Hello and welcome to Woolmaven.com!
I am Kathy McCune a long time handspinning enthusiast from Ohio. We (my husband and I) are sheep farmers and I have Woolmaven.com and another site, FamilyFarmLivestock.com, to help folks get started with spinning or raising animals, in the case of the livestock site.
While I am fairly new to the internet, I have been spinning since I purchased a Louet DT S15 (one of the wheels I still use today) in the late 1990’s. I recently added a Schacht Matchless wheel for a bit more versatility and speed and switch back and forth between the two, depending upon the project.
I enjoy working with naturally colored wools, especially ones that are new to me, and blending dyed batts on my drum carder, which I love!
I believe that as handspinners grow in abilities and interests, we naturally expand our craft to work with new to us fibers or techniques and in the process look for guidance or suggestions to smooth the path, that’s what I’m hoping to provide here.
I am for the most part self taught, which has some good aspects and some not so good ones, like unnecessary struggles that I am hoping to save you from having by putting together this site!
Interested in learning to spin? Check out my Spinning Course!
Here’s my podcast!
Woolmaven Handspinning Podcast
Want the full scoop on what drew me to spinning? Check out my first podcast episode: How I got started handspinning:
My current interests in handspinning are getting more into dyeing, especially since I can use my drum carder (you’ll hear a lot about my drum carder on this site, it’s one of the best purchases I have made!), and working my way into finer wools.
I have tried fine wools in the past and it has been disasterville, but I gave it a shot recently and the Merino I purchased turned out well, so I’ll be going deeper into fine wool spinning and seeing what shakes out. This was the main reason for getting the Matchless (which is a wonderful wheel!)
As far as the dyeing goes, I just love color and dyeing my own wool, along with using my drum carder, has opened up a world of color play for my handspinning.
Brand new to spinning and looking for some step by step help to get going? My Spinning Course is designed specifically for beginners, even total beginners! Even if all you can do is treadle, this course will show you the steps to get going, in an easy to follow, step by step series of videos. I remember the frustration of being new to handspinning, but I also know that once you get going you’ll love what you can do with your wheel!
End your frustration and start spinning with confidence, start the Spinning Course today!