make.

Book your place

There are limited places on this workshop. The £95 ticket reserves your place; optional materials packs are purchased separately.

Add a woodland fibre pack: 150g £30 or 300g £55. Packs are collected at the workshop.

For the £180 weekend, add one ticket for each day to your basket and enter WILDWEEKEND at checkout for £10 off. Book the other workshop here. One weekend discount per order; it cannot be combined with other discounts. Optional packs are extra.