We encourage you to check out our new spin-in at 5 pm pacific today, March 20th. These third Thursday spin-ins are dedicated to helping you develop the foundational spinning skills and fiber confidence you want. So, if you’re looking for something a little more foundational in addition to, or instead of, Sunday spin-ins, we’d love to see you.
All of the spin-ins are put on by the PSG. Third Thursday spin-ins will be hosted by one or two of our PSG hosts – Lori Paterson, Donita Westman, Terri Guerette, and Heavenly Besser – while Sunday spin-ins will still be hosted by Laura Linneman and Jacey.
If you aren’t already a member of the guild, make sure you are signed up so you can participate! You’ll have full access to all our incredible video tutorials as well as the spin-ins, where you can ask questions and get real feedback from other spinners.
We can’t wait to see you there! Please remember that the PLY Spinners Guild is a space for spinners at all levels of spinning. We are an inclusive and diverse community that embraces all spinners and welcomes everyone to create a brave space to question, challenge, and support one another. We strongly believe that the more diverse our community is, the stronger our community is. Our core beliefs of kindness, diversity, and inclusivity inform everything we do. Racism, sexism, and other forms of oppression will not be tolerated. We reserve the right to remove anyone who meaningfully and purposefully disrupts the community or makes other members feel unsafe.
For those of us who are spinners, fiber is joy. And when we create something beyond our expectations, it’s even better. During the summer of 2023 I did just that with the help of others who knew exactly how to make my work come to life.
As a visual artist I often seek out opportunities to travel and attend artist residencies. These are vibrant places where artists tend to gather as a group and make art alongside one another. Artist residencies usually conjure inspiration, and creatives come from a variety of backgrounds to rest and create. Throughout the month of June 2023, I attended one of these residencies facilitated by the Ora Lerman foundation in Laceyville, Pennsylvania.
At the beginning of June, I packed my small Nissan Versa full of materials and tools that I wished to use over the course of the coming month. The most important item in my car was the giant bag of Shetland wool which originated from my parents’ family farm. On this farm, my father cares for between eighty to one hundred angus cattle each year. My contribution to this operation is my six Shetland sheep: Mary Brown, Lily, Danny, Francis, Ramses, and Sirius. These sweet animals, because they are a smaller breed, remind me of dogs. They love being greeted with pets and treats and amazingly enough also wag their little tails when they are happy. Each time I use their wool I am reminded of my fiber pets in Zanesville and how they give me a great deal of joy.
With my precious wool and sheepy thoughts, I arrived in Laceyville, where I worked alongside six other creatives; these people were writers, painters, and actors who were pursuing their own passions. At this residency we shared the original house of Ora Lerman, a successful artist in her own right. When she passed away, she left her estate in the form of a trust where others can take full advantage of the resources she collected throughout her life. Her home became a shared space for creatives to work and react to one another’s process. There we found inspiration from the energy and work ethic each of us brought to the space. Residents even had communal meals where we could speak openly about our ideas.
Throughout my stay I had unlimited time to work, rest, and connect with others. My most memorable moments were spent in the studio discussing a fellow artist’s landscape paintings and the beautiful weather we were having. Or meeting with a former fiber artist who found a love for metal sculpture years ago. I met a fellow spinner who was the estate’s longtime volunteer gardener. We enjoyed talking all things spinning and fiber. Excitingly enough, we had the opportunity to do a fiber trade before I left.
These budding friendships provided a nice contract to the solitude I felt while working. As most spinners know, our process typically allows time for a great deal of silent reflection. While I listened to a book at times, other moments were filled with quiet thoughts and peaceful admiration for the nature which surrounded me. The studio I spent much of my time inhabiting had large windows which overlooked a beautiful garden. When I would sit on the second story porch, I was also graced by a small hummingbird who came to see me at random moments throughout my day. During times of peace, my sheep flooded my thoughts. I thought about where this fiber came from and the historical significance of what I was doing. My hope and belief are that handspinning will never die because of all of us who are keeping it alive within our own communities. In doing so, we are educating others and sharing our passion for something that is ancient and important.
