The Guild by Sheepspot

Community, Challenge, & Consistency for Handspinners

What is The Guild by Sheepspot?

The Guild helps intermediate and advanced spinners go from feeling stuck, uninspired, and uncertain about the next steps in their spinning journey to feeling excited about sitting down at their wheel, prepared to let go of the “rules,” and ready to step into their full potential as fiber artists.

Is The Guild the Right Fit For You?

You’re right for The Guild if:

01

You’ve had some spinning instruction, either in person or online, and are comfortable with the basic elements of making yarn.

02

You are serious about leveling up your spinning skills.

You are ready to try new things, experiment, and play in your spinning.

03

04

You’re eager to connect with other spinners, to be supported in your spinning journey, and to support others.

For example, you might be a former Spin School student who’s missing the structure and focus you experienced in that programs and wants to make the most of the momentum they gave you.

Or you might be an experienced spinner in search of a fun, low-stress, and done-for-you way to keep making steady progress in your yarn-making. 

Or perhaps you’re not spinning as much as you would like, your wheel is giving you dirty looks as it gathers dust, and you need the kind of encouragement and inspiration only other spinners can provide.

Or maybe you’re in a spinning rut, bored with spinning essentially the same yarn over and over again, and desperate for some new spinning ideas.

If you genuinely want to master the craft of spinning–whatever “master” means to you–and you’d like to have a space and community to support you, I’ve created The Guild just for you.

As a member of The Guild, you will . . .

Increase your spinning skills and knowledge with challenges that (gently) push you out of your comfort zone and provide the support you need to complete them.

Have access to your very own spinning brain trust, so you can troubleshoot spinning issues and get spinning questions answered quickly, just by posting them in the group.

Be inspired to build a consistent spinning practice by the endless ingenuity and creativity of The Guild community.

Get access to exclusive classes taught by leading spinning teachers every quarter.

Expand your circle of spinning friends to folks from all over the world, through multiple virtual gatherings every week.

Get first dibs on limited-edition dyed fibers and tickets to Sheepspot’s in-person and online events.

YOUR FEARLESS LEADER

Hi there! I’m Sasha.

I’ve supported hundreds of spinners in their quest to create yarns they love.

I've been spinning incessantly since 2009, and gathering and sharing spinning information for almost as long, through online courses, memberships, and podcasts.

In 2014, I started my company, Sheepspot. Its mission is to harness the vast power of online tools in order to provide spinners with a comprehensive and convenient spinning curriculum.

Why did I create The Guild?

I created the Guild because I needed it. I needed to challenge myself to keep getting better at spinning. I needed inspiration to keep spinning, period. And after the isolation of the pandemic, I needed a spinning community.

And I figured that if I needed those things, other spinners probably did too.

The Guild has succeeded beyond my wildest dreams. We are learning, growing, and spinning up a storm.

We asked Guild members what they value most about The Guild

Here’s what they said:

Bärbl B.

The opportunity to connect with spinners around the world and learn so much from all of you. I appreciate the welcoming and supportive interaction.

Marcy G.

I really appreciate the generosity of everyone - talented folk who share from their experience lift all of us so much higher and much more quickly than if we were each on our own!

Susan C.

The community here is just so encouraging and supportive of our mutual learning processes. I appreciate the many opportunities we have to connect virtually both face to face and through our posts and comments we share in the forums.

Nancy R.

The challenges that keep spinning fresh and interesting! And I love the Zoom meetings, seeing what people are doing and spinning along with everyone. It’s a great community!

What’s Inside The Guild

Monthly challenges

Based on The Spinner's Journey™ and the Pillars of Skillful Spinning™, the frameworks that undergird everything we do at Sheepspot, each challenge is designed to lend focus to your spinning practice, help you improve your spinning, and make it easy to connect with other spinners. The topics are chosen to ensure that you’re learning about all the important aspects of spinning. And we’ll suggest different versions of each challenge so that you can choose something that’s perfect for your skills level right now.

Weekly discussion prompts

. . . that keep you connected and engaged with the community—and with your own spinning! Monday is “give/ask” day, when we invite you to share your spinning stories, expertise, or experiences with the group, and to solicit assistance with something that’s challenging you. On Tuesday, you answer a question that invites you to reflect on the current challenge. Wednesdays are for WIPs, and Fridays are for the weekly spinning check-in. 

Virtual gatherings with other members

The Guild hosts multiple meetups on Zoom each week, so whatever your time zone, we’ve got you covered. These virtual crafting sessions are a great way to connect with other members, get answers to your spinning questions, and just hang out with like-minded folks.

Access to a fully- searchable content library

As a member of The Guild, you’ll have exclusive access to a library of Sheepspot’s audio and video teaching content, past and present. If you’re facing a particular problem in your spinning, just search the library by keyword to get a list of everywhere I’ve talked about that topic. Even better, with a single click, you’ll be taken directly to the exact portion of the lesson you need to get the answer you’re looking for.

The content library includes all the episodes of The Sheepspot Podcast, all our past spinning challenges, as well as many of the lessons I’ve offered in the past as paid content.

