low tech spinning

The big news today is that my article on low-tech fiber processing is featured on PLY magazine's blog!  Here's the link:
Low tech wool (and other fibres) prep

I'm proud to be included in this processing issue--via the blog!

I often encounter new spinners who are overwhelmed by the expense and complicated nature of all the tools and gadgets they think they must have to begin spinning.  In fact...spinning can be pretty simple and low cost.  This piece spells out ways you can use your hands to do the work-without the tools.

PS: I'm not ignoring all the upsetting stuff that is going on in the world right now.  Far from it, but I'm needing distractions so I don't despair entirely.  I hope this provides a helpful distraction.  In the meanwhile, believe me, I'm thinking about peace in the world--and rain in Australia.

PPS: How did Rosie McStrippit get her name?  Well, she's clearly related to Strippy McStrippit, made in strips, and there's a story about elementary school and Irish (or Scottish?) dance in there...for another time.

The Messy Cop

 I recently had an article come out in Ply magazine!  The editors asked me to post about it on social media using this snapshot of my writing. (click on it to embiggen to read it)  I haven't received my magazine yet in Canada...but people have asked me for more info.

I first heard about it via a reader query on Ravelry, saying she liked the cowl I was wearing in the article!  (uhh, I didn't think I'd sent a photo with a cowl in it.)  Oh, she said, had I designed this lacy teal leaf cowl?  Could she purchase it?  Ummm...this is when I wondered if I'd lost my mind. Was it lack of sleep, the street construction jack hammering noise or something else?  I'd designed a lot of cowls, but teal?  Leafy? Lace?  Huh.

Turns out the photos featured with this article don't match anything I sent in my submission. (This happens to freelancers.) The woman featured isn't me, and not sporting any of the cowls, scarves, or shawls I have designed!  (Note, my designs work well in handspun!)  I use commercial yarns in most my design samples to make substitution easier for those who don't spin, but there is always plenty of info for spinners who want to supply their handspun for the patterns.

A friend noticed that the lady in the article didn't look like me.  (She's older, for one) She sent me some photos so I could see the article.  Here are some photos I took for this article that illustrate the messy cop process if you're curious to learn more...my cops look different from what I saw featured there. (These photos weren't published, I own copyright, so they're mine to use as I like.)

#1. Use scrap paper or a stiff bit of cardboard to wrap around the spindle.  Tuck the end of the leader so it sticks out of the bottom of the spindle, towards your hand, for easy access later on.  Wind solely onto the scrap paper for ease of removal later.  I started with blue so you can see the leader clearly in the next photo.

#2 As the cop progresses, wind on however you'd like, as messy as you want --the end result is a ball-- but make sure you can still see that (blue) leader yarn at the bottom so you know you could do a center pull ball for plying later.  Keep the cop on your scrap paper quill.

 #3.  When the spindle no longer spins consistently in the right direction, it's full and too heavy to work effectively.  Gently pull the (round) ball off the spindle shaft, holding onto those two ends.  The paper/cardboard quill inside should remain intact inside the ball.

#4.  Take your ball and wind the two ends together onto a nostepinde or distaff for ease in plying.  If you do not have this tool, you can use: A smooth stick, a yard stick, a pencil, another spindle shaft...whatever's convenient.  I tend to tuck the nostepinde under one armpit when I ply, so if that's your practice, make sure the stick is long enough for this to be comfortable. Armpit sizes vary!
Note: The blue leader is still visible, you can see where I pulled it out of the center pull ball to begin to wind the two plies together.

#5. To complete the plying, you're again putting on the scrap paper, leader at the bottom, and twisting your two plies in the opposite direction.  There were will be no leftovers as you are spinning from both ends of a single messy cop/ball rather than two separate ones.

#6.  If you're making a 4 ply yarn, you're ready to go with the cop on a piece of scrap paper...you can easily access both ends of the ball to ply again.  If not, slip the 2-ply yarn off the spindle: it's ready to skein up so you can wash and set the twist.

