Indholdsfortegnelse for Winter 2021 i Spin-Off

Spinners are a wildly creative group. For some, this is expressed in bold, textured skeins drenched in vivid hues. Other spinners might not think of themselves as artistic types as they unflinchingly adapt a combed top into a lofty batt or knit their handspun into a sweater that is peppered with creative modifications. In fact, there are so many different ways to be creative as a handspinner that it can all feel a bit daunting at times. Adding structure to your practice—a framework as individual as yourself—can help you explore further afield. Adding structure to the creative process can make us all more creative! A great example is Brian McCarthy’s “Sixty-Four Sheep in a Blanket” article, which is featured in this issue. Brian set out to collect and spin as…

Fiber preparation I used hand-dyed roving, making rolags and mixing different colors on my handcards. The new blends became slight variations of the original colorways. Wheel system/spindle I used suspended and Turkish spindles. My preferred spindles are made by IST Crafts on the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom. Drafting method I work fast and always allow some twist in my yarn supply. I draft while my spindle turns and spin without thinking. I like to call this yarn “my default thickness,” but the thickness can vary a little. Singles direction Z-spun. Singles wraps per inch About 22 wpi. Ply wraps per inch About 11 wpi. Yarn classification/weight Handspun, about worsted weight; commercially spun wool sock yarn, Schoppel Wolle’s Zauberball Crazy. Crochet hook Size 10 (8 mm). Finished size…

Nova Scotia, “New Scotland” in Latin, received the bulk of its Scottish population between roughly 1770 and 1850. The Scottish Hebrideans left their homelands because of general industrial depression and the forcible removal of people from the Scottish Highlands to make way for sheep farms (often referred to as The Clearances). Thousands made their way to the eastern coast of Canada, including the Nova Scotian island of Cape Breton. However, romantic visions of burly, kilted Scots working the farms of Cape Breton Island after the mass nineteenth-century emigration from their homeland may not be entirely accurate. Historical records indicate that many of these new landowners were very poor, slightly malnourished, and starting their new lives in English-style clothing.1 By 1871, settlers of Scottish descent outnumbered the rest of the population…

Sometimes plain gray mittens are just the thing, but sometimes you want more—a shot of color, a little jazz, or the texture and character of slow cloth. Embroidery is a great way to add color—one or many—to the surface of your knits. While some embroidery stitches can stiffen the fabric and make knitted fabric feel more like woven cloth, I have found that many stitches can be adapted. Flexible embroidery using bouncy handspun yarns will still allow your knits to stretch. Handspinners have a definite advantage in obtaining the perfect embroidery yarn because small amounts of purpose-spun yarn can be quickly produced on a whim, varying in grist, ply, fiber, color, sparkle, and shine. A few yards will do a good bit of embroidery, so an afternoon of experiments could…

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 Hands On Knitting Center 912 New York Street, Suite A Redlands, CA 92374 (909) 793-8712 www.handsonknittingcenter.com/ 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…

THIS POLWARTH WOOL BLANKET (top left) was dyed with cochineal and Kool-Aid. The finished size is 28 × 75 inches. This blanket was finished by washing in a machine on the gentle cycle, which gives the fabric a nice tracking appearance. I made the second blanket (bottom left) from scratch and started with raw fleece. It measures 38 × 62 inches. I dyed the Corriedale with used tea bags. As I used the tea bags, I put them in the freezer until I had enough. Marguerite Porter Davison’s book, A Handweaver’s Pattern Book, has The Blooming Leaf pattern, which is my favorite. I repeated the Blooming Leaf with a little twill on each edge. The warp and weft of both blankets are thin two-ply yarns. I sized the warps with…

Until five years ago, I did not often use commercially prepared fiber for my own projects. Why? Because these processed fibers did not seem as lively or responsive to my touch as my own freshly combed or carded preps. However, through experiments and sampling, I found a way to rejuvenate some of the crimp and loft in commercial preparations, making my spinning fingers happy. A SPINNER EXPLORES As I was spinning samples for an upcoming workshop, I wondered if the lack of perceptible crimp and loft in a commercially combed Gotland fiber affected my spinning. I retrieved some curly, lively Gotland fleece from my stash, carded and combed the locks, and compared it to what I had been spinning. As in the commercial prep, the crimp in my own fiber…

