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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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Reconsider cotton The lovely natural dyed cotton of Ella Baker. Cotton is an amazing fiber—great for keeping us cool and dry when it is hot and humid out. Cotton is the fiber of the ages. It is the fiber the ancient Egyptians cultivated to clothe themselves and also to wrap their dead in to ensure...
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Inspired by the Illinois Prairie Spinners, I am finally spinning this merino top. It was dyed with natural dyestuffs by Earthly Hues in Granville, Ohio. Photo: Kate Larson. Like most spinners, I keep a stash of fiber. When I have a blissful hour to look through my favorite stash, kept in an oak cabinet...
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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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Washing wool changes lives The messy (and fascinating) business of washing wool. I was at the Farm School where I volunteer and the guide (that's what the school calls the teachers—it is Montessori, after all), Bekah, asked me to show the kids (junior-high age girls and boys) how to wash wool...
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Worthy of hard-earned shelf space Anne Merrow is editor of Interweave's spinning and knitting eMags. We've invited her here to share some of the treasures she's discovered in the pages of Spin-Off while researching for future interactive articles. Charlene Schurch's Topflappen Vest from...
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Is it worsted? Is it woolen? Is it something in between? You start spinning in earnest and suddenly you are making yarn! It's a great feeling—that fiber magically transforming right before your eyes in your hands. As you gain confidence in your ability to make a yarn that both sticks together...
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Transform your stash into gifts for others Handwoven magazine's former managing editor Pattie Graver is an accomplished weaver and spinner to boot. In her retirement, she has been offering invaluable help around the Spin-Off office . We have invited her to share with you about our latest eBook as...
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Merino fiber that has about twelve crimps per inch. Romney fiber that has about six crimps per inch. Lincoln fiber that has about three crimps per inch. Locks of Potential What is it that brings you to spinning? I imagine we come to spinning for a whole host of reasons—as diverse as we are as spinners...
Posted to
Amy's Blog
by
Amy Clarke Moore
on
Dec 7, 2011
Filed under:
Filed under: Natural Fiber, How To Spin, Spin-Off Magazine, Spinning Wool, Merino Wool, Wool Processing, Your Yarn, Types of Yarn, Spinning, Processing Fiber
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On the Cover: Locks of Romney, Lincoln, and Merino wool, which are the subjects of Beth Smith's article on spinning with the crimp in mind. DEPARTMENTS Editor's Page Letters Reviews As the Whorl Spins Get This! Abbreviations Classified Ads Advertiser's Index Autowrap by Jacey Boggs The Molo...
Posted to
Spin-Off Magazine
by
Spin-Off
on
Nov 25, 2011
Filed under:
Filed under: Natural Fiber, Calendar of Events, Spindle Spinning, Drop Spindle, Call for Entries, Spin-Off Magazine, Wool Processing, Handspun, Spinning Wool, Merino Wool, Spinning, Processing Fiber
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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
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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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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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A nineteenth-century upright Swiss table wheel that was a gift to Interweave founder Linda Ligon in 1975 from her first weaving teacher, Janet DeBoer. Jonathan Bosworth's reproduction of a Han Dynasty spinning wheel (China, circa 206 B.C.E.–220 C.E.)—which challenges the commonly held...