As I thought about how to begin this essay, describing my amazing time at SOAR 2011 in Manchester, the first thing I did was to bring out my SOAR notebook. It started its life as an unassuming lined notebook, but as the week progressed, the hole punch I had squirreled away in my supplies turned it into...
A trip down memory lane I just received a copy of the Spin-Off 2000 Collection CD, and seeing it brought back a flood of memories—it is the year I transitioned from assistant editor to guest editor, to editor, represented in the Spring, Summer, and Fall issues. It was all so new to me—every...
Posted to
Amy's Blog
by
Amy Clarke Moore
on
Jan 18, 2012
Filed under:
Filed under: Handspun, Rare Wools, Spinning Cotton, Spindle Spinning, Spinning Wheels, Drop Spindle, How To Spin, Spin-Off Magazine, Spinning Silk, Spinning, Alpaca Wool
22 rare breads + 1 passionate spinner = a very powerful yarn Betsy Alspach cards while her twenty-year-old cat looks on. Betsy says the cat is her constant companion and loves fiber almost as much as she does. We have invited Betsy Alspach, an occupational therapist from Falmouth, Massachusetts, to be...
Wool—so common, yet so unique We're in the middle of going to press with the Winter issue of Spin-Off, and this issue is all about fiber. We're looking at it closeup this time—really closeup—by examining crimp and diameter in detail to understand why fiber does what it does...
Posted to
Amy's Blog
by
Amy Clarke Moore
on
Oct 31, 2011
Filed under:
Filed under: Rare Wools, Spinning Wheels, How To Spin, Spin-Off Magazine, Spinning Wool, Wool Processing, Your Yarn, Types of Yarn, Spinning, Processing Fiber
Saving sheep from purple rabbits—wait, what? These beautiful Soay sheep are from Steve and Priscilla Weaver's Saltmarsh Ranch in Jacksonville, Oregon. I don't know if my dream of purple rabbits has anything to do with the start of the Chinese New Year and 2011 being the year of the hare—perhaps...
Deb Robson models a vest that Sarah Swett made out of CVM wool for the Save the Sheep exhibit. Navajo-Churro sheep, one of many rare breeds Deb examines in her DVD. Photo: Bide A Wee Farm. In pursuit of rare wools Over ten years ago, Spin-Off ran a series of articles about rare breeds of sheep and their...
Features A Colonial Twist to Spinning in Schools by Jane Piller-Wilson and Laura Schickli The Watkins Woolen Mill by Beth Morimoto Choosing a Fleece by Judith MacKenzie McCuin A Handspun Gallery of Precious Things A Yarn to Remember by Clairelis Baxter Projects & How To Hook a Flock of Sheep by Judy...