Archive for category: We couldn’t fit it in the print issue!

Words by Sissel Ellevseth

“The travelling itself is part of the journey,” my dad always said when my siblings and I started complaining about being bored in the back seat. The 1000-km drive to visit my grandparents in Vesterålen almost took the joy out of the summer vacation for us. Today, I don’t think much of it and rather enjoy spending hours upon hours in the car, my husband driving and myself spinning or knitting in the passenger seat.

I’m not much of a globetrotter. I’m perfectly fine at home with my stash and my tools, and I prefer to drive if I’m going somewhere. Sometimes though, I need to go by plane either for work or holidays. Every time I start to stress, not for the journey itself, but for the possibility of packing too little wool – or worse, for bringing the wrong projects for the trip. I start test packing wool and spindles early. It must be something rather compact because I do not like to drag several pieces of luggage. My travelling spinning project should bring me joy on the journey and not be something I will struggle with. It should be something special. I usually change my mind a couple of times before I go. 

If I’m to pack for standing or walking spindling, I would choose a suspended spindle. I have a couple of already dinged up Bossies that do that duty. I know there are ways to support spindle while walking, but that is still on my list of skills to tackle later. However, for hanging around airports and for spinning on a plane, train, or bus, I prefer supported spindles. I feel I can sit and spin without constantly being watched. When sitting, I relax more with a supported spindle.

The only time I have had issues with spindles and security was in Orlando waiting in line for one of the Disney parks while spinning on a small Jenkins. The security officer in my line might very well have been a spindler herself. She spotted me early and signaled me to put my Turkish spindle away. When it was my turn, she politely told me it could be confiscated by the other security officers and advised me to bring other types to the park. I could not understand how my little Jenkins Aegean spindle could be dangerous, but of course I kept it away for the day. I had other spindles in my backpack, so I was good.

I have not been doing a lot of airplane spindling, but I always choose spindles that look the least like a weapon for vampire dealings. Nevertheless, I stand in line for security, anxious with my heart in my throat, hoping my spindles will go through without notice.  Although I have not yet had any problems with airport security and my spindles, I wanted to be sure and ready for my next trip. I headed to the computer to find out more information. If you look up hand spindle or any other relevant word to spinning on the TSA’s pages, you do not get any hits. Knitting needles are allowed, and some airlines say wood or plastic are preferred over metal, circulars over straights, but no other limitations to sticks in general are mentioned.

There are a lot of different styles of supported spindles, and most of them look like they belong in van Helsing’s tool kit, some more than others. I have successfully brought phangs and small Tibetans on planes without hassle. How would security react if I were to bring a larger, pointier version? If I were to lose one of my precious carved WW spindles, I would be devastated for sure. I thought it best to check with the authorities.

I emailed the TSA, and after a few days they got back to me with an answer that did not exactly make me want to go on a plane trip with any spindle at all. Knitting needles are allowed up to 4 inches, and no tools at all measuring more than 7 inches. That excludes almost all but circular needles and the shorter sock needles. If tools are to be shorter than 7 inches, only my 2-inch Goldings would fly, and of all my supported spindles, only my takli spindle would be allowed, which is ironic since the takli was the one I thought would never be allowed.

What scared me the most in their answer, though, was the final words stating that officers have the discretion to prohibit any item through security if they believe it poses a security threat. And that after I assured the TSA in my email that all spindlers were peaceful and responsible people..

With that answer in mind, I am not sure I will ever bring my supported spindles on a plane again because I wouldn’t want to risk having them confiscated. For all other travelling, though, they are my first choice to sit and have a relaxing trip.

I might, of course, bring something small and replaceable and be sure to have means for it to escape security, if it should be detained and denied travelling with me. A padded envelope with my home address and with postage paid should be possible to have mailed at most airports.

Remember also to pack your precious safely as you do not know when something might fall out of your bag or when a fellow traveler might step on a bag of fiber and spindles. Imagine the horror! I prefer plastic containers for safety, but I also use an extra padded spindle bag that is nice to look at and that gives a fair protection to the spindles inside. I always pack at minimum 2 supported spindles together so they can support each other on the journey. At least that’s my excuse when my husband asks why I need to bring so many spindles on a trip…

Sissel Brun Ellevseth is a self-taught spinner and fiber wizard. Eleven years ago she started her spinning adventure, spinning for lace on a 120g spindle. Sissel lives with her husband and 2 girls in Bodø, north in Norway, where she teaches spindle classes on occasion, and in the daytime she repairs airplanes to pay for her fiber addiction.

