Emily Davis-Hale

Mood Board: Summer 2026 – Purpose

/0 Comments/in , /by

Mood Board: Summer 2026 – Purpose

Proposals due by: June 1, 2025

Final work due by: December 1, 2025

Although spinning up a gorgeous skein of yarn seems like a project in and of itself, ultimately most handspun yarn is used to create something else. So how do you spin with a purpose in mind? We want to hear about it! 

What crafts do you use your handspun yarn for? Knitting? Crochet? Weaving? Embroidery? Macrame? Rug making? Mixed media art? Each one can have specific needs for the yarn, and we want to explore those qualities in this issue. 

What makes a yarn a good knitting yarn? What are some changes in that yarn to make it better for crochet? Does it make a difference if you’re using knitting needles, working on a knitting loom, or cranking a sock machine? Does Tunisian crochet have the same yarn needs as crochet? 

What about weaving? What are the qualities that work best for the warp vs the weft? Do you want to use different yarns if you’re using a rigid heddle loom vs a table loom? What about tablet weaving? 

Do you use handspun for embroidery or visible mending? What kinds of yarns work best for those crafts?  

When you have a specific project in mind, what kinds of questions do you ask yourself before you start spinning? How do you determine what characteristics a yarn needs? What are those characteristics? From the technical (twist per inch, ply structure, wraps per inch) to the yarn qualities (drape, shine, warmth, sturdiness, loft), how do you know what decisions to make? 

What about repurposing? Do you use recycled materials in your spinning? Have you used handspun yarn to upcycle or modify something already made? 

Tell us about your spinning community. Do you have a group that spins for a cause or a charity? 

What about tools? How have you used something else as a spinning tool or used a spinning tool in an unusual way? 

And this issue wouldn’t be complete without some patterns. We’re always looking for knitting, crochet, or weaving patterns, but we’d like to see an embroidery pattern or another craft pattern for our readers to make with their own handspun. 

Proposals are due by June 1, 2025. You’ll hear back from us in July 2025, and final articles are due December 1, 2025. 

Submit your article idea now!
Meagan Condon

Mood Board: Spring 2026 – Experimental

/in , /by

Mood Board: Spring 2026 – Experimental 

Proposals due: March 1, 2025         Final work due by: September 1, 2025 

Let’s break out those lab coats and safety goggles and try out all those spinning “what ifs” you’ve always wondered about. This issue is about experimentation, and we want you to explore the possibilities within fiber and spinning that you’ve always wanted to examine. This isn’t a time for writing about what you already know – it’s a time to test hypotheses and see what happens. 

What parts of spinning have you always wanted to delve into? Maybe you’ve wondered how much ply twist can go into a yarn before it starts to bias or when a singles yarn biases. Or maybe you want to test the strength or abrasion of woolen vs worsted yarns or between different numbers of or types of plies. 

Does pre-drafting really make your yarn less consistent? If you tear a batt into rolags, does that have the same effect as making individual rolags? Is it possible to card really long fibers? What’s the minimal length of fiber that makes sense for combing? How far gone can a braid of fiber be before it can’t be spun? 

Is spinning woolen yarn really faster than spinning worsted yarn? Does the length of the fiber impact chainplying? Is there a difference in spinning from the tip or the butt of a lock? Does the weight of the spindle actually impact the diameter of the yarn you spin? Is EZ Spin cotton actually easier to spin? How much difference does it make for a worsted yarn if you spin short backward vs short forward? How does plying from both ends of a ball impact the yarn? 

Do cabled yarns really make cables pop? Does 2-ply yarn really make more lacey lace? Do chain-plied yarns really abrade quicker because one ply is going in the opposite direction? Is tension setting your yarn actually bad when using it for knitting, crochet, or weaving? Is a hard finish really better for woolen yarn? Does steaming your top actually reactivate the crimp? Does steaming yarns work as well as wet-finishing? 

We can’t wait to hear what experiments you want to try out! Proposals are due by March 1, 2025. You’ll hear back from us in April 2025, and final articles are due September 1, 2025. 

Submit your article idea now!