Table of contents for Fall 2016 in Spin-Off

For a very simple tool, the spindle has so much to offer. Portability, challenge, entertainment, and productivity—all are available no matter your skill level, budget, or spinning style. It’s no wonder that our contributors had a lot to say about the subject, and I can’t wait to hear what you think. You may notice some changes around here. From a new logo on the cover to a new design in the articles, we’ve updated our look, just in time to mark our 40th anniversary in 2017. We’ve tried to convey graphically what we hope to embody editorially: Firm roots in tradition and respect for the spinners who have come before us. Fresh approaches that engage spinners at every stage of their spinning journeys. A spirited connection, fueled by a common…

Above top: The Golding Family: Tom, Diane and Seth. Above bottom: Some of Seth’s spinning wheels. Woodworking is in the blood of the Golding family. It started with Tom, the patriarch and f ine art wood craftsman, about three decades ago. Applying these skills in the fiber industry only occurred after the family took on a herd of Icelandic sheep to control the native grass on their property. Diane Golding started spinning with a drop spindle, and a fiber business was born. Tom’s passion for design and carving was essential when he built the first Golding Fiber Tools spinning wheel for his wife. This took, as he puts it, “a lot of tries.” With Diane giving input—working as quality control for the endeavor—the family found their calling. A Family Affair…

DIY STRING ART: 24 Designs to Create and Hang Searching for something old—that’s new again—to do with your handspun? Step back to an art movement popular in the 1960s and 1970s. DIY String Art adds an updated twist to a retro craft. Jesse Dresbach, proprietor of the online shop NineRed.Etsy.com, guides you through the tools and skills to create string art. Wood, hammer, nails, and some string (make your own!) are the springboard to this reimagined technique. Dresbach demonstrates methods for wrapping, gives tips on design variations, and anticipates potential problems with a list of solutions. Although Dresbach recommends using embroidery floss or crochet cotton, a fine laceweight handspun could create a truly distinctive look. Or try adding some art yarns to the mix to take your string art to…

There are so many numbers and categories that describe f iber and yarn—microns, Bradford count, 30/2, 8–ply weight, DK weight, yards per pound. What do they tell me about my yarn and f iber? Ah, numbers! Some of the numbers that spinners see are actual measurements, some are estimates, and some are simply categories where the number is only a name and not a quantity. Many of these numbers are intended to characterize the thickness or diameter of fiber and yarn. FIBER The two most common measurements of thickness of individual fiber strands are the Bradford (or Count) system and the micron system. Bradford (Count) System Also known as the English or Spinning Count system, this system was established as a way to grade the fineness or coarseness of wool…

Top: A young girl in the Peruvian Andes plies yarn from a two-strand ball pinned at her waist. Pinning the ball to the spinner is a practice generally reserved for children. Middle, right: An Andean spinner winds a two-stranded plying ball from two spindles of singles. Bottom: Women generally rewind the two-strand ball into a fi gure-eight skein, which they wear over one arm while plying. Earthquakes show that this world has continents that move, grow, shrink, and change. One theory is that there was once one big continent, Pangaea, which split and spread over time to the continents of today. Spindles and spindle-spinning techniques similarly seem to mutate and move, and information is shared around the globe in ways that imply there was once a single “continent” of Spindling…

A bead whorl spindle is just that: a handspindle with a bead for the whorl. It is a tool for spinning fine yarns, often from shortstapled fibers. Past the deceptively simple definition, though, it is much more. The bead whorl spindle is a tool that is found nearly round the world, in constant use for millennia. This means that the design must have substance to it, some reason for such a long run. Let’s take a brief look at its history and a contemporary anecdote. Accessibility is one of the spindle’s charming attributes, so I’ll describe its simple construction and offer encouragement for DIY enthusiasts, and then conclude with discussion of what it can offer present-day spinners. History of the Bead Whorl Spindle If I were an archaeologist, this discussion…

Even the most experienced spinner has a learning curve with each new f iber. Certain fibers are known as notoriously tricky; angora is on that list. What first comes to mind when you think of angora? Smooth, slick, flyaway? Won’t stay together? Short? Are you afraid to try it because of what you’ve heard from others? Angora just takes a bit of practice to turn that supersoft bunny fluff into a useful yarn. Angora rabbit fur is referred to as “wool”; rabbits kept for fiber are “woolers.” Four breeds are recog nized by the American Rabbit Breeders Association: English, Satin, French, and Giant, with German being similar to Giant. Each breed varies in body shape and size, fiber texture, and quantity of fiber produced. Angora fiber quality also varies depending…