Chantily posted on the PLYAway board on Ravelry about the “classes” she was taking at home since PLYAway was canceled, so she’s here to share a little bit about that with you as well as a little more about herself.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started spinning.

I’ve been playing with string for as long as I can remember – making webs in the living room of the mobile home my dad had bought from his brother and tying the front door into my web so Mom had to cut it before Dad could get in when he came home from work. I learned to crochet from my mom who taught me what she learned in evening classes. I learned to knit from a 4-H project manual. Spinning seemed magical when I saw it happen, when a former coworker pulled out a drop spindle. Twelve years ago, I demonstrated weaving on an inkle loom at Shepherd’s Cross Farm outside Claremore, OK, and made an acquaintance who was gracious enough to host me for a weekend and pay for me to spend a day learning to spin on a wheel, an Ashford Kiwi. I bought a drop spindle and got going in 10 minutes (I learned how to start without a leader and took off). I have not stopped since.

Do you have a favorite type of yarn to spin?

My default is somewhere between a thick fingering and a thin DK. I generally prefer a smooth yarn over art yarn. I have been working on intentionality, deciding beforehand what yarn I want using tools that measure for consistency. The latest is attempting to duplicate the weight of a commercial yarn recommended for a particular cardigan, Koronki, that I picked for a MeMadeMay challenge of meeting the criteria of including red, mohair, and a pleat. Fibers I love spinning are BFL and Cormo. Luxury fibers are cashmere and paco-vicuña, not that I get them very often.

What do you like to make with your handspun yarn?

I have no particular garment or accessory I prefer in handspun. When I started spinning I chose to buy fiber over yarn for getting more enjoyment for my money. My first handknit out of handspun was the Adamas shawl out of a thick lace/sock weight yarn from mohair, shetland, and alpaca that I hand blended with combs.

How long have you been reading PLY?

I’m a newer reader of PLY, looking it over after taking my first class at the 2nd PLYAway. I susbcribed and ordered back issues after PLYAway 5 was cancelled. I’ve been reading those since, looking through the issues most relevant to something I’m doing.

What do you look forward to most when you get an issue?

I’ve enjoyed articles written by PLYAway instructors I have taken classes from – as a way to refresh what’s rolling around in my head from class.

Tell us about not being able to have PLYAway and what you did instead.

I was so hoping COVID-19 would not affect (or minimally affect) PLYAway. It’s my one big fiber event. I don’t travel well, so having something this big so close is wonderful beyond words. I can count myself fortunate that the canceling of PLYAway was my only sorrow in the pandemic, but still, I was heartbroken. I get so much new learning to incorporate and work with over the rest of the year, and it’s the one event where I feel energized by being around people because I’m with people who share my favorite thing to do.

When PLYAway week approached, I decided to do “PLYAway At Home”: I wore my T-shirts and plotted out some activities I knew would take at least a day to do and some that would be a challenge. One day was “Learn to Love the Dealgan.” I watched Lois Swales’ “Spin Like You’re Scottish” on YouTube and then ordered a shorter, heavier dealgan to see if it was me or the tool. A heaver tool with a shorter neck worked better; it’s a bit of a wobbly thing.

I spent a day blending a batt on a blending board and making rolags, attempting to come close to replicating a tiny sample of yarn I wanted more of.

I spent time finishing some Cormo wool I had prepped and spun earlier. Hot soak, twacking, and a cool rinse led to blue fluffiness.

I couldn’t pass up experiencing Spin & Nosh (mostly noshing), so bought sheep milk cheeses from The Better Cheddar – shoutout to Green Dirt Farm’s spreadable sheep cheese.

And then, shopping! Live virtual shopping at Spry Whimsy got me 2 Uncharted Waters spindles and Essential Fibers roving.

The Natural Twist was very happy to custom blend big batts, using pictures of spring colors that I sent.

The 100th Sheep had gorgeous colors in Cormo – yes, I’m in love with Cormo.

I also bought pansy-themed yarn from Fairy Tailspun Fibers, blue & white from The Fiber Sprite, the PLYAway color from Essential Fibers, and yarn from Greenwood.

I certainly hope PLYAway can happen next year. In the meantime, I have a whole lotta spinning.

Chantilly Lovelace is the outreach chair for the Fiber Guild of Greater Kansas City.  You can find her as Chantillylace on Ravelry.

If you’d like to participate in an upcoming reader feature, fill out the reader feature form and Karen will contact you.

Words and Photos by Michele Marshall

“What if…?” might be the most exciting phrase in a maker’s world.

