Giving up on preferred spacing. System appears not to believe in break codes. I’m a book designer. This stuff itches me {wry grin}.

So I’m working on Wool Types, because it was the topic that came up in the top three on both weighted and  unweighted surveys. It’s also basic information that I think everyone who works with wool needs to have at hand–and because when I did the transformation step, I came up with an interesting result that expanded the course just slightly beyond what I’d originally envisioned.

Here goes:
1) What is the final destination or transformation you are leading your customers to?
Wool types: Understands that there are differences between types of wools, in structure, in function, in application—what those differences are, and how they affect the performance of the fibers in yarns and textiles.

2) What is your customer ACTUALLY paying for?

Wool types: Confidence when selecting a fleece or going into a yarn store. More satisfying results for time and money invested.

3) Make a list of the tangible benefits they’ll receive from going through your eCourse.

Wool types:

1. Know about crimp, length, fiber diameter, and basics of fiber structure.
2. Understand how the following differ from each other: fine wools, Down and Down-like wools, longwools, and multi-coated wools.
3. Be able to match each type to appropriate projects, and know why one or the other is best suited to a given application.
4. Know the typical ways to prepare and spin each of the fibers, and know that sometimes the results they want to achieve will come from taking another approach.

4) Describe what their life will look like after going through your course. What has changed or improved? You can even write it as a short story about the character you’re niching.

Wool types:

Last year, A. walked into the fleece-sale barn at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival when it was opened to the public despite the crowds and her own sense of overwhelm. Squeezing her way through the narrow aisles and past the people grabbing this or that fleece—sometimes out of someone else’s hands—she felt like she wanted to go home with a fleece, but she also wanted to run away. She didn’t know which fleece to choose, or what she would do with it. Some of them were awfully expensive. Others were cheap. Did that mean the expensive ones were better, or the cheap ones were flawed? Finally, she bumped her way out of the packed building, giving up, feeling like she’d failed. It would be another year before she could come back.

This year, A. was ready when the fleece-sale barn opened, but she also let the first frenzy pass. She knew that there would be good fleeces left after the initial rush, and that the overpriced ones would likely be out of the way, having been bought by those who wanted the latest fad type. She knew she wanted to make a blanket, and that one of the Down and Down-type wools would be the most suitable for her project. She knew the names of some of the breeds to look for, and how they would function in her finished project: they’d be cushy, lightweight for their bulk, ready to be cosy and wear well and be easy to spread out on a bed. She expected to prepare the wool by carding it, and to spin it woolen-style, although she also intended to try worsted techniques on it and see if she enjoyed that process more. Under one of the tables, she found a Dorset Horn fleece that weighed about 5 pounds: plenty to make a blanket from, even after it lost some weight in washing and preparation. After the other spinners had all run off with the Cormos and the Bluefaced Leicesters at $25/pound and more, she wasn’t surprised to find that her Dorset Horn, which tested as sound for strength, was $15/pound—and she knew that would be a good return to the shepherd as well. She walked over to the cashier, hugging her fleece and smiling.

1) Describe the personality of your eCourse. This will be reflected in your content, copy, branding and every aspect of your eCourse.

Friendly, supportive, investigative, open-minded, guidelines > rules, emphasis on personal creative experience. Learning tools. Exploring materials and questions. Fact-checking.

Natural colors of landscape and fibers: trees, grass, sky, water, wind, rock. Earth. Growing. Tactile.

2) What is it about your eCourse and the way you choose to deliver the content that makes it unique, interesting, engaging or entertaining to your audience so they recognize it as being made JUST for them. How does it stand apart?

Videos that are informal and that make connections: between fibers and animals and landscapes and history and science. Some part of it is heavy science made approachable and applicable to the individual fiber artisan. Infused with respect for the animals that grow the fiber. Aware of environment and culture and the value of the individual.

3) What can you do to put your own unique stamp of creativity on your eCourse? Take your own photos, draw your own graphics, green screen backgrounds, humour, poetry, etc…

Yes to photos, graphics including drawings, visuals, probably the video. I have video and stills of various landscapes with sheep in them. Time permitting, maybe some paintings. Original music? (If I can get the carpal tunnel issues under control.)

Possibility of some segments with tie-dyed lab coat and/or some sort of special, colorful scrubs, for the scientific bits, to contrast with (and jazz up a bit) the overall natural palette.

Very carefully crafted, but with a slightly rough edge to it all: the rough edge is the learning edge. I’m not a guru. I’m an explorer, someone who experiments. More dance than math (although the math will have been done to support the dance moves).

1) WHAT is the eCourse all about that you’re inspired to create?

An introduction to wool types for fiber folk, especially handspinners who make their own yarn.

2) Out of all the options, WHY are you most excited to create this eCourse?

It’s core information needed by every spinner who handles wool fibers (which is most of them). It builds on my books and my 40+ years of experience with textiles, and will offer people a more personal approach to information than can be conveyed through previous publications.

3) Describe WHO you are creating this eCourse for.

Spinners from advanced beginner to experienced levels who are curious, intelligent, generous, a little bit unsure of themselves, with more ideas than time and more vision than they have skill to manifest (yet). They think there are rules and that they are falling short.

4) Describe the TRANSFORMATION or benefits they’ll receive by going through your eCourse.

They will understand that there are differences between types of wools, in structure, in function, in application, and will know what those differences are and how they affect the performance of the fibers in yarns and textiles. They will develop confidence when selecting a fleece or going into a yarn store, and as a result will achieve more satisfying results for the time and money they invest.

5) Using your skills and resources, HOW do you intend to facilitate the ultimate transformation?

In three parts: (1) overview of fleeces and characteristics of wool fibers, (2) categories of wool and typical ways of preparing, spinning, and using them—with guidance for using atypical approaches as well, and (3) selecting and preparing fibers and getting to know them before launching into a full-scale project.

6) If your eCourse was a person, how would you describe its PERSONALITY or VIBES?

The general vibe will connect to the natural world, with relationship at the core. It will emphasize ecosystems, personal, geographic, cultural, and environmental, with a friendly, supportive, investigative, open-minded creative experience. It will be about tools, exploration, questions, and fact-checking. While math will be a component, the ultimate goal is a poetic approach to craft.