Twistin’ the Night Away

From mitts and socks to cowls, sweaters, and hats, spinners have been busy twisting gorgeous handspun yarns around their needles, shuttles, and hooks this spring. We’ve been sharing the details of our newest handspun pieces that incorporate techniques including mosaic, stranding, cables, lace, weaving, and brioche—so much texture!

Spinning for the Equinox Cowl

My first finished handspun yarn for the 2025 spin-along was a skein of alpaca with an intermittent third ply of silk, as shown in Amy Tyler's tutorial in the Winter 2025 issue of Spin Off. The intermittent ply provides a lot of visual interest with its soft yellow color, silky sheen, and textural difference.

I used this yarn to knit an Equinox cowl. Mine is one of seven Equinox Cowls completed by participants thus far during the twist-along. It has a lot of drape due to the fiber content. It’s very soft and cozy. Using Cat Bordhi's Moebius cast-on, I cast on 104 stitch pairs aiming for a 26" circumference with my alternate gauge of 13 stitches to 4 inches, and I love how it turned out.

Get a closer look! Click any image in the gallery below to open it in full-screen mode.

Cabled Yarn to Knit Cabled Socks

In the Ravelry group, we've also been discussing how cabled yarns are excellent for socks and if you choose a cabled sock pattern, that’s even better as the cabled structure of the yarn will make those cables POP!

I spun some precious hand-dyed fiber into a fingering-weight cabled yarn. With only about two ounces (56 g) of fiber resulting in 259 yards (237 m), I was concerned I wouldn’t have enough yarn. A previous pair of my handspun Double-Cable Socks for Spinners used 272 yards and three ounces (249 m / 85 g) of a heavy fingering- to sport-weight yarn.

Before casting on, I found a pair of my favorite cabled shortie socks that used slightly less yardage than the marigold handspun skein and measured them to help ensure I’d have enough yardage. I knit them two-at-a-time, and ended up with a measly 8 inches (20 cm) of yarn left over after working up my new pair of cabled socks! I’ve only ever knit one other pair of socks with the two-at-a-time technique as I find it rather fiddly, but I admit to speeding through the toes of these socks because the suspense was almost too much for me to handle. I figured I’d need time to come up with a solution if I ran out of yarn and wanted to ensure I had the time to spin more yarn before the conclusion of the spin-along!

Stefanie’s handspun cable-knit socks.

It can be easy to get carried away like that song, “Twistin’ the Night Away,” though I suspect Sam Cooke was referring to a different kind of twistin’ in his song from 1962. I find spinning to be a great way to relax before turning in for the night. It helps to clear my mind of the day’s worries or to-do list, transitioning me to a more restful state. I invite you to pick up your spindle or sit at your wheel and come see the works of wearable art being created by your fellow spinning enthusiasts in the Spin Off Knitters & Spinners Ravelry twist-along thread. It’s not too late to join in!

Join the Fun

• Share on Instagram by tagging @longthreadmedia.
• Join the conversation on the Ravelry forum where you’ll find the spin-along thread.
• New this year! Tag #spinoffmagazine on BlueSky Social to be featured on the Spin-Along feed and on the website.

If you would like to share photos of your completed projects with us, please have them finished by May 1st and send them over to us via our email address.

Resources

• You can find a tutorial for spinning an intermittent third ply and the Equinox Cowl pattern in the Winter 2025 issue of Spin Off.
  
• For tips on creating your own customized Equinox Cowl, see "Suit Yourself! Adapting the Equinox Cowl".
  
• All-Access Subscribers can find the Double-Cable Socks for Spinners pattern in the Spin Off Library.
  

When Stefanie Johnson is not protecting public health through environmental inspections and communicable disease investigations, she enjoys teaching others to spin, knit, and weave. The Johnsons raise French Angora rabbits, honeybees, and a variety of chickens and ducks on their hobby farm, Settlers Grove, in Illinois. More of Stefanie’s work can be found in Taproot, Knitty, Knotions, and on Etsy and Ravelry.