Table of contents for Fall 2020 in Spin-Off

When we think about new tools and the forward march of technological development, it’s easy to focus on ways the modern era brings us everything faster, better, cheaper. But spinners mix and match tools from different eras effortlessly. Imagine the common occurrence of spinning vibrantly dyed combed top (one of the fruits of the industrialized world in every way) on a handmade spindle (one of our most ancient technologies) and relishing each and every yard. To me, the most modern piece of this equation is choice. Most of us do not spin out of necessity; we have the choice to follow our creativity. I am a spinner who loves all the tools. I might wash and comb wool from my Border Leicesters by hand, or I could send it off…

If you’re an avid dyer, or just know one, you’re familiar with the numerous notebooks hand-dyers keep for recording their recipes and notes. But as with most documents in the modern era, dye notebooks have gone paperless. Looking for tips to convert and organize your record-keeping? Alanna Wilcox’s simple, customizable Google spreadsheet–based system adapts to dyers’ needs. And if you’ve never worked in Google Sheets, fear not! The first lesson covers all the basics. In a clear voice, Alanna demonstrates capturing swatches from a dye vendor’s website, explains how to enter formulas and alter them to adjust your recipes, and offers tips for keeping track of your custom colorways. One big bonus: the spreadsheets are accessible from your smartphone and tablet. Rochester, New York: Alanna Wilcox, 2020. Online course, 59…

My studio was the third small bedroom in our house. It contained a desk, worktable, file cabinet, shelves, and small closet—all overflowed with fiber, yarns, books, and magazines. The 36-inch floor loom that my husband, Terry, had built occupied the center of the room. My traveling wheel, the one that went with me to so many SOARs (Spin Off Autumn Retreats), moved around the room, changing location depending on what I needed to access. I jokingly told a fiber friend that the whole house was my studio, but it wasn’t much of a joke. Another loom lived in the family room; fiber books could be found in the kitchen next to the cookbooks; I stored a lidded basket full of fiber in the dining room; and fiber, yarn, and projects…

The following is excerpted with permission from True Colors: World Masters of Natural Dyes and Pigments, published by Thrums Books, 2020. For more information, see page 66. —Editor Nilpharmari, a word coined by the British for the growing of Indigofera tinctoria, means “the cultivation of blue.” Bangladeshi social enterprise Living Blue farms gorgeous indigo whose aesthetic worth is matched by the community assets it creates on the way from farm fields to an international marketplace thirsty for authenticity and high quality. The history of indigo cultivation on the subcontinent goes back many millennia to the Bronze Age Indus Valley civilization of Mohenjo Daro, where archaeologists have found evidence of indigo dyes. Starting in 1777, when Britain no longer had access to the slave plantations of the United States as a…

USA ARIZONA Grandma’s Spinning Wheel 6544 E. Tanque Verde #150 Tucson, AZ 85715 Ph 520 290-3738 spinningramma@aol.com www.grandmasspinningwheel.com CALIFORNIA The Village Spinning & Weaving 425-B Alisal Rd Solvang, CA 93463 Ph 888 686-1192 Toll Free villagespinweave@mac.com www.villagespinweave.com COLORADO Bountiful 211 Green Mountain Dr Livermore, CO 80536 Ph 970 482-7746 Toll-free 877 586-9332 info@bountifulspinweave.com www.bountifulspinweave.com Blazing Star Ranch 3424 S. Broadway Englewood, CO 80113 Ph 303 514-8780 blazingstarranch@gmail.com www.blazingstarranch.com CONNECTICUT The Wheel Thing 454 Wells Hill Rd Lakeville, CT 06039 Ph 860 435-2626 jlynn4540@gmail.com www.the-wheel-thing.com IDAHO The Sheep Shed 76 N. Robinson Rd Nampa ID 83687 sheepshed@q.com Ph 2084664365 ILLINOIS The Fold 3316 Millstream Rd Marengo, IL60152 Ph 815 568-0165 thefold@mc.net www.thefoldatmc.net INDIANA The Trading Post for Fiber Arts 8833 S. 5O W. Pendleton, IN 46064 Ph 765 778-3642 tradingpostfiber@aol.com www.tradingpostfiber.com…