So, with my beautiful bag of wool, I took full advantage of my residency experience by spinning on my Electric EEL Wheel 6.0. Throughout that time, I spun five skeins of DK weight yarn that I had intended to make art with in the future. My fiber, being very important to me, begged to be twisted and made into something special. I had looked forward to dyeing the yarn using a natural dye process when I arrived back home. However, while researching natural dyes, I stumbled upon an organization which was offering classes close to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. A “dye day” just happened to be not only on the way home but the day following my residency.
I jumped at the opportunity to sign up. On the last day of my residency, I hopped in my car and drove off toward Lancaster. There I found lovely quilt and yarn shops within miles of where I was to take my class. Lancaster is known for its deeply rooted Amish community. It has largely become a tourist destination with hidden gems.
At Green Matter Dye Co I had the pleasure of meeting Winona, the instructor of the class. She was kind, and I quickly learned that she is also very knowledgeable in the field of fashion and fiber. Like myself, she has a degree in Fashion Design, but uniquely she focuses on sustainability. Winona’s company originated as a dye house that provided services for garment companies to send products to be dyed in a sustainable manner.
I am thankful that she also focuses on helping artists and fashion enthusiasts learn the process of natural dying. Green Matter Dye Co opens their doors to novice and new dyers who wish to learn and explore the process. Not only do they have an indigo vat always at the ready, but Winona’s staff makes dye baths out of other plants such as madder root, avocado pits, and marigolds.
The beginning of the course focused on the technical aspects of natural dye, like the pH of the water and how to test this water for batches of dye. The learning curve involved in this type of process is steep; however, we learned through hands-on experimentation in the coming hours. Over the course of the morning our small group listened to and discussed this topic, trying to understand the process we were about to explore. Even better, each student came from a different background, thus enhancing our already rich discussion.
We finally ended our conversation and moved forward with the hands-on portion of the day. Students had prepared a variety of items they wished to dye. These ranged from upcycled garments purchased in thrift stores to the handspun yarn I had brought along.
Over the coming hours we took our chosen materials and dipped them in the dye. Though I must say, the best part of my day was bonding with a group of women who had struggled through similar life experiences. We were all ages and from all walks of life. Throughout the afternoon, our small group shared about our lives, our joys and challenges: divorces, dating, and raising children, all the while creating beautiful things in our free time.
The hours ahead involved immersing our fiber into the dye baths that Winona had prepared for us. This was the first time I had ever dipped anything in an indigo vat. The experience was magical. Indigo has a deep and long history around the world but is best known in the western world as the color used to dye our blue jeans and denim.
The most eco-friendly method of indigo dyeing involves a fermentation process using the leaves of the indigo plant. During this process, the plant matter is broken down, creating bacteria and lactic acid. The pH level must be monitored.
I was instructed to dip the fiber into an indigo dye vat. Once submerged, I removed my skein, exposing it to oxygen. The yarn was hung and allowed to turn blue over time. Initially it is an acidic green color; however, after a few minutes it turns a beautiful blue hue. Afterward, my yarn was rinsed using cold water, which removed any dye matter that may have lingered. To achieve a deep blue, my handspun yarn was dipped twice. Finally, the yarn was washed gently in Dawn soap to rinse it and take away the dye that had not been bonded. In the end, I took home some beautiful blue yarn that could be used for a future project.
Over the course of a month, I traveled from my home of Columbus, Ohio to Pennsylvania. I left with a bag of Shetland wool and returned with beautiful yarn. I also departed with great memories and a new knowledge of how to dye my yarn. This time away with others inspired me to continue making yarn and to use natural materials to add color to my work. My lesson over the past couple of years is to find your people and your passion. Surround yourself with those who love the same things you do, and you will find expertise and love. What a grand combination and a beautiful gift!
Jenn Lander is an educator residing in Columbus, Ohio. Jenn’s expertise shines through in their efforts to educate others about the traditions of spinning and knitting. They possess a background in the subject, including two BFAs and a Masters degree from Maryland Institute College of Art in Studio Art.
https://plymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/20230730_181926-1.jpg5481216Guest Bloggerhttps://plymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/plylogo-condensed-pnk-300x164.pngGuest Blogger2025-03-18 09:00:002025-03-12 15:00:46Dyed and Went to Pennsylvania
PLY is proud to work with some incredible artists, tool makers, and designers. Today we’d like to feature Shana Cohen, a designer whose Palimpsest cardigan pattern appeared in the recent Winter 2024 Care issue of PLY.
Tell us a little bit about yourself? (the hardest-to-answer question first!)
