Innehållsförteckning för Winter 2017 från Spin-Off

I’ve struggled with the theme of this issue. The locavore movement has a feel-good element. Improving health and environmental quality aren’t the only reasons that choosing locally sourced food (and drink and fiber) has become so popular; it’s also participating in community. Spinning is tactile and present, and it’s a special feeling to meet the critter who grew your fiber, see the cotton farmer in her field, or visit the spindle maker’s studio. But as editor of a magazine that reaches spinners around the globe, how can I turn away from members who happen to live on the other side of the globe, whom I might see rarely (if ever)? Schacht Spindle Company is local to me and sources a shocking amount of its material nearby. I couldn’t ask for…

Which is better: single treadle or double treadle? A: The treadle is the only place where you are in physical contact with your wheel while you spin, so it’s important to like how your wheel treadles. The treadle rotates about some axis or hinge. On most wheels, the treadle axis of rotation is oriented side to side, and the majority of the treadle foot space is typically in front of this axis, so you push down with your toes to move the treadle. Some treadles have some of the foot space behind the axis, allowing you to push alternately with toe and then heel, sometimes referred to as “heel-toe” action. I see advantages and disadvantages to both single and double treadle. Single-treadle wheels allow you to more easily modify your…

Rebecca Burgess is out to change the way we clothe ourselves. Much in the way that Barbara Kingsolver sought to alert readers to conscious eating when she wrote Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which chronicled her family’s efforts to feed themselves only on products from their new home state of Kentucky, Burgess decided in 2010 to spend an entire year wearing only apparel that had been produced within 150 miles of her home in Northern California. Slow food, meet slow clothing. “I think of [Fibershed] as a framework, an open door,” Burgess says. “You’re invited to make relationships with farmers and ranchers and dyers and spinners, and learn things about compassion and care, and become of your place.” Kingsolver had some assets that helped her with the project: her husband’s family farm,…

Along with spinning, I love to knit, and I love it when I can add texture to a design. Ponchos and loose-fitting vests have become popular, so I thought it would be a fun project to spin and knit. I really enjoy spinning Bluefaced Leicester for close-to-the-skin garments. Even though this poncho may not be worn next to the skin, there are elements that will be close, and I think it’s important to consider wearability. A few years back I came across this 70/30 blend of white and black BFL, which gives a marled look when spun. I spun the singles semi-woolen. Because I wanted to add cables and seed stitch to this design, I decided to spin a three-ply so that the texture of the piece would be the…

We were delighted to receive a letter from Jonathan Bosworth regarding the recent Spindles issue. I would like to respond to Joan Shepard Ruane’s article on the takli in the Fall 2016 issue of Spin Off. She references Sjt. Mahadev Desai’s booklet written as a guide to teach spindling to school boys using the hook-topped takli as a drop spindle as intended. Desai’s booklet was reprinted by R. B. Gregg and Maganlal Gandhi in 1926. “In the taklis which have a hook at the upper tip, the yarn is wound spirally and tightly around the spindle up to the hook and then caught in the hook. This makes it possible to hang the twirling spindle from the yarn that is being spun.” (page 6) Later in the booklet, Desai states,…

In many parts of the world today, spindle-anddistaff spinning is a regular and substantial part of f iber processing and textile production, even after spinning wheels have been available for quite some time. Unfortunately, when we in the Western world now see spindle-and-distaff spinning, it is often described as “slower” or “primitive” and viewed as something the spinning wheel replaced. In this article, we will take a deeper look at spindle spinning, its history, and why it persists. SPINDLES ENDURE Putting loose fibers together into a string is nothing new, beginning about 17,000 years ago—when an excellent quality string could be made with nothing but the fingers—but imagine seeing for the first time a spindle being used. Many of us have been at a spinning demonstration and noticed an observer…

Welcome to Spin Off’s annual natural fiber directory, which introduces you to spinning resources local and global! Whether you shop around the corner or on the other side of the world, you’re creating a connection with a producer whose life’s work is to help you achieve your spinning dreams. Explore a new plant or animal fiber and create a new bond—to fellow spinners, fiber growers and vendors, and the natural world. It’s time to fall in love with a new spinning fiber! —Anne Merrow Editor of Spin.Off magazine ARIZONA Cotton Clouds—Safford www.cottonclouds.com info@cottonclouds.com (800) 322-7888 Cotton Quality Sea Island, Pima, Acala, Green and Pima/Brown Easy-to-Spin® Sliver. Ginned Acala and Pima cotton, Combed and Carded Supima® cotton slivers, Learn to Spin Cotton kits, cotton bolls, takli spindles, DVDs, Handspinning Cotton book…

ARIZONA ALPACA FIBERS OF ARIZONA—BENSON www.alpacafibers.com Large assortment of Luxury Alpaca yarns in natural and hand dyed colors. Alpaca Fleece’s, roving’s and hand carded bats. 15900 S. Empire Rd. (520) 586-3920 FIBER CREEK—PRESCOTT www.fibercreekprescott.com Weaving, Spinning, Knitting, Crochet, Felting, and other Fiberarts. Yarns, Equipment and Supplies. The yarn shop that has it all, we are here to help and please! 371 Garden St. Ste. D (928) 717-1774 CONNECTICUT MADISON WOOL—MADISON www.madisonwool.com Madison Wool is a fiber lover’s paradise! Beautiful, hard to find yarns for knitting, plus one of a kind handspun and handdyed yarns. We have a whole room for fiber by the ounce or braid, and fun embellishments for carding art batts for spinning/ felting. Spinning, felting, weaving, dyeing and knitting classes by local and international teachers. Many spinning…