It’s impossible to fully separate a handspinner’s love of adding twist from the end-use of her efforts. Follow the thread of any textile-related art, and you’ll wind up unraveling a story about another craft, which will lead to yet another. It’s unavoidable; they’re interconnected. Long Thread Media cofounder Linda Ligon compiled this anthology featuring the stories of makers from multiple disciplines. Artist and papermaker Aimee Lee pursued her curiosity and studied the traditional Korean papermaking practice of hanji on a Fulbright Fellowship. Her work includes spinning her hand-pulled paper scraps into yarn to create knitted books. Michael Cook reveals the inner workings of how a silkworm extrudes its coveted filament. Each chapter weaves together the connection between materials, craft, and community. Fort Collins, Colorado: Long Thread Media LLC, 2020. Paperback,…

My first love is sewing. I teach sewing at Fabricland in Green Brook, New Jersey, and I am a custom dressmaker. I became a handspinner at the 2018 Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival (MSWF). I walked into the raw-f leece tent and felt like Holly Golightly at Tiffany’s. It was just the best place in the world. I picked a black Romney fleece and purchased it with no idea what to do with it. Several months (and many purchases of equipment) later, I produced a lumpy sweater, and I was so impressed with myself! I’ve been spinning for 18 months or so. I’ve been knitting for around 4 years. This project started with my desire to have an item to enter into a contest at the MSWF in 2020. My…

When I began sewing clothing for myself, I was eager to use handspun, handwoven fabrics. As a knitter, I was experienced with garment construction, but I found this didn’t really prepare me for working with woven cloth. Sewing darts, inserting zippers, and dealing with fraying edges can make sewing a challenge instead of a creative and fun way to spend an afternoon. Sewing with commercial knitted fabrics, however, produced pleasing results almost effortlessly. I found myself wishing I could make my own knitted fabrics using handspun yarn… and then it occurred to me that I could! I had worked with a knitting machine in the past to make sweaters, but I never thought about looking at it like a loom—a maker of fabric. In the past, I machine knitted the…

As a spinner who started at the lace end of the spectrum from the very beginning, I’ve always been drawn to luxury fibers and spinning as fine as possible. My crafting life is based on tiny yarns and threads: crochet, tatting, cross-stitch, weaving, and more. This project gave me the opportunity to explore a hardier fiber than the Merino/silk and yak/silk blends that I indulge in, and it challenged me to spin a heavier gauge than usual. When I decided to make a crocheted bag to take to fiber festivals, I knew I needed a strong, durable fiber. This pattern is based on a market bag that my aunt sewed for me many years ago that still travels with me to various fiber festivals and gets filled with the goodies…

Most handspinners find some or all of the steps involved in processing fiber by hand deeply satisfying. Turning a pile of raw wool into clean carded rolags or combed tops can be a treat. However, it isn’t always possible to process our fleeces, and sometimes, we would just rather skip some of those steps and get right to spinning. Luckily for us, industrially processed fiber from animals we’ve never met is not the only option. The terms mini mills or artisan mills refer to small- to medium-scale fiber processors. These mills often offer custom processing and do the same things that a hand processor does, but on a larger scale in both volume and speed. Small fiber mills can be found across North America; some have been in business for…

This generously sized hood has a rustic elegance and brings to mind visions of shadowy figures pacing along a covered walkway. The cable that runs to the ends of the scarf-like tippets looks impressive but is actually simple to knit. A naturally rolling edge provides soft structure around the wearer’s face and a little extra insulation. The tassel adds a touch of fairy-tale feel, but also has a practical purpose—its weight helps the point of the hood to drape properly. The idea for this project was hatched during our local guild’s tour of a nearby mini mill, where I asked owner Sara Morris about custom carding several small batches of fiber. I thought this might be a fun activity for guild members but realized there would be some logistics to…

I HAVE BEEN SPINNING AND WEAVING off and on for almost 45 years. I learned to spin on an antique great wheel—one made in Appalachia that I found at a yard sale in a little town south of Lafayette, Louisiana. At that time, my former wife was learning how to spin on an Ashford wheel, so, to be different, I picked up the great wheel. I also only spun Louisiana brown cotton. At that time, I was growing the cotton, too. If you ever spin this type of cotton, you will know it’s not an easy task. Over the years, I accumulated many balls of handspun brown cotton but never put it all together until a close friend, whom I also introduced to spinning and weaving, cornered me into doing something…