Gotland lore suggests that the origins of modern Gotland sheep are interwoven with the travels of the Vikings, who brought Russian Karakuls and Romanovs to breed with local landrace sheep on the Swedish Island of Gotland. Part of the Northern European short-tail family, these sheep then spread with the Vikings across Europe and contributed to the development of other breeds, including Icelandic, Finn, and Shetland sheep. Although the Vikings never made it to Australia, just recently the Gotland sheep did. The Gotland sheep of Granite Haven graze upon the rolling hills of the Strathbogie Ranges, a short distance from Euroa and about two hours from Melbourne. Stands of eucalyptus and wattle rising out of ancient granite soils enclose the property protectively. Winding through the home paddock amid scattered groups of…

Handspinners today have become very particular. Get a group together and there will be an outpouring of personal tributes about Shetlands, Merinos, alpacas, Angora goats, Angora rabbits . . . . When talk turns to spinning equipment, preferences will be voiced on wheel versus spindle, top whorl, bottom whorl, and so forth. And yet the wood that our precious tools are constructed from may not always get the attention that it deserves. Spindles have evolved to be more than just yarn-making tools. They are a showcase for fine woodworking skills. Produced with rare and exotic woods from around the world or from trees found in our own backyard, remarkable handspindles have become coveted tools. Evidence suggests that humans have been spinning with handspindles for thousands of years. In all of…

Presented with a generous gradient batt, Anne Merrow decided to spin singles to take advantage of the long, slow color progression. She passed the skein to designer Jennifer Raymond, and it found its true calling: to be a circular lace shawl. Notes The majority of this pattern is worked in one long hairpin lace strip. When working a strip, attach a long guideline, and slide loops off when the loom gets crowded. Coil the strip up and secure to bottom of loom with rubber band or waste yarn. For a good example of this strip management technique, see Resources. If your yarn is a gradient, make sure to work the center first before making the hairpin lace to ensure the continuation of the color gradient. Swatch will change when wet.…

AT THE MOVIES The documentary Yarn: the Movie (2016), which premiered at the annual South by Southwest 2016 Music, Film, and Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas last spring, reveals how yarn has become a hot medium in the world of modern art. Narrated by prizewinning author Barbara Kingsolver and directed by Una Lorenzen, Yarn follows the creative pursuits of international artists connected by their use of yarn. The film features the colorful work of Polish crochet artist Olek, playful “yarn bomber” Tinna Thorudottir Thorvaldsdottir from Iceland, the knitted set designs of Sweden’s Cirkus Cirkör, and the vibrant public art of Japanese artist Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam. Rams (2015), directed by Grömur Hákonarson, tells the story of two sheep-farming brothers, Gummi and Kiddi, in rural Iceland who have not spoken to one another in…

If you are anything like me, you will never forget learning how to spin. My handspinning friends gathered together and sat me in front of a wheel, then handed me wool fiber. It changed my life. Beth Smith is one of this kind of handspinning enablers, and I just know she gets tremendous joy from sharing her passion for spinning. Smith’s enthusiasm infuses her new book, How to Spin. Packed into this small volume is the encouragement a new spinner needs to get started making handspun yarn. Detailed stepby–step illustrations demonstrate the basics, from tying a lark’s head knot on a bobbin to finishing a skein. A glossary helps decipher unfamiliar spinning terms. Although you may already be a handspinner, How to Spin would be a wonderful gift to bestow…

I love spinning so much that I often try to fi nd ways to fi t it into my routine. One of my favorite things to do with spindle spinning is to take it to fiber festivals, family get-togethers, or other places where I can wander around such as art fairs and parks. As a bus rider, I have often spun walking to and from the bus stop and while waiting. It keeps me busy with one of my favorite occupations and can be a great way to introduce other people to spinning. There are a few factors I have found that make spinning on a spindle while walking around much easier. 1 Judge your fi ber and spindle carefully Walking around is perhaps not the best time to use…

Cultures from all around the world once used wooden, stone, clay, or metal spindles to make yarn and threads for everything from clothing to blankets to netting. Tools such as spindles, some nearly unchanged for centuries, are getting a twenty-firstcentury makeover with the help of newly accessible technology: home 3D printers, so called because they make three-dimensional objects. The most common type of 3D printer uses a hot metal nozzle to melt plastic string, called filament, and lay it down layer by layer to build up a new 3D object. These printers use a wide variety of plastics, but the most common are PLA and ABS, which come in a range of colors from clear to neon to glow-in-the-dark. Consumer 3D printers are available from under $200 to over $3,000.…

