Amelia Garripoli learned to knit at her mother’s knee; her fiber journey blossomed in 2001 with a home—and llamas—of her own. Since then, she has explored spinning, weaving, dyeing, nalbinding, and sock machines. A passionate teacher, she leads workshops at fiber festivals, guilds, and e-spinning Zoom classes. Her work appears in Spin-Off and Ply,

and she’s the author of Productive Spindling, Power Spinning, and two Spin-Off spindle videos. She spins, weaves, and plays string games as she explores fiber festivals across

America. Find her at askthebellwether.com. From Amelia:

"The pursuit of crazy things to do on spindles fuels part of my passion for these portable tools. So if you like having even spinners stop and ask you "what are you doing?" as you

wander around a wool show with your newest spindle, come and learn my favorite tricks.

We will start with some basic tricks, such as starting without a leader and removing thick spots. Then we will take on the challenge of long-draw on a spindle, yes you can!

If having one spindle is your goal, but spindle weight is your issue, we will explore how to mod a spindle to get the spindle you want without harming the spindle.

If efficiency keeps you from your spindles, we will explore the wind-on and how to make it faster (and cooler looking, of course!).

Then, after I wow you with the after-thought quill, I'll show you how plying balls are even better, even for chain plying -- that's right, a chain plying ball, bet you've never heard of

those before!

But the real conversation-pieces are kick-plying and throw-plying; we kick-ply with a top-whorl and throw-ply with a bottom-whorl - both are attention-getters.

And I'll wrap up with a Turkish trick that will have you packing your favorite Turkish spindle that never used to leave home for your next trip without worrying about a broken shaft ever again.

I also welcome attendees to bring spindles they'd like advice on or are curious about".