OK, that's the whole story!  You don't have to wind on in any kind of zen-tidy way!  Your yarn making will still work just fine.  I hope this is helpful...do leave a comment if you have questions and I'll try to check back to answer them.
All the best,
Joanne

Finding the light

 During June, we have many hours of sunshine in Winnipeg.  We get up earlier and stay up later, and things seem very busy.  The birds are singing, it's bright daylight at 5AM, and we're doing all the things except sleeping enough.  Last weekend was especially busy, as these gentlemen turned 8.  Yes, eight years old!!  (Yup, they do not look like this anymore!  My twins have new hats....)

We were very busy with planting our garden, eating gelati with some of our favorite grown ups, and having a special kids' birthday at the university greenhouse last Sunday with a few kid friends.  Yes, the professor was loaned a key to the greenhouse and did the tours--there are a few advantages to having a biology professor dad!
I made cupcakes.  They tasted pretty good, but it is obvious that I did, indeed, fail the icing and piping section of the breads and desserts class. I took this course as a senior at Cornell...I'd already finished most of the coursework for my double major.  It was an elective at the Cornell hotel school. I can make a really presentable loaf of rustic whole wheat bread, but somehow, no one wants that with a candle in it on his eighth birthday!  Go figure.

On Monday, I worked like crazy, trying to catch up on my worklife after the big festivities.  This was complicated by the city's plans to fix some sidewalks near our house.  There was a lot of jackhammering. It's truly hard to write and edit when the house is shaking. 

Tuesday, I hopped in the car at lunch hour to run errands and looked in my rear view mirror.  I prepared to back out.  Then I noticed this.  It's not really clear if this was vandalism (and there is this kind of window breaking vandalism in our neighbourhood...) or if it was just the vibrations from the jackhammer.  Needless to say, I was a little shaken up.  (Note my very annoyed reflection in the glass there...)

The professor kindly brought the car to an autobody shop, where they treated my bright yellow, 16 year old Pontiac Aztek like it was a unicorn.  They told him there were no replacement parts in Canada, they don't make this anymore. It would take 3-4 weeks to get the replacement glass from Minnesota. And-- if it did not work out, well, they would have to total my-low mileage, entirely functional, reasonably fuel efficient- car.  (Please insert your bad words of choice here.)  Needless to say, we're going to try to make the repair work out.

In an effort to try to be cheery, despite the jack hammering outside, (AHHHHHH!), here is my latest article in the Jewish Independent:
See the light inside everyone

And, despite the sidewalk construction noise, the port-a-potty across the street, the workers leaving their lunch trash in front of my house....and smoking near my old wooden house, --even though we've got a fire ban going on--(it's dry as heck here), well, I'm trying really hard to see that light.

Note: Sometime soon, I will post about my new article in PLY Magazine's spindle issue.  Probably after the jack hammering stops...

PLY SOCK Newsletter SALE!

Big News!  My article on

 Breaking out of a Rut: Getting a new sock yarn groove 

is featured in PLY Magazine's newsletter this month!

I'm excited!  To celebrate...
Please save 25% off ALL my Rav patterns, including the sock patterns until January 14th!  (ends midnight, Central Time, US & Canada)

Use the coupon code:
PLYSock 
and get the discount!

  Here are a few socks I've designed over the years, to get you in the mood. :)

Check out just my sock designs here!

Spin On!

Permission to Experiment--on PLY's blog

Giving ourselves permission to break the rules is a luxury.

Often, when I teach spinning, I hear a newbie say “Am I doing this right?” or “Am I following the rules?” I usually call the entire class to attention to address this issue. If we focus on human history, we have to acknowledge that as a species, we’d have gotten way too cold (hypothermic even) and died out in the wilderness if there were only one way to spin. Ever since we stopped exclusively wearing animal skins and started producing textiles, folks have been spinning.

....Want to read more?  Visit PLY magazine's Blog to read this article!