I’m a knitting pattern designer, architect, design educator, and new spinner! I love creative problem-solving and helping makers to become the best versions of themselves. I hold this true in all of my design processes, and pride myself on meeting my students where they are and helping each student to work to their full potential. I am an empath and extrovert who loves coffee, friends, hiking, and creativity. I live in the Denver, CO, area with my husband and son.
How did you get started designing patterns?
I have been involved in creative problem-solving for my entire adult life through my career in architecture and design education. As an architect, I create a set of design directions to solve a prompt. As a design educator, I write assignments for students to solve creative problems while honing their own creative voices. As a knitting pattern designer, I’m doing very similar things: creating a set of design directions for the maker to execute in an asynchronous manner. My first pattern was a superhero cape designed for my son. He asked me for a knit cape with stripes going in two different directions. We worked in a designer-client relationship to come up with a design to meet his needs. I felt a renewed sense of creative energy while solving this problem, and the experience got me out of a funk and helped shape my design identity.
In the Care issue, you tell us a little about your inspiration for the Palimpsest pattern. Can you tell us a little more about how you gather inspiration for your patterns?
I look at my design process as solving a problem for a client, just as I’ve been trained in architecture. I ask questions and propose a design to meet the needs while staying true to my own values of working with clean and thoughtful details and maximizing material use. Sometimes I am struck by a missing piece in my wardrobe or daily life, and other times I get excited by a yarn or a particular detail I want to try. Every so often I am struck by a word or a name that drives the design forward. When I collaborate with others, I think about how to create a design that will showcase us both in the best light.
How long does it take for you to work out a pattern and what does your process look like?
Sometimes I can get through a design in a matter of weeks, from concept to sample and pattern, but most often it’s a longer process for me. I work in sketches and study models (three-dimensional scaled swatches) throughout my design process. I often “road test” a piece before really solidifying it: that is, I make a full-scale mock-up (it might be in the final yarn, or in some instances, a piece of fleece fabric or sheet to test a shape or idea) and then I live with it for a bit, figuring out if the size and proportion is what I’m really going for. I use smaller study models and swatches to experiment with assembly and finishing details, and I often make smaller pieces to photograph or record a video of my process to help explain the details. This process also helps me to make sure that my writing really matches what I actually did! Occasionally I think of a design idea in my head and create nearly the entire thing with limited notes. In these instances, I end up making another version (or portion of a version) while I write to make sure I’m following my own directions! I try to create directions to accommodate many types of makers: those who prefer precise instructions for how many colors to use and where to change colors, for example, as well as those who prefer to freestyle a bit more.
How do you view and use handspun yarn as a designer?
As I mentioned, I’ve been lucky enough to have knitters execute my designs with their handspun yarn for a few years, and I’ve asked them about how they make pattern choices for their handspun yarn to help understand my own writing moving forward. I believe my modular designs show off handspun yarn because there are often smaller stitch counts and changing directions in the fabric, which allows the yarn to shine in different ways. My designs usually use a looser gauge, and I find they are forgiving for variations in yarn thickness.
What are your favorite and least favorite parts of the design process?
I love coming up with an idea and creating a pattern that allows others to make a unique version of my design. I always do a bit of a happy dance when someone chooses to make one of my patterns! The design process can be very solitary and long, and sometimes my designs just don’t work out the way I plan. I put a lot of myself into my work, and sometimes I get bogged down with other life events and need space from a design, so it doesn’t become tied to a negative memory.
Do you have any inspirational words or suggestions for ways our spinners can better incorporate handspun yarn in their knitting?
As I’m still a newer spinner myself, I look at larger pieces entirely completed with handspun yarn and I feel a bit overwhelmed, so what about trying out your yarn with something small? I have a few fidget toys in my design portfolio, and they were some of the first patterns I used to test out my handspun yarn. These tiny pieces hold memories of my own making, and the rich texture of my handspun yarn adds to the tactile quality of these handheld treasures. Also, you can use your handspun along with a commercial yarn in a striped or textured piece. I’ve recently created a few designs that do this. I’ve intentionally finished with details in the commercial yarn rather than handspun for a smoother finish, but the beauty of creating is that you get to choose what you make!