As always, this magazine is fi lled with wonderful articles and projects. I take exception with the title of one article/project, though. “Humane Pelt” implies that tanned hide and fl eece pelts from sheep sent for meat are not humane. I prefer to use the term “ vegetarian pelt,” as there is no meat involved. But the important fact here is pelts from these animals are also humane. A safe, clean, compassionate death is humane. We do at times have very felted fl eeces on an animal that come off at shearing in a “vegetarian, no-kill pelt,” but that is a fl eece, not a pelt. I hope the reader understands that it is unlikely that animals are grown and slaughtered for pelts only, and that as livestock, sheep provide…

Intertwining her passions for spinning, knitting, and walking, Debbie Zawinski uses her handspun and handknitted socks to record “a journey around Scotland spinning and knitting the fleece of the Scottish sheep breeds in their native haunts.” This travel memoir recounts the symbiotic relationship between a place, its sheep, its people, and a fading way of life as told through craft. The narrative is augmented by Zawinski’s photography and illustrations, including hand-drawn maps. Each step on Zawinski’s journey culminates in a pattern for a pair of socks spun from the various breeds of sheep raised along the trails down which she has wandered. Divided into chapters by breed, the book includes ten breeds from Shetland to Cheviots, whose fiber is knitted into eleven pairs of socks from Fair Isle to kilt…

For this issue’s theme of Spindles, we asked readers to submit their spindle-spun yarns. Whether supported or suspended, batts or rolags, qiviut or Great Pyrenees, fat or thin—our readers fl icked, twiddled, and twirled their spindles to produce some outstanding yarns. 1 Sarah Howard of Cumming, Georgia 2-ply art yarn, 18 wpi, about 1,344 ypp Textured batt from Jazz Turtle Creations (Merino, silk, and Stellina) spun on a Mirkwood Pippin support spindle. 2 Dale Jackson of Romulus, New York 2-ply, 12 wpi, about 1,038 ypp Dehaired mohair spun on a suspended spindle. 3 Lynette Merrill of Soldotna, Alaska Single, 48 wpi, about 9,125 ypp 100% qiviut spun on a Russian support spindle. 4 Dawn Penny of Norfolk, Virginia 2-ply, 24 wpi, about 2,888 ypp Gnomespun Dorset fi ber in Lobelia…

What do I do with all these spindles? I don’t know how it happened. I don’t know when it happened. One day I woke up and found I was . . . a spindleholic! There, I said it. I own it. I could no longer deny it. I get a rush every time I come across a spindle that says, “Hi, I’m special. You must take me home or live with regret the rest of your life.” Not wanting to live with regret, I buy it. (Who can pass up a talking spindle?) I lovingly and with great care pack it in my suitcase for the trip home. I knew I had lost control when I came home with sixteen spindles from one trip. This has been going on for…

In the past, spinning was not only a livelihood but also an industry of far-reaching importance, a safeguard against famine, and a source of selfrespect. In India, the little takli spindle played a very important role in the lives of its people. The traditional takli was made from a 9-inch splinter of wood or bamboo. The splinter passed through the center of a quarter-sized disk made from wood or clay, and a notch would be placed at the top to keep the yarn from slipping off. These spindles were all fine and they were basically free and easy to make, but they broke easily, and care had to be taken in using them. A New Source for Taklis In about 1989, two gentlemen came into my Spin’n Weave shop in…

Above: Miniature showing Antonia in her widowhood, spinning at her wheel while female attendants card and twist. Initial and border design. Spinners used sticks and spindles for centuries before some clever person got the notion to use a wheel to turn the spindle. Charkha-type wheels appeared in thirteenth-century Middle Eastern and Chinese illustrations; something we would recognize as a great wheel was first seen in early-fourteenth-century illustrated manuscripts, including a famous medieval manuscript known as the Luttrell Psalter {1320-1340}. This book was commissioned by wealthy landowner Geoffrey Luttrell and is a historian’s dream, filled with illustrations of everyday life of the period. For me, the most exciting images are of a woman striking her husband with her spindle, a pen filled with sheep, and a woman spinning on a great…