I taught myself to spin in 1971. I didn't have a book. I'm not sure I'd ever even watched anybody spin on a wheel. I did have a 15-minute tutorial on using a drop spindle (emphasis on "drop"). My wheel was an old upright Swiss table wheel loaned to me by a friend. It still bore...
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...
Picture this: Spinning diva Abby Franquemont, a woodshop, a couple of aluminum ladders for props, two rowdy kittens. Add: three video cameras, a bunch of lights, a sound system, some camera guys. Result? Drafting: The Long and Short of It , an hour of intense focus on choosing fiber, drafting fiber,...
When you first start at a new job, there is usually some sort of training involved. Sometimes it’s just an overview on how to set up your voicemail, when to take lunch, etc. But when I started working at Spin-Off , part of my job training involved taking a spinning class (lucky me!). When trying...
I’ve rattled on for years about how hard it is to put spinning instruction in print. It’s such a dynamic, process-intensive craft—so hard to capture in one-shot increments. For all my carrying on, though, I think we’ve done a pretty good job. Thirty-two years of Spin-Off , and...