Fleece to Yarn - Introduction to Fiber Milling and Drop Spinning

This workshop is perfect for anyone who is interested in learning more about how a sheep’s fleece becomes a textile. We will start with a tour of Nobletown Fiber Works, a full-process, artisan fiber mill in Hillsdale NY, and introduce you to a variety of beautiful fibers grown and spun right here in the Hudson Valley. With the help of the carding machine, each student will create their own unique blend of roving, a fluffy bundle of wool, which they will learn how to spin into yarn on their new drop spindles. 

Margot Becker is a Hudson-based artist, weaver, and educator. Her work explores sense of place, the natural environment and the connection between the individual and the communal subconscious. Through tactile processes, she questions our understanding of sustainability, the value of labor and the role of handcraft in late capitalism. Her weaving practice originated from a deep desire to understand the origins and lives affected by the production of the cloths that surround us in our day to day. In 2010, Margot embarked on an independent study to understand the process of creating textiles from start to finish. Following the belief that to know your production line, you must be your production line, this project became an all-encompassing life practice- incorporating animal husbandry, yarn spinning technologies and fine hand weaving. The resulting line of vertically integrated textiles, Margot Handwoven, is now shown nationwide and in Japan. Margot Becker received a BA from Bard College in 2009 and an MFA with California College of Art in 2020.

Nobletown Fiber Works is a member of TheWorkshopExperience.org, a group of friends and neighbors who produce exceptional experiential learning through open gardens and workshops on a wide variety of topics in the Roeliff Jansen region, where the Hudson Valley and Berkshires meet.