In Search of Wild Silk: Exploring a Village Industry in the Jungles of India
by Karen Selk Schiffer Craft $39.99, hardcover 8.5 x 11 with 270 pages, and 360 photographs. Published: March 28, 2023 Buy now at Bookshop.org Review by Jacqueline Harp (Instagram: @foreverfiberarts)
Just as the title implies, Karen Selk’s book focuses on the struggles of small wild silk producers making a place for themselves in the vast Indian textile industry. The author briefly touches on India’s wild silk history while also tying in the industry’s position in modern times, expertly guiding us through the process of making silk from the moth to the finished fabric. She addresses the industry’s ecological impacts, the importance of slow fashion, and women supporting women. The book has something for everyone: handspinners, weavers, designers, and the curious. Selk does a wonderful job describing the life cycle of three silk moths that produce wild silk: tasar, muga, and eri. Her writing style is a delightful mix of journal entries, interviews, insights, and facts about wild silk.
The author has over forty years of textile arts experience. She has devoted her life to educating, traveling, researching, and writing about the importance of silk in the complex ecosystem of farming, fashion, and art. From the very first pages of this book, you can’t help but feel inspired by her labor of love. There is no better way to illustrate her passion for silk and the fiber arts than by sharing the dedication from page three:
“…to all those who appreciate and support the making of natural fiber cloth. From the soil that grows natural dyes, fibers like cotton and linen, or leaves and grass that feeds animals that give us their fiber to the finished rug, garment, or home furnishing dedicated farmers and artisans gift us with their love and creativity. I am grateful for your integrity and caring to champion those devoted to providing us with sustainable, ethical, ecological, and beautiful textiles.”
Lastly, the full-color photographs and tastefully drawn illustrations are a treat for the eyes. Each one tells a story, inspires, or helps us visualize a complicated aspect of the life cycle of wild silk as it makes its way from villages to big cities to places the world over. What are you waiting for? This substantial tome is waiting for you to begin the expedition from the comfort of your coffee table. Make yourself smarter about wild silk, fiber of legends and rich history.
https://plymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Selk_cover.jpg714571Guest Bloggerhttps://plymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/plylogo-condensed-pnk-300x164.pngGuest Blogger2025-03-11 09:00:002025-03-06 15:35:22Book Review: In Search of Wild Silk by Karen Selk
To all our friends who partook in Spin Together and to all our friends who cheered us on from the bleachers, PLY had an incredible first year participating in this virtual spinning competition. We had so many people interested in joining us that we had to host not one but two teams! Forty-seven spinners came together to form The PLY Z-Twist team (led by Jacey & Meagan) and the PLY S-Twist team (led by Karen & Jillian).
With a dose of healthy and friendly competition (we’re looking at you, Jacey) both teams spun some incredible yarns during the last week of February. Below are just a few of the photos of the hard work our teams put in!
This week, our teams will be submitting their photos on their respective Facebook groups for their teammates to vote on. Winners will receive a one-year PLY subscription (or extension if they already have a current subscription)! We’ll be looking forward to announcing winners on our Facebook page on March 10!
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you and we’ll be looking forward to next year’s virtual competition!
Jacey, Karen, Jillian, and Meagan
Meagan Condon spun River, a Corriedale-cross. From bun to finished yarn. Beth Booth spun a blend of Merino and Maryann Simpson made all this texture happen.Christin Santos made this delicious-looking bobbin.Jen Coughenour spun 842 yards of 2 ply hedgehog fibers “lucky dip” (a little bit of all sorts of random fibers)Karen spun a 3-ply fractal from a braid gorgeously dyed by Gritty KnitsAndrea Deck spun this worsted weight chain plied FalklandJillian spun this yarn from some tweedy roving from Shepherd’s Hey FarmEmili Naish, inspired by the 3-ply 2 ways article, spun this Corriedale (dyed by Good Fibrations in Saint John, New Brunswick) for a sock projectKat Pong spun a rainbow cabled yarn then wrapped white, light blue, and pink around it going one direction and black and brown in the opposite direction for this amazing Pride yarn.
https://plymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/e7896a6c-4907-4431-a93f-77093d3d9919.jpg844635Meagan Condonhttps://plymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/plylogo-condensed-pnk-300x164.pngMeagan Condon2025-03-06 09:00:002025-03-07 09:08:04Spin Together 2025! A Resounding Success!