A private community moderated with love and care

Private, so that you can share your love of spinning without shady data mining, distracting advertising,  or annoying trolls.  Moderated (by our amazing team of “shepherds) to ensure that our interactions stay focused on spinning and grounded in mutual respect and care.

Guest Teachers

Two to four times each year, The Guild hosts a guest teacher to teach an exclusive class just for us.

Like Emily Wohlsheid’s workshop, Variations on Corespinning, which set of a veritable frenzy of corespinning experiments.

Or Rachel Smith’s workshop on combination drafting which sparked lots of conversation about combining colorways—conversations that produced some amazing yarns!

PLUS

We’re adding new goodies to The Guild all the time. We’ve recently added:

  • A mid-month community meet-up with me

  • Opportunities to mentor new spinners

TO RECAP

As a member of The Guild, you’ll get:

  • The structure and challenge you need to keep growing as a spinner, backed by the proven Spinner's Journey™ and Pillars of Skillful Spinning™ frameworks

  • The encouragement and support you need to actually complete those challenges

  • Access to a thoughtfully-moderated world-wide community of passionate spinners

  • Exclusive access to Guild classes with guest teachers

  • Exclusive access to the searchable Guild Content Library

MEMBERSHIP IN THE GUILD

Membership in The Guild by Sheepspot is currently priced at $399 USD per year. You can opt to join month-to-month for $39 USD monthly.

Once you join The Guild, your price for the Guild will never go up, as long as you remain a member in good standing.

Equity pricing is available for members of marginalized groups or those in need. You decide whether this price is best aligned with your circumstances. Sheepspot will provide the same experience and level of service to everyone. If you'd like to use this option, please contact Aqleema at support@sheepspot.com and ask for the equity pricing link. No questions asked.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

  • Great question. If you’ve had some spinning instruction (online or in person), you feel comfortable with drafting and plying, and you’re generally happy with the yarn you’re making but want to keep getting better, The Guild is likely perfect for you.

    If, on the other hand, you are a newer spinner who still struggles a bit with drafting and plying, if you’re not consistently making yarn you like, or if you’re entirely self-taught, I recommend that you take my Spin School course for beginning and self-taught spinners the next time it opens.

  • There’s no wrong way to be in The Guild. You decide how often to go to virtual spinning events, how much time you spend in the discussion area, and even which monthly challenges you take on. And if you are currently spending any time at all spinning, The Guild will help you make better use of that time to meet your spinning goals, whatever they may be.

  • Everything’s optional in The Guild. Some of our members come to multiple virtual spinning circles ever week, and some have never been to any of them. I want you to take what’s useful and leave the rest.

  • I get it. That’s why we have equity pricing in place. If you’re a member of a marginalized group or if you’re struggling financially right now, please get in touch to learn more. It’s entirely up to you whether this price is best aligned with your circumstances. Sheepspot will provide the same experience and level of service to everyone. Contact Aqleema at support@sheepspot.com and ask for the equity pricing link. No judgment. No questions asked.

Try The Guild Risk-Free

The Guild comes with a risk-free 14-day guarantee.

If you become a member, put in a good-faith effort to explore the group and participate in what The Guild has to offer, and decide the membership isn’t for you, we’ll refund your membership fee. Just contact us before your 14th day of membership, show us you’ve participated in the community, and we’ll refund your membership price.

You can find full details of the refund policy here.

If you’re thinking, “The Guild sounds amazing, but I’m still not 100% sure,” keep reading.

You should give The Guild a risk-free try for 14 days, if any of the following resonates with you.

You’ve lost your spinning mojo

It’s been a while since you were really excited about spinning, and to be perfectly honest, you’ve gotten bored. You want to reconnect with your love of making yarn, but you haven’t spun regularly in months, and you’re not sure how to jump back in.

You can’t bear the thought of spinning one more skein of your default yarn

You’ve spun so many beautiful braids of fiber into basically the same yarn, over and over (and over) again. As a result, you’ve got enough yarn for years worth of one-skein projects. You’re longing to mix it up by spinning for larger projects and trying new fibers and techniques. But you know yourself well enough to know you need some support to see you through those experiments that may not work.

You’re ready to call yourself a fiber artist . . . and mean it

You have actual ambitions as a spinner. Whether it’s being able to make any yarn you can think of, or nailing that consistent three-ply sock yarn, you’re ready to get really serious and eager to get started.

Spinning isn’t magic . . .

But it is a kind of superpower. 

Let me let you in on a secret. I don’t teach spinning because I’m passionate about twist angle, achieving the perfect grist, or the wonders of wool (though I am). 

I teach spinning because I want to share what I get from spinning: a foolproof way to quiet my sometimes-overactive brain, endless occasions to practice self-compassion, and regular opportunities to do battle with the perfectionism that drives me to work way too much.

I teach spinning because I deeply believe that spinning makes us better. Spinning invites us not just to do but also to be: to be creative, to be in the present, to be connected to the generations and generations of spinners that came before us. To hear ourselves think in this noisy world. To rest. To refill our cups so we can serve others from the saucer. To fail sometimes and to keep going.

I want you to tap into all that spinning has to offer. Because we both know it’s not just about the yarn. It’s about you becoming your best self.