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When you hear the words "art yarn," what comes to mind? I'd guess that most people imagine crazy, wild yarns with large foreign objects sticking out willy-nilly. And yes, while art yarn often features fun experimental textures and objects, it can also be quite sophisticated. This week we'll...
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On the Cover: Spinning Pleasantly Plump and Silky Singles by Judith MacKenzie, page 62. Departments Editor's Page Letters As the Whorl Spins by Stefanie Berganini Reviews Get This! by Stefanie Berganini Abbreviations Calendar Classified Ads Advertiser's Index Spinning Basics: Spinning Fine Yarns...
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I decided to get a little bit experimental with my spinning this past weekend and try my hand at art yarn. I really like the way art yarn looks, and I love the spontaneity that goes into making it, but I've been focused on getting my fundamentals down and haven't tried to make any myself yet...
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I have my Spin-Off 2010 Calendar hanging right next to my desk; the image for February is one I put together for the calendar when we designed it last summer. February is a fun month for our family because we have a lot of birthdays to celebrate—and to top it off, my mom's birthday is on Valentine's...
Posted to
Amy's Blog
by
Amy Clarke Moore
on
Feb 10, 2010
Filed under:
Filed under: Call for Entries, Natural Dyes, Dyeing, Handspun, Spinning Wheels, Plying, Spin-Off Magazine, Spinning Wool, Merino Wool, Handwoven, Wool Processing, Types of Yarn, Spinning, Dyeing Yarn
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Can you believe that it's been a year already since we launched spinningdaily.com —amazing how quickly time passes when you're having fun, isn't it? We have more than 18,500 users (hey, that's a lot of spinners all in one place!), there are 1,437 threads (well, we know that there...
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I'll never forget my first encounter with Richard Rutt's wonderful book, The History of Handknitting . I was attending the Frankfurt Book Fair for the first time, and was pretty overwhelmed by its vastness, variety, verbal hubbub (and my lack of German and stolen passport, but that's another...
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The Windy City Knitting Guild hosted the fair’s first garment competition at this summer’s Midwest Fibers & Folk Art Fair with original entries being modeled on stage by their creators. “Polly Ester,” a soft-sculpture doll who is a traveling companion of the guild, stood on...
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This past June, the Spin-Off office had a special treat. Abby Franquemont flew out to Colorado from her fiber-filled house in Ohio to spend a couple days filming footage for two videos ( the first one is already available ). Stefanie Berganini and I were asked to be the audience—to give Abby someone...
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Are you one of those spinners who wants everything to be precise? Who believes all yarn is either woolen or worsted, nothing in between? Who believes an inch is an inch, and that's the end of the story? Do not read further. I've just been reviewing a collection of articles Rita Buchanan wrote...
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On the Cover: Coils: Adding to Your Art Yarn Repertoire, page 44. Departments Editor's Page Letters As the Whorl Spins by Stefanie Berganini Reviews Get This! by Stefanie Berganini Abbreviations Calendar Classified Ads Advertiser's Index Armchair Traveler: Vilnius, Lithuania by Donna Druchunas...
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I did my first spinning on a handspindle. Like many spinners, after I got my feet wet I moved up to a wheel, and there I remained for a long time. I felt that while the spindle was a fun first step, it was just a stepping stone on the way to wheel spinning. After a couple years of spinning, and especially...
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Picture this: Spinning diva Abby Franquemont, a woodshop, a couple of aluminum ladders for props, two rowdy kittens. Add: three video cameras, a bunch of lights, a sound system, some camera guys. Result? Drafting: The Long and Short of It , an hour of intense focus on choosing fiber, drafting fiber,...
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About twenty-two years ago, sitting in my college dorm room, I opened a care package from my Aunt Debby and found an amazing book—a collection of small handspun and handknit hats, scarves, mittens, and socks called, Homespun, Handknit. Published the year I graduated from high school, this collection...
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For years, you've had a secret, inexplicable yearning to make yarn—a subconscious desire that you've resisted, rationalized away, and pushed to the back of your mind. Things have happened, though, that make this resisting harder. Perhaps a good knitting friend has confessed a desire to...
Posted to
Amy's Blog
by
Amy Clarke Moore
on
Sep 16, 2009
Filed under:
Filed under: Natural Fiber, SOAR, Handspun, Spindle Spinning, Drop Spindle, Plying, How To Spin, Spin-Off Magazine, Handwoven, Your Yarn, Types of Yarn, Spinning, Processing Fiber
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The 25th Market Day and Fiber Fair at the Bowling Green County Fairgrounds brought together handspun yarns and handcrafted items reminiscent of a village fair. Hosted by the Black Swamp Spinner’s Guild (Ohio) , it included tatting, paper quilling, rug hooking, soap-making and perfume fragrances...