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SOAR scholars are asked to submit a report sharing their experiences as recipients and the impact the opportunity has had on their lives. Marianne Guckelsberger from Reykjavík, Iceland, tells us about SOAR 2012 in Lake Tahoe, California. Now that registration is open for SOAR 2013 my mind goes...
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Be enchanted by Judith MacKenzie In our new eBook, Judith MacKenzie explains plying and cabling yarn. Judith MacKenzie has been enthralling us for decades with her soothing voice and storytelling magic via many a medium—classes, video, and the written word. You don't have to be a spinner to...
Posted to
Amy's Blog
by
Amy Clarke Moore
on
Apr 24, 2013
Filed under:
Filed under: Spinning Wheels, Plying, How To Spin, Spin-Off Magazine, Spinning Wool, Merino Wool, Wool Processing, Your Yarn, Types of Yarn, Spinning
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Spend a relaxing day watching others spin Spend the day with Norman Kennedy and a song spinning. In Europe, in olden times, spinners had a break from their spinning during the celebration of Christmas. But the day after Christmas, they were admonished to get back to work! Rascally men would splash water...
Posted to
Linda Ligon's Blog
by
Linda Ligon
on
Dec 26, 2012
Filed under:
Filed under: handwoven, Wool Processing, Drum Carder, Spinning Wheels, Handspun, Spinning Wool, Merino Wool, Carding and Combing, Spinning, Processing Fiber
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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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Improved resources for teaching spinning This morning I spent an hour at the public Montessori school where I volunteer. The junior high classroom that I help out in has spinning wheels, looms, and bags of alpaca fleeces shorn from the farm’s alpacas just waiting to be spun up. I go in whenever...
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Three swatches knitted in seed rib pattern using single, two-ply, and three-ply yarns When you ply your spun singles do you prefer two-ply, three-ply, or four-ply yarns? Or perhaps you prefer to work with singles and skip the plying all together? In the Fall 2001 issue of Spin-Off Rita Buchanan shared...
Posted to
Guest Blog
by
Toni Rexroat
on
Oct 11, 2011
Filed under:
Filed under: Spin-Off Magazine, Spinning Wheels, Wool Processing, Plying, Worsted, Spinning Wool, Dyeing, Merino Wool, Mohair, Types of Yarn, Natural Dyes, Your Yarn, Spinning, Dyeing Yarn
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When I learned to spin 16 years ago, I learned alone, from a book. I lived in a remote community where there were no opportunities to learn to spin. There was no YouTube, no local guild, no kindly mentor. I was adrift with my new passion, with no guidance. Then I found Spin-Off Magazine. Spin-Off showed...
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Spread the word about our free Drop Spindle Spinning eBook Every once in a while I start to daydream about what a world overrun by spinners would look, and more importantly, feel like. What if everyone was a spinner? Standing in line at the grocery store you would be discussing with others the merits...
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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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Margaret spinning singles from Merino wool. Margaret demonstrating washing Merino wool, one lock at a time. Margaret sharing a microscopic image from the Wool Research Organization of New Zealand showing unwashed and washed wool. Margaret Stove and her one and only Bush Bouquet Shawl that she was commissioned...
Posted to
Linda Ligon's Blog
by
Linda Ligon
on
Dec 29, 2010
Filed under:
Filed under: Plying, SOAR, How To Spin, Wool Processing, Spinning Wheels, Handspun, Spinning Wool, Merino Wool, Types of Yarn, Spinning
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The National Wool Museum is located in Dre-fach Felindre, Carmarthenshire, a small village in the middle of Wales near the Teifi Valley. In 1845, there were as many as 325 woolen mills there with large numbers of Welsh women, men, and children employed in the production of flannel shirts, underwear,...
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Margaret Stove and her Bush Bouquet Shawl that she was commissioned to design, spin, and knit for the birth of Prince William. Margaret's first shawl fine enough to pass through a wedding ring. It was spun from a Merino fleece. A knitted lace sample from Margaret's SOAR 2010 workshop. Speed-knit...
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If you have ever attended our Spin-Off Autumn Retreat (SOAR), you know the sweet anticipation that precedes the release of the Spring 2010 issue of Spin-Off and the announcement of the workshops and mentors. Of course, now that we have a website, those announcements don't have to wait for the Spring...
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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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I’ve rattled on for years about how hard it is to put spinning instruction in print. It’s such a dynamic, process-intensive craft—so hard to capture in one-shot increments. For all my carrying on, though, I think we’ve done a pretty good job. Thirty-two years of Spin-Off , and...
Posted to
Linda Ligon's Blog
by
Linda Ligon
on
Jun 3, 2009
Filed under:
Filed under: Worsted, Plying, How To Spin, Wool Processing, Spinning Wheels, Spindle Spinning, Drop Spindle, Spinning Wool, Merino Wool, Spin-Off Magazine, Types of Yarn, Spinning