As a professional historical interpreter at the Fortress of Louisbourg and a specialist in eighteenth-century history, I find it fascinating that there was a time when ladies’ elbows were risqué and men’s calves were sexy. The fashion of the time emphasized male calves with breeches reaching just below the knee and stockings. A well-developed calf tapering to a narrow ankle indicated that the stocking wearer might be a gentleman of means and perhaps a merchant or government official. This was a sign of someone who had devoted more time to dance than to hard labor. FIBER AND SPINNING NOTES When designing these handspun kilt stockings, I knew that the eighteenth-century, so-called mongrel sheep mentioned by Dr. Annamarie Hatcher (see page 46) were no longer available. So, I looked to the…

The Art of Tapestry Weaving: A Complete Guide to Mastering the Techniques for Making Images with Yarn Rebecca Mezoff Small tapestry weavings offer an opportunity to use up all of those leftover bits of handspun yarn. Not sure where to start? Weaver and handspinner Rebecca Mezoff introduces budding tapestry weavers to the basics in her latest book. Rebecca aims to provide a strong foundation in the fundamentals but also encourages new weavers to follow their own curiosity. Weaving, like any craft, has a language of its own, so Rebecca shares vital terminology in chapter one, helping new weavers pick up terms early. Along with plenty of information about weaving techniques, the book contains chapters dedicated to yarn construction and color theory. This information is especially useful for handspinners who want…

Whenever I visit Sätergläntan Institute of Crafts, I see a love for all things craft everywhere I look. It is a place dedicated to education and to the people who have a passion for making. Students, teachers, and staff who come to Sätergläntan are there for the joy of crafting. Sätergläntan is a craft and education center in the county of Dalarna in Sweden. Students can enroll in one- to three-year programs, immersing themselves in weaving, sewing, woodworking, and forging with opportunities to specialize in a certain field. The center also offers shorter five- to seven-day workshops in a wide variety of crafts, such as basket weaving, bodice sewing, embroidery techniques, spoon carving, or rya weaving. Sätergläntan attracts students and teachers from near and far. Teaching in a Pandemic In…

After exploring the variety of gimp yarns (see page 36) I could spin—from subtle spirals to super spirals—I decided to knit a pair of mittens with a naturally colored alpaca gimp yarn. The interlocking nature of the gimp yarn’s bumps made for a sturdy, less drafty fabric, which is a desirable quality for mittens where I live in the windy midwestern United States. Another benefit of this pairing was that the alpaca gimp yarn provided more structure than classic two-ply alpaca yarn, resulting in mittens with more durability and less drape. Because I chose 100% alpaca fiber, I wanted a stitch pattern that would add some elasticity to the project, so I used a farrow-rib pattern throughout. This easy textured stitch provided some cushiness and a bit of spring to…

Australia’s baby boomers, including myself, grew up with a strong awareness of sheep. The country was “riding on the sheep’s back” to the extent that in 1951 wool production accounted for over 50 percent of the value of production of all agricultural industries. Postage stamps regularly featured sheep, and from 1938 until the introduction of decimal currency in 1966, the obverse side of the one-shilling coin was struck with the head of the British monarch and the reverse side with the head of a champion Merino ram. In an interesting parallel, the official national anthem was “God Save the King/Queen,” but its unofficial counterpart was “Waltzing Matilda,” a ballad telling of a landowner enlisting the help of the mounted police to pursue an itinerant worker who had stolen one of…

One thing I love about handspun yarn is that it can be spun for fun and left in its yarn state, or it can be transformed further into wonderful garments or artworks. However, extending our creative process beyond just spinning for fun to creating end products can be daunting. What does that process look like? And where should we start? Sometimes, spinners start with a fiber and then decide what to do with it after it is spun. At other times, spinners might have an end product in mind but spend very little time considering if the fiber is a good fit for the finished project. Both of these scenarios may lead to a disappointing outcome due to insufficient yardage, problems with gauge, or textiles that sag and pill. Having…