I have dabbled in various forms of fiber, paper, and mixed media arts for most of my adult life. In each creative endeavor, I’ve discovered “what if” often precedes an exciting and fun phase of exploration that extends my knowledge and enjoyment of my craft.

Put simply, I’ve made a lot of ugly stuff!

Okay, put graciously, I’ve made a lot of things that were “less than attractive” and had no purpose whatsoever.

The trick is learning to accept things don’t always work and to reflect on why they didn’t or what was learned in the doing. Then you figure out how to apply those lessons to future explorations or extend what you already know. It’s called playing, except as adults we have forgotten how much fun it is!

I know people who collect and use support spindles, and I had wondered why they felt the need for another spinning tool. Then I encountered cotton. While I can spin it, laboriously, on my wheel, I started to think “What if I tried cotton on a support spindle? Would it be more fun?” Support spindles are relatively inexpensive, so I acquired one (or more) and started with cotton. It went well, and I found cotton took no more time on a support spindle because I traded all that treadling time for drafting time.

But support spindles took me by surprise. I hadn’t really thought about what “supported” spindling really meant. It makes all sorts of “what if” options come alive! The single needn’t be strong, just able to hold together reasonably well.

“What if I try supported spinning?” became a minor fixation for me. I started a collection of things I wanted to try spinning on my support spindles when time and motivation allowed. I collected bits of moss, air plants, pharmaceutical cotton, clean dryer lint, finely shredded paper, steel wool, hand-combing waste, pygmy goat down, cottonwood seeds – and looked forward to a day to play.

One of the first things I considered was some of my materials might not be friendly to my traditional fiber tools. It’s one thing to expose the metal or carbon fiber shaft of a support spindle to something organic but quite another to consider putting those organic materials into, say, your hand cards or drum carder. Fortunately, I have a pair of cat combs I had purchased early in my cotton spinning explorations, both inexpensive and washable or disposable.

I started with some combing waste, mostly because I had a fair amount of it on hand from a recent spin. It was a bit neppy and soft, but also not something I had to worry about ruining. Think of it like the mud in mud pies; if it turns out well, you can always upgrade the ingredients! I decided to try blending it with steel wool. The steel has a longer “staple” length than my wool, so I added it to one card after I finished the blending, removing that batch without any rolling, like a batt. I added a second, wool only, blended “batt” on top and then rolled the two together from the side, rather than the tip, and drafted from the tip end.

I plied the single, creating a sparkly 2-ply yarn that is surprisingly strong. I certainly wouldn’t wear it, but it could make an interesting addition to a tapestry weaving or a needle felting project.

The collection of “what if” items itself taught me a few things, one of which is that sometimes you have to stop and play in the moment. While in Florida, I collected some air plants, thinking their short, flexible stems might be something I could spin. Sadly, I didn’t have a support spindle with me, and by the time I was able to get to my spindles, the plants had dried too much to be of use.

I had no such problems with the moss, which I tried spinning on its own, but it either broke apart with too much twist or refused to take twist at all. By blending the moss with cotton, in the same way I used the steel wool and combing waste, I got a passable single. The moss, however, became bruised in the process and eventually caused the cotton to weaken with dampness. It also made a mess, one I am glad I didn’t have to clean away from the moving parts of a wheel.

Some things that seem like they might be spinnable simply refuse to be spun on their own. Dryer lint was a disaster. I thought I could spin it just as it was, holding it loosely in my hand and letting my leader work some twist into the fluff.

Several sneezes later, I gave this up. There simply wasn’t any staple length at all to the fluff.

Combining a couple of “What if” ideas, I carded some pharmaceutical cotton, the type they stuff in the top of medicine bottles, with the dryer lint. With this blend, I made an interesting sort of Donegal tweed-like yarn. The lint isn’t terribly strong and tends to shed a bit, but it presents all sorts of interesting ideas about adding it to batts or carding it into singles. I started thinking about collecting “sentimental lint” from washing things like children’s clothes or old flannel shirts and realized I get a consistent beige-colored lint from washing flannel sheets.

The cotton/lint play taught me that not all pharmaceutical cotton is the same. The first bits I played with were very nice, much like the handspinners’ cotton I’ve purchased. The second bits, however, were bluntly cut, full of nepps, and lumpy. But these less-than-nice cotton pieces allowed me to see the fibers in the clumps move apart and into place when it double drafts, something I find particularly difficult to see in smoother preparations.

By now my spinning area was a mess. I had moss, lint, fluff, wool, and steel dust surrounding me. But I couldn’t clean up until I saw what I could do with the cottonwood seeds.