The 500 naturally dyed silk swatches in this guide inspire readers with the rainbow of hues available from the plant kingdom. Inside, artist and dyer Sasha Duerr presents an array of 25 palettes extracted from nature and demonstrates how the shades can be transformed by using three common mordants. Duerr points out that just because something is natural doesn’t mean it’s safe for humans or the environment. She cautions dyers to think about exploring safer dyeing methods, such as cold processes, and to avoid heavy-metal mordants, which are often toxic. She also emphasizes the importance of learning about your dyestuffs. The book lists both the common and botanical names for each plant discussed and includes a description of the plants, revealing the story that each one has to tell. Hudson,…

I grew up in a small town in southern New Jersey and never thought my dream of having my own farm would ever come true. My husband and I began Red Rope Farm in 2004 and have learned all we needed over the years through books, the internet, and friends we have met along the way. Because I can see agriculture through the eyes of city—well, suburban—folk, I have been passionate about educating people about agriculture. I offer on-the-farm field trips for small groups, most of which are school, homeschool, or scout groups. I often post on our farm’s Facebook page and website about what goes on at our farm and explain why we do what we do. Our family also hosts a yearly open-farm day, allowing our neighbors and…

Pattern and designer Self-drafted pattern; the Fair Isle design was adapted from a traditional weaving pattern and some traditional knitting motifs. Fiber/preparation Texel fleece, natural white; Border Leicester fleece, natural black; and orange fiber, hand-dyed with acid dyes. White fiber was washed and prepared on a drumcarder. Black fiber was washed and flick carded. Wheel system/spindle Kromski Minstrel. Ratio 12:1. Drafting method Short forward draw. Singles direction Z-spun. Singles wraps per inch White 22 wpi; black 25 wpi. Ply wraps per inch White 10 wpi; black 13 wpi. Yarn classification Fair Isle, sportweight; sleeves, worsted weight. Knitting machines Fair Isle, Passap E6000 electronic knitting machine; sleeves, Brother KH230 bulky knitting machine. Gauge Fair Isle: 6½ sts × 16⅖ rows = 1" in Fair Isle on the knitting machine (each row…

It’s only a matter of time before new spinners attempt to spin fine yarns. And cotton enthusiasts like me are constantly inspired by the endless possibilities of cotton in the textiles around us. Not long after I began spinning cotton, I found an unusual cotton sliver at a fiber festival and wondered, “Could I—should I—try to spin this luxurious fiber into a fine thread?” I had been searching for natural-color cotton at the festival when I found a small quantity of recycled denim sliver. The fine, short-stapled fiber was a blend of various hues of light indigo with tiny flecks of navy throughout. I loved its painterly effect; a special yarn would come from this fiber. SPINNING NOTES Wanting to create as much yardage as possible from the small 1-ounce…

ARIZONA Fiber Creek Suite 123, 1046 Willow Creek Rd Prescott, AZ 86301 (928) 717-1774 fibercreekprescott.com Tempe Yarn & Fiber 1415 E University Dr Tempe, AZ 85281 (480) 557-9166 tempeyarn.com CALIFORNIA Babetta’s Yarn & Gifts 4400 San Juan Ave #20 Fair Oaks, CA 95628 (916) 965-6043 babettasyarnandgifts.com Dharma Trading Co 1604 4th Street San Rafael, CA 94901 (434) 456–1211 dharmatrading.com Fengari 415 Main St Half Moon Bay, CA 94019 (650) 726-2550 fengari.net The Altered Stitch 12443 W Magnolia Blvd Valley Village, CA 91607 (818) 980-1234 thealteredstitch.com COLORADO Blazing Star Ranch 3424 S Broadway Englewood, CO 80113 (303) 514-8780 blazingstarranch.com Lambspun of CO 1101 E Lincoln Ave Fort Collins, CO 80524 (800) 558-5262 lambspun.com Knot Just Yarn, LLC 1250 S. Buckley Road Unit H Aurora, CO 80017 (303) 990-3310 knotjustyarnllc.com Piney Creek…