Amy's Blog

Green Spinning

2010-03-17T14:23:00Z

If you have ever attended our Spin-Off Autumn Retreat (SOAR), you know the sweet anticipation that precedes the release of the Spring 2010 issue of Spin-Off and the announcement of the workshops and mentors. Of course, now that we have a website, those announcements don't have to wait for the Spring issue (don't worry—it will be there, too—but it is also online here, www.interweavesoar.com ). What does this have to do with green spinning? Well, a number of this year's classes...(read more)

Treasure Box

2010-02-24T15:10:00Z

Most knitting magazines today are to a large extent about style—lovely models, this season's new yarns, this year's fashion looks. I love them for their freshness, inspiration, and inventiveness—I get some really good ideas from them. But for me personally, knitting is really about heritage, family, things lovingly made for the ones we love. I love garments that are going to stand the test of time. I am lucky to have inherited a "treasure box" full of knitted, crocheted...(read more)

A Heart For You

2010-02-10T16:26:00Z

I have my Spin-Off 2010 Calendar hanging right next to my desk; the image for February is one I put together for the calendar when we designed it last summer. February is a fun month for our family because we have a lot of birthdays to celebrate—and to top it off, my mom's birthday is on Valentine's Day. She always made it a special holiday for our family when I was growing up—decking out the house with paper hearts and doilies, heart-shaped cookies, dishes filled with candied...(read more)

Spin-Off 2008 Compilation CD

2010-02-03T18:28:00Z

There's something wonderful about how a craft as basic and transcendental as spinning flourishes in this age of iPads, Blackberries, and Netbooks—and, in fact, is sometimes enhanced by the technology that often seems the antithesis of spinning. Stefanie Berganini, Spin-Off' s assistant editor who is a lot more tech-savvy than I am, recently introduced me to the iTouch applications for spinning. By far our favorite app was the iSpin Toolkit, a spinner's tool kit with wraps per inch...(read more)

Happy 1-Year Anniversary, Spinoffmagazine.com

2010-01-27T16:21:00Z

Can you believe that it's been a year already since we launched spinoffmagazine.com —amazing how quickly time passes when you're having fun, isn't it? We have more than 18,500 users (hey, that's a lot of spinners all in one place!), there are 1,437 threads (well, we know that there are many more threads, but in this context I mean conversations, rather than, you know, yarn) and 3,281 posts. One-hundred forty-six photos and videos have been uploaded and shared; photos of completed...(read more)

Thank-You Cards

2010-01-06T15:10:00Z

Recently, I received a thank-you card for my thank-you card. It made me smile (can you imagine the spiral of thank-yous that could occur—I mean—when do you stop?). I guess handwritten thank-you notes are going out of fashion. Or maybe not. Maybe it is just like spinning—no longer necessary, but very enjoyable. In the corner of my living room where my spinning wheel lives (along with baskets of fiber and bins of tools), there is also an antique writing desk that I bought at a neighbor's...(read more)

What are your plans for Roc Day?

2010-01-04T22:27:00Z

Happy New Year! Roc Day or St. Distaff's day is coming up--January 7th. It is traditionally the day that women returned to work (ie spinning) after the feast of the Ephiphany and the twelve days of Christmas. Ironically, today is the day that I put down my spindle to return to work after a nice week-long vacation. Some guilds celebrate the day with contests and pranks (also traditional fare for Roc Day). Do you celebrate it? What do you do?...(read more)

Respect the Spindle

2009-12-09T17:08:00Z

This past June, the Spin-Off office had a special treat. Abby Franquemont flew out to Colorado from her fiber-filled house in Ohio to spend a couple days filming footage for two videos ( the first one is already available ). Stefanie Berganini and I were asked to be the audience—to give Abby someone to talk to while she explained the ins and outs of spindle spinning . On these kinds of days, I have to resist the urge to jump up and shout, "I love my job!" Our creative director, Linda...(read more)

Why you haven't heard for me in a bit

2009-11-18T03:14:00Z

I've been working on a very special project. Meet Sarah Helen Moore, born September 25, 2009. Hannah adores her little sister and can't kiss her enough. A friend made matching hats for the girls and a blanket for Sarah....(read more)

The All New Homespun, Handknit book

2009-09-23T14:26:00Z

About twenty-two years ago, sitting in my college dorm room, I opened a care package from my Aunt Debby and found an amazing book—a collection of small handspun and handknit hats, scarves, mittens, and socks called, Homespun, Handknit. Published the year I graduated from high school, this collection reflected the spinning community at the time and the designs—classics as they are—are still relevant today. I can't tell you how many times I've opened the book since then to...(read more)

Does this sound familiar?

2009-09-16T14:57:00Z

For years, you've had a secret, inexplicable yearning to make yarn—a subconscious desire that you've resisted, rationalized away, and pushed to the back of your mind. Things have happened, though, that make this resisting harder. Perhaps a good knitting friend has confessed a desire to learn how to spin, or maybe you just happened to attend a Sheep and Wool Festival and couldn't tear yourself away from the spinning demonstrations that seemed to be occurring behind every barnyard...(read more)

It’s Fall, Already!

2009-09-09T16:05:00Z

I'm surprised by the crispness in the air in the mornings and the smatterings of autumn leaves on walkways. Fall sneaked up on me, and I really have no excuse since I work on the Fall issue all summer long, but there it is. Can you believe that the Fall 2009 issue of Spin-Off is already winging its way toward your mailbox? I've been telling anyone who'll listen how excited I am about this issue—it is a special one. In it, we took up the mantle of the International Year of Natural...(read more)

Navajo-plying with Sarah Anderson

2009-08-12T14:21:00Z

A note from Amy: I first met Sarah Anderson virtually through a submission to Spin-Off magazine where she introduced me to her wrap-and-roll spinning technique; she spun a lively, buoyant yarn using a spindle and a spinning wheel simultaneously. You can see Sarah's videos of this technique here and here . Soon the article was published in the Spring 2008 issue of Spin-Off , and Sarah was scheduled to teach at SOAR (Spin-Off Autumn Retreat) 2008. I had a chance to peek into her workshop and retreat...(read more)

What It Takes to Make a Calendar

2009-07-29T13:42:00Z

When our publisher, John Bolton, suggested that we make a 2010 calendar for Spin-Off in the tradition of Quilting Arts Magazine 's annual calendars, Stefanie Berganini, Linda Ligon, and I were enthusiastic about the suggestion and full of ideas. Linda thought we should have a haiku contest about spinning, Stefanie was eager to lend her skills as a graphic designer to the project, and I was imagining all the little bits of spinning and fiber and tools that we'd need to gather to create lovely...(read more)

Color in Spinning

2009-07-15T16:10:00Z

*Click the links to see lots more photos!* I've been working on a baby blanket for my sister's baby since last autumn, and in May my sister Julia gave birth to a little girl. The blanket is domino-knitted from my Navajo-plied handspun yarn. The thing is that while this blanket is lovely, soft, squashy, and warm-it definitely is boyish. I was certain (as was my sister) that she was going to have her third boy with this pregnancy. So when this little girl surprised us all, Julia had to decide...(read more)