With the publication of the Spring 2025 issue, the news is now official. PLY Magazine has a new editor in chief.
Jacey has served in that role since PLY began. Don’t worry! Jacey isn’t going anywhere! But the addition of the PLY Spinners Guild and WEFT Magazine mean that Jacey has been making adjustments to her role. Officially, she’s the Publisher and Director of all things in the PLY/WEFT universe. And she very much has a large day-to-day role in the running of each of those entities. But she’s also supported by the rest of the team for PLY, the PSG, and WEFT.
Enter Karen Robinson. That’s me! I’m not new to PLY. Back in 2014 (I got the news on Thanksgiving Day), I started working for PLY as the magazine’s copy editor. The first issue I worked on was the Leicester issue (rather appropriate since BFL is one of my favorite fibers to spin). In 2018, Jacey asked if I wanted to take on more tasks, mostly involving coordinating with the authors. We briefly thought about calling this role Author Wrangler but decided on the more typical (although less exciting) title of Managing Editor.
Since that time, I’ve taken on more and more responsibilities at PLY. The one that has been most exciting is meeting with Jacey and Jillian Moreno (our developmental editor) to decide on the articles for each issue. We’ve updated and revised some of our processes – and updated and revised some more. We’ve added new ideas for article series to the pages of PLY and retired others. Holding the print version of each issue in my hands is always such a delight in thinking about everything that went into putting it together.
So in many ways, this move to editor in chief feels natural in how my role has evolved over my past decade with PLY. And in many ways not much has changed/will change.
Issue development
Jacey, Jillian, and I are still meeting each quarter to put together the contents of each issue. Actually, we have made some adjustments here. Now we meet three times for each issue: once to come up with our dream issue, everything we’d love to see in the issue if we could fit it all in. And now after that meeting, I write up the mood board for that issue. Then we meet closer to the submission deadline to start structuring the issue and turning that dream issue into something closer to reality. And we meet a final time after the submission deadline and make final decisions and assign articles to authors.
Usually after that meeting, Jacey would email authors/potential authors to either clarify an article’s content or to ask if someone would like to write a specific article that we wanted to include but did not yet have a writer for. Contacting authors/potential authors is now my task, and I got to do it already for the upcoming Long Draw issue (Winter 2025), which means I got to make the final decisions on which authors to assign to which articles. None of those were decisions Jacey was against, but it’s possible she would have made slightly different decisions.
Jacey has always been the one to set up the order the articles will appear in each issue, plotting out how a reader might work their way through the articles in a way that makes sense and adds to the experience. I got to do that for the first time with the upcoming Tension issue (Summer 2025). I did get feedback from Jacey afterwards and made a few changes, but for the most part I’ll be making those decisions for future issues as well.
One of the other decisions I have more input on is the selection of the cover for each issue. Although she’s gotten feedback from the rest of us at PLY, Jacey has made the final decisions on the photo/illustration for the cover. For the Hue issue (Spring 2025), I made that decision – and it wasn’t a cover that Jacey hated but it also wasn’t what she would have chosen (as she finds it “too cute”). She wanted to use an image that was similar to the cover way back on the Color issue (we originally used that image on the back cover of Hue but made a change to the back cover to honor Stephenie Gaustad).
Behind the scenes
I’m learning a lot more about the back end of putting together a magazine. Previously, I didn’t deal with the subscription software or the printer at all. Now I’ve gotten really comfortable with that software (good thing my original major in college was computer science!), and I’m much more in the loop with the communications with the printer. I’ve been learning how Jacey decides how many copies of each issue to print and she’s been asking for my thoughts on a lot of the rest of those types of decisions.
For a few months, I answered the emails that came into our customer service email address. Our previous customer service person left the magazine toward the end of last year, and instead of hiring someone else right away, I took on that role. It really helped me see the interactions that happen with you, our readers, and the types of problems that come up (as well as compliments!). Although I’m glad now to turn that job over to our new customer service person, Sarah, it was really good to have that experience so I could learn even more about running all parts of the magazine.
I’m much more involved with the other members of the PLY team, coordinating with everyone to make sure they have what they need to fulfill their work. I’ve been meeting one on one with them, and it’s been so wonderful to get to know each one a little better and have more interaction with them. And I took the lead on the search for our new editorial assistant, reading through the applications, making interview decisions and doing the interviews, and then