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Spinning and Dreaming in Color Anita's advancing twill sample with handspun silk handkerchiefs. I started spinning because of color. I visited a spinning shop with a friend and fell in love with a raspberry-colored bump of Lincoln roving, so I rented a wheel, signed up for lessons, and 20+ years...
Posted to
Guest Blog
by
Anita Osterhaug
on
Apr 29, 2013
Filed under:
Filed under: How To Spin, Spinning Wheels, Wool Processing, Plying, Handspun, Spinning Wool, Handwoven, Mohair, Types of Yarn, Spinning
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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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Start with the right tools, it makes a big difference Maggie Casey showing Eunny Jang how best to insert twist in Start Spinning: The Video. It is starting to feel like I've always been able to spin. What a wonderful feeling! When I sit down at my wheel my default yarn comes naturally. And, well...
Posted to
Liz's Blog
by
Liz Good
on
Dec 5, 2012
Filed under:
Filed under: Spin-Off Magazine, Handspun, Plying, How To Spin, Spindle Spinning, Drop Spindle, Wool Processing, How-To, Types of Yarn, Your Yarn, 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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We've invited Anita Osterhaug, editor of Handwoven magazine, to share with us some weaving projects from the next couple of issues that are perfect for handspun. Cei Lambert's plaid shawl would be a great project to make with handspun bamboo yarn. Anita: To my mind, handspinners are ultimate...
Posted to
Guest Blog
by
Anita Osterhaug
on
Jul 2, 2012
Filed under:
Filed under: Wool Processing, Plying, Handspun, Spinning Wool, Dyeing, Handwoven, Merino Wool, Natural Dyes, Spinning, Dyeing Yarn
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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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Knowing the right yarn for the project The Yarn Review section of Spring 2012 issue of Interweave Knits takes a look at Tencel yarns. I thought I knew yarn before I took on editing Interweave Knits . After all, I knitted! I was on a first-name basis with everyone at every yarn shop in a 50-mile radius...
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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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You may not think it's a good use of handspun yarn to walk around wearing it out under the soles of your feet. Why use yarn that you've put a lot of effort into creating for a project that will develop holes? In honor of the Spring 2012 issue of Sockupied , here are three good reasons. 1. You...
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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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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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Judith MacKenzie explains how making yarns to fit the project is the basis of the spinner's toolbox. Worsted plying. Woolen plying. Judith demonstrates washing wool locks to preserve the lock structure for worsted spinning. Being Grateful When I sat down to work today, at the top of my to-do list...
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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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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...