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Spinning the Edges Spinning connects me in those moments when I feel alone, when I wonder who I am, where I fit in and in what direction I should go. When I feel lost, I spin. At first it’s subtle. I find the way the colors are working together interesting, then slowly I become those colors intertwining...
Posted to
SOAR Scholar's Blog
by
aa.thorstenson
on
Nov 27, 2012
Filed under:
Filed under: Dyeing, SOAR, Spin-Off Magazine, Spinning Wool, Merino Wool, Plying, Spinning Wheels, Handspun, Natural Dyes, Spinning Cotton, Spinning, Dyeing Yarn, Wool Processing, How-To
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What I wish history class had been like Norman Kennedy demonstrating breaking up the husk of the retted flax plant to harvest the fiber. Thank goodness for those in our community who keep traditional techniques alive. Norman Kennedy is one of these treasures. We were lucky to record some of his vast...
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Spinning Tips—Or Not In the DVD How to Card Wool: Four Spinners, Four Techniques , Carol Rhoades demonstrates her carding technique. You know how there are about a trillion different ways to divide the world into opposing sides? Such as people who are night owls vs people who are early birds; people...
Posted to
Linda Ligon's Blog
by
Linda Ligon
on
Apr 4, 2012
Filed under:
Filed under: Plying, Wool Processing, Drum Carder, Spinning Wool, Merino Wool, How-To, Carding and Combing, Types of Yarn, Your Yarn, Spinning, Processing Fiber
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Wensley and Dale, Spin-Off Winter 2000 Years ago, my mother spotted a newborn lamb with large black and white splotches, making him look more like a miniature Holstein calf than a Columbia lamb. He was only hours old when my Mom claimed his yet ungrown fleece. Months later, she spun the beautiful black...
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I have seen the light! (As in light and fluffy) I have seen the light! (As in light and fluffy.) Never the type of person to even want to process my own fiber, I have recently been convinced. Oh, I'd tried it before—started with a raw fleece, washed, and handcarded (and handcarded) and got...
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Margaret Stove in her element, an Orenburg shawl. This picture is included in her book Wrapped in Lace and is from a trip she took to Orenburg to visit with master knitters. Margaret shows how she tensions Merino to spin springy elastic yarn. Margaret demonstrating how to find the tip of a wool lock...
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Judith MacKenzie explains that being able to make yarns to fit a project is the basis of the spinner's toolbox. Judith demonstrates worsted spinning. Judith demonstrates semi-worsted spinning. What do you have in your toolbox? I have to admit that, as a spinner, I have a weakness for tools. How could...
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Spinning with Rita Buchanan Imagine this: you sit down for dinner at a table set with your handspun, handwoven table runner and napkins. You clean up the kitchen wearing your handspun, handwoven apron, and dry dishes with your—you guessed it—HS, HW dishtowels. You lay yourself to rest on...
Posted to
Linda Ligon's Blog
by
Linda Ligon
on
Aug 4, 2010
Filed under:
Filed under: handwoven, Worsted, Plying, Wool Processing, Drum Carder, Handspun, Spinning Wool, Merino Wool, How-To, Carding and Combing, Types of Yarn, Spinning, Processing Fiber
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Spinning Across Spain I started my summer off with a trip to Sitges, Spain (just south of Barcelona), to visit my parents who are there for a year while my Dad works on a Fulbright research grant. Traveling with my husband and two daughters, Hannah (five years) and Sarah (eight months), I knew that it...
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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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I've known Rita Buchanan for many, many years, and she's always surprised me. There was the Peace Corps time working on water projects in Africa. The year in southwestern Colorado, growing and living off native plants. The acknowledgment in her splendid book, A Weaver's Garden , to her "tireless...
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Aside from the fact that I get to play with yarn and fiber everyday, there are some moments when I realize that my job is really, really cool. Enter Exhibit A (at left), a super advance copy of Spin Control , the upcoming Interweave book by Amy King of Spunky Eclectic fame. I’ve been looking forward...
Posted to
Liz's Blog
by
stefanie berganini
on
Apr 1, 2009
Filed under:
Filed under: Worsted, Handspun, Plying, Spinning Wheels, How To Spin, Spinning Wool, Merino Wool, Wool Processing, How-To, Types of Yarn, Spinning
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I was looking back, waaay back, the other day, at the second issue of Spin-Off (Fall 1978). This popped out at me: a short article written by Harry and Olive Linder, one of the shining lights and great teachers of the spinning community back in the day. Harry and his wife, Olive, had just traveled in...
Posted to
Linda Ligon's Blog
by
Linda Ligon
on
Jan 22, 2009
Filed under:
Filed under: Wool Processing, Spinning Wheels, Spindle Spinning, Drop Spindle, Handspun, Spinning Wool, Merino Wool, Spin-Off Magazine, How-To, Spinning