Table of contents for Fall 2025 in Spin-Off

A few years ago, I became enamored with the idea of processing bast fibers. I loved spinning line flax, but it felt like something was missing. I didn’t have the connection to the process in the same way I had with wool when I turned raw fleece into yarn. I was intimidated by all the tools I thought I needed to process flax, and regardless, I didn’t have any yard space to grow my own patch. I would have liked to wild-harvest and process stinging nettles, but I didn’t have access to any. The dream lived in the back of my mind until the day I learned that milkweed is a bast fiber. Along a busy strip of road near my house, hearty bunches of native showy milkweed grow each…

I recently found myself in the market for a blending board, but I wasn't sure which one would suit my needs. Who better to ask than an expert? I sat down with Debbie Held, author of The Spinner’s Blending Board Bible, to explore my options. Enjoy! —Pamela K. Schultz, content editor What should I look for in a blending board? All commercial blending boards function similarly, with a large square carding cloth affixed to a larger flat wooden surface beneath. The carding space is typically around 111/2 by 111/2 inches (29 × 29 cm). As with any carding tool, the wire teeth are angled to grab and hold the fiber extended for carding. They are embedded in a rubbery cloth at various tpi (teeth per inch) densities. A common density…

When choosing which fiber-prep tools are worthy of space in your studio, you have options. For portability, you can’t beat a flicker, Lock Pop, or handcards. If woolen spinning is your thing, a blending board is where it’s at. Worsted preparations are the wheelhouse of combs and a hackle. But when it comes to throughput and versatility, a drumcarder is unmatched. While the mechanical design of drumcarders makes their inherent advantage in throughput obvious, most people are less familiar with the types of outputs that a drumcarder can produce: semiworsted batts, carded sliver, rolags, and woolen batts. Depending on which articles you have read, workshops you have taken, videos you have watched, or your innate sense of order, you probably think that fiber should go into a drumcarder either always…

When we see sweaters, yarns, or roving labeled lambswool, we usually have happy expectations of cozy, soft, delicate fibers. While the first fleece a sheep grows will be its finest, there are other ways in which lambswool differs from adult fleeces. Understanding what makes these fleeces special can help us prepare, spin, and enjoy them even more. A lamb is a newborn sheep younger than one year, and lambswool is the first fleece that is shorn from a lamb. Shearing is usually done within the lamb’s first 6 to 12 months of life. While all lambswool is finer and softer than the wool that sheep will grow later, the degree of its softness depends on the breed and when it is shorn. The earlier the wool is shorn, the finer…

Recently, a debate on social media caught my eye. It seems that some people think that using a knitting machine is cheating, even going so far as to link machine knits to the unethical use of artificial intelligence (AI). At first glance, this makes sense. Machine knitting turns a leisure activity into one of commercial production, adds pressure to create a perfectly uniform product, and ultimately drives down the perceived value of handknits. But knitting wasn’t always a leisure activity. It rankles me that we single out machine knitters as cheaters but largely accept that clothing and quilts can be sewn on a sewing machine. It turns out that the history of the knitting machine has deep roots in our modern textile world. KNITTING MACHINE ORIGINS Knitting machines are much older…

Flick cards are vital and versatile tools, perfect for spinners who are beginning to explore fiber preparation from wool locks. Here are three ways to use a flicker: First-Step Prep When I’m working my way through a fleece that has vegetable matter or weak tips, I’ll flick card to remove them before further processing with my handcards or drumcarder for woolen or semiwoolen prep. (See Gail McCaskill’s article on page 36 for more.) Flicked Locks Using a flicker to open up each end of a lock while keeping the fibers aligned creates a semiworsted prep that I can spin right away. Lock-Spun Texture When I want to add locks for texture in my yarn, I use my flick card on just the cut end to make it easier for the fibers to grab…