I was encouraged because, unlike dryer lint, the seeds have a staple. It might be only 1/4-inch long, but it is something to work with. On a whim, I tried spinning the seeds from their cloud. And it works! The single is soft and prone to breaking easily, but it’s a single. I started thinking about goose down. Haven’t I read that people used to weave with such things?

And what if I combine desirable seeds, dryer lint, and cotton? I think cosmos seeds might be a good candidate for the experiment. The cotton and dryer lint are biodegradable, and I’m told wool makes good compost, too. What if I use a little square loom and make the base from the cotton/lint/seed single and then do the final weaving with a fine wool single? What if I planted and watered this square? I could mail them to family and friends in their birthday cards.

I have so many more options I want to try, ideas generated through playing with inspiration and materials. Playing opens up our stash, and our minds, to potentially exciting discoveries. It gives us new muscle memory for taking into our default and new spins. And it makes spinning a never-ending rabbit hole of exploration and possibility.

Now, go play in your stash!

Michele Marshall has always been fascinated by people make things and usually has to try it herself if give half a chance. She lives with her husband in the hills of Indiana and can be found on Ravelry as Mingo08.

Elizabeth Fitzpatrick is the new graphic designer/layout artist for PLY, and we asked her a few questions so we could all get to know her a little better. Her first issue is the Summer 2020 issue on Supported Spindles.

Tell us a little bit about yourself, what fiber craft(s) you do, and how you got started in the fiber world.

My introduction to the fiber world is through my partner of 22 years, Maxine. She learned how to crochet when she was young, but about 15 years ago we were on vacation and walked into a yarn store. Thus began her true fiber journey. I just tag along. She tried to teach me how to knit, which is when I discovered I’m really terrible at counting. So I don’t do any spinning, knitting, or fiber-ing. A few years ago we started our company, knittingbuddha studio. Maxine does the handspun, knitting, and teaching, I do the design. My one foray into fiber was doing the felted sign of a knitting Buddha that hangs in our show booth.

Tell us about your journey in graphic design. What made you get started with it and what is your past experience?

When I was young and living in the NY area, every Sunday one summer, the newspaper featured a Peter Max painting as a full spread. I loved his work. It was fun and colorful, but it also bridged this gap between fine art and commercial art, and that spoke to me. At the same time, John Lennon and Yoko Ono launched a billboard campaign titled “War Is Over.” In our small town of 1,000 people, a “War Is Over” billboard was posted right before the river bridge. It was a small billboard, but I remember staring at it and thinking it was different than any billboard I had ever seen before. Simple black text on a white background. It was a message, it was art, and it was performance. And it was on a billboard! I wanted to do that.

I started my design career in the early 80s, back when being a graphic designer was a hands-on craft involving mechanical layouts, t-squares, drawing boards, proportion wheels, and amberlith overlays. I’ve worked as a designer laying out newspaper ads, designing logos, and creating graphics for K-12 English learning programs and as the artistic director for a non-profit arts organization. Plus, I have 20 years of experience as an art director for several trade magazines, and now PLY!

What was it like when you found out you were going to be the new graphic designer for PLY? How has the experience been so far?

I was a bit blown away to be chosen as the PLY designer. When I applied, I wasn’t originally picked as a finalist. But those who weren’t chosen were given the opportunity to go ahead and submit a mock up. I decided to do it because, at the very least, I could use it as a portfolio piece. I received some great feedback from Jacey, she had me do a couple of other pieces, and then she offered me the job. It was awesome. I celebrated with wine and cake.

The thing about PLY is it’s very much a showcase magazine with big, beautiful pictures and wonderful illustrations. My previous magazine work involved pipelines and construction. There wasn’t much room for interesting design work, so it’s great to work on a magazine with an artistically receptive audience. Like spinning, the joy of designing is in the process. It’s always nice to have the finished product, but it’s the process that makes it worthwhile, and that’s how I felt working on my first issue of PLY.

What do you do with your free time? What else would you like to share about yourself?

I am also a fine artist. I’ve sold some paintings over the years and was active in the Art Car scene for a little while. I’ve painted five cars and a VW bus. A few years ago I received a ukulele as a gift and have worked my way to the ceiling of beginner and the floor of intermediate. I now have a repertoire and play for our four dogs. They don’t seem to ever tire of hearing “Dock of the Bay.” I’ve got a bunch of DIY projects that I continually procrastinate on. I consider our house a big sculpture I will probably never finish. It’s all in the process.