THE KNITTED HAT BOOK 20 Knitted Beanies, Tams, Cloches, and More by the Interweave Editors A perennial dilemma for handspinners is what to make from that special 4-ounce bump or braid of fiber. Spinning the yarn is the easy part, but the skein may languish in a basket with no other purpose than to look fabulous. Hats are an optimal solution to this predicament. The Knitted Hat Book is filled to the brim with berets, beanies, tams, cloches, and toques for both men and women, and with all knitting skill levels in mind. There are several pros to a handspun hat project: it doesn’t take much yarn—a major plus when you only have a limited amount; the project works up quickly and is usually portable; and most importantly, the yarn…

My alarm buzzes and beeps, and as I snooze my way into a new day, I see my Wolf Pup Loom waiting patiently. My Sidekick greets me with anticipation, anxious to go on a trip; knowing it fits perfectly into my luggage when we journey cross-country to a fiber arts retreat. When I first learned to knit, I found the repetitive rhythm meditative and knew I wanted to learn more about other fiber arts and how they might influence my knitting designs. In the beginning, spinning and weaving felt complicated, but I was continuously reminded that the textile arts hold a never-ending opportunity for creative expression… if I just give myself the gift of time, seek guidance, and have patience with myself. As I learned more, my interests expanded to…

When I think about how I started on this woolly journey more than sixteen years ago, I am amazed at how crazy and winding the path seems, until I look closer and realize I was always pointed toward the wool. I came from a knitting background where I preferred to use wool yarns, and the wool yarns I preferred were not the ones most of my knitting friends were choosing. I loved the ones that would stand up and say something. I wasn’t only interested in softness. I wanted a story and to know something of where the yarns come from. Of course, when you are looking for a huge variety of breeds, not all of them can come from your neighborhood or even your state, but for personal use,…

CVM/Romeldale is a conservation breed whose wool is next-to-the-skin soft and has a cloud-like loft to it. I like to support conservation breeds so that there will continue to be a variety of fibers to choose from when I need to spin a yarn with specific performance and aesthetic characteristics. It is also a forgiving and easy fiber to work with. I spun the yarn on a homemade drop spindle using mill-prepared CVM roving and plied from a center-pull ball. A Hot Dip The yarn was finished using a hot/cold plunge method to set the twist and gently full the yarn to help prevent pilling. For this method you will need separate containers of hot and cold water. Fully immerse your yarn in the hot water and let it soak…

In 2015, while on sabbatical in northern Hessen (also known as Hesse), Germany, I lived in a little village near Bad Zwesten in a 460-year-old farmhouse. On a winter day shortly after moving in, I explored the building. On the unheated level above me were very low-ceilinged rooms with fifty-year-old wallpaper and several layers of discarded rugs to help keep me warmer downstairs. In one of the rooms, small singlepaned windows shed light on a wall with many hightech controls for the massive solar panel installation. The solar panels covered half of the long red tile roof, extending over the part of the long building that used to be stables. A plain wooden door with a large old key in the lock opened up to another steep staircase leading to…

BOOKS & VIDEO SPINNING ALPACA, LLAMA, CAMEL, & PACO-VICUÑA by Chris Switzer – NEW 4th edition, 2014 – updates, changes, & rewrites– NEW PROJECTS. $16 (CO residents $16.57) plus $3 shipping ($5 to Canada). Chris Switzer, 1236 Glacier View Ln., Estes Park, CO 80517. (970) 586-4624 EVENTS 21st Annual Stephenson County Fiber Art Fair, Saturday, April 8, 2017 in Cedarville, IL. Workshops, demonstrations, and vendors offering fiber plus finished yarn, dyes, books, and equipment. Also supplies for spinning, weaving, knitting, felting, dyeing, tatting and crochet. (815) 541-0897 or www.scfaf.webs.com FIBER FORUM 2017 will be April 20-23, 2017 in Gatlinburg TN. Registration is now open for a wide variety of fiber art workshops taught by your favorite instructors! www.sefiberforum.org or find us on Facebook at Facebook.com/SoutheastFiberForumAssociation FIBERS ALPACA ROVING, yarn and…

Winemaker Tell us about your day job. I am the winemaker at Treleaven by King Ferry Winery, located in the beautiful Finger Lakes region of New York State. I have been in charge of production from fruit to bottle for nine harvests. My days vary, but on any given day you might find me driving the fork lift to move wine barrels around the facility, in the lab doing analysis, cleaning tanks, filtering wine, crushing grapes, or at my desk doing paperwork. How did you become a spinner? I started spinning the same year I picked up knitting, after my first daughter was born. I learned to knit from my grandmother as a kid but didn’t pursue it past the requisite lopsided scarf. After picking it up again, I realized…