Welcome to Fantasy Island: Spinning Exotic Fibers
If there’s any better form of self-care than spinning exotic fibers, I have yet to discover it. My version of Fantasy Island holds a lot of spinning wheels.
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If there’s any better form of self-care than spinning exotic fibers, I have yet to discover it. My version of Fantasy Island holds a lot of spinning wheels.
I wanted a handspun sweater with dripping cables and subtle color transitions—that meant handpainting yarn with food coloring. Although this type of dyeing required a lot of time, it produced spectacular results.
Today I present A Tale of Two Sheepies: the story of my first adventures with raw wool.
Although I’d spun bamboo before, it had been in small quantities. For this project, I spun about a pound of bamboo from the fold, making this slippery fiber much easier to manage.
Over the next few years, I’ll pursue some sheep breed studies, study Felicia Lo’s dyeing lessons from Dyeing to Spin and Knit, and play around with yarn design.
In the summer of 1996, I opened the door and welcomed temptation in. That was the first step toward building my giant yarn stash.
Learn crucial dyeing lessons in this expert article that discusses best practices and how to avoid mistakes when dyeing fiber for spinning!
Years ago at a stressful period in my life, I thought a new spinning hobby could help me relax and create pretty things with wool.
Before I became a spinner, singles yarns were one of my favorite yarns to knit with. When I became a spinner, I tried to replicate these millspun yarns.
When Amy Tyler’s Wild Water Scarf arrived at the Interweave office, we were excited to see that she had used a sewn bind-off. Amy made her beautiful scarf with silk—a fiber known for its lack of elasticity. We asked her to tell us more.
Hemp is a truly amazing plant. It grows fast, requires very little water and is easily grown without pesticides. Different parts of the plant can be used for soaps, paper, building materials, and, most importantly for us, textiles.