As a new spinner, I found the mixed-fiber bundles offered by English Blue Ribbon Farm both irresistible and befuddling. Each bump of undyed alpaca roving, undyed Romney roving, and dyed Romeldale/CVM combed top was enticing on its own. But how should I combine them? Before I purchased They Call It Bunny Love (a peach and gray bundle) and Sky’s the Limit (a blue, white, and gray selection), I had mostly spun combed top, relying on what is often called combo-drafting or combo-plying. These techniques allow you to either mix two fibers by holding them together in your hand during drafting or ply singles of different fibers together. The English Blue Ribbon bumps seemed to invite a different treatment; I wanted to actually blend the fibers before spinning. I owned a pair…

I’m going to let you in on a secret. It was never my intention to process a fleece. But when my partner and I were preparing to take our hand-dyed Shaniko wool beanies and scarves to a trade show, I asked Shaniko founder Jeanne Carver if she could send us a bit of greasy fleece for use as an educational tool. Imagine our surprise several days later when we arrived home to find a huge box at our door. The contents, an entire Merino fleece, filled the air with a stunning mix of sheepy smells. My partner, who ran barefoot all over her grandfather’s farms in the hills of North Carolina, knew exactly what sorts of surprises that fleece held. To her, the fleece wasn’t exactly magical. But despite feeling…

How did Bohlayer’s Orchards get started? How did you end up running the farm? While looking for a hobby, I stumbled into my life’s work. After I had a knitting lesson at a local yarn store, the owner and shepherd, Libby Beiler, invited me to learn spinning. That spinning lesson was pure magic and led me down a path to my very own flock. Tell us about your Romeldale/California Variegated Mutant (CVM) sheep. Why did you select this breed? Shortly after learning my new crafts, we moved to Troy, Pennsylvania, to become the fifth generation to steward my husband’s family farm. Each generation raised sheep and grew tree fruit. My love of wool and spinning, combined with David’s knowledge of sheep, meant it was time to bring sheep back to…

There are multiple styles of handheld combs, which are purchased in pairs. Each comb has a handle and a head. The sharp, stiff tines are embedded in the head, with the tines oriented perpendicular to the handle. Most handheld combs have one or two rows of tines. Each row is called a pitch. The advantage of two-pitch combs is that it takes less time and fewer passes to comb the fiber than it does on single-pitch combs. Traditional English combs were often five-pitch, but one- and two-pitch combs are more typical today. Some combs have closely spaced tines, making them good for very fine fibers. It’s possible to use combs with widely spaced tines on fine fibers, but it will take more time. The length and thickness of the tines…

I was trying to blend some silk and Bluefaced Leicester locks on my drumcarder. In theory, this should have been simple enough, right? This was part of my final project for the Master Spinner Program, so I needed the blend to be as perfect as possible, but I was running into issues. My lovely locks had such a tight curl pattern that I was having to do several passes through the drumcarder to get the locks open enough to blend with the silk. However, each pass through the drumcarder was creating more fiber breakage, resulting in a lot of nepps in my final yarn. I knew this yarn was not going to work for my project, so I needed to do a bit of a rethink. I was having a tea…

How should you choose a supported spindle for your next spin? Do you choose based on the spindle’s beauty, its function, or a combination of the two? Some components that contribute to the overall performance of a supported spindle are balance, total weight, material, shaft length, distribution of weight along the shaft, whorl design features, and the anatomy of the flicking tip. An essential but overlooked component is the spindle tip. The spindle tip shape, size, and material affect the duration of spin and how the spindle interacts with a surface. Unlike a suspended spindle, the bottom of a supported spindle requires use of a bowl or smooth surface. Together, the spindle tip and its spinning surface introduce friction. There are two types of friction forces to consider. While the…

My assignments from the Olds College Master Spinner Program have helped me learn to spin specific, well-planned yarn with precision, but sometimes it’s fun to spin just for the fun of it. I often enjoy spinning unique textured yarn as a treat after completing homework assignments. Processing fiber from its raw form to a finished product generates waste. We skirt and remove second cuts before scouring. We sort additional suboptimal parts of the fiber as we card, and especially as we comb or hackle. We also pick out nepps, noils, and other imperfections while spinning. I used to throw away my discarded fiber or use it as mulch but was delighted to find a better way. I was inspired by a friend’s beautiful handspun, handknitted qiviut shawl that she created…