Season 5, Episode 8: On the high desert rangelands of the Imperial Stock Ranch, Jeanne Carver's family is showing what sustainability really means: with careful stewardship, what's good for sheep can be excellent for the earth.
Season 5, Episode 6: An icon of Indian textile tradition and independence, charkha spinning has mostly disappeared from contemporary life. Avani Varia works to preserve the skill, create a living for spinners, and spread the charkha joy.
Making a drop spindle is easier than you think and a good skill to have (even for spinners who own lots of spindles already).
In 1941, a letter and a charkha traveled between Henry Ford and Mahatma Gandhi in the midst of the chaos of Pearl Harbor.
Season 5, Episode 3: What do algae blooms and homemade biodiesel have to do with running a yarn company? For an independent natural dyer, there may be no greater creative challenge than the local environment.
Season 5, Episode 1: Navajo-Churro sheep have a centuries-old history and an even greater meaning to the Diné, but the commercial market set a low price for their wool. A group of shepherds have come together to find strength—and value—in solidarity.
Great spinners advised me to use a bobbin to rewind my bobbins before plying. There were a few things they forgot to mention.
Season 4, Episode 10: A wool mill forms the link between sheep and fiber artists, transforming raw fiber into handcraft-ready yarn and roving. Working in small batches, processing fleece from small farms, a mill can still have a big impact.
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Between fiber artists craving an authentic grassroots connection and the small farms who produce heirloom-quality fiber, a small-batch mill provides the link that keeps local wool vital.
Season 4, Episode 8: From her first treadle sewing machine to her houseful of beautiful, useful fiber equipment, Stephenie Gaustad has turned her dreams of textiles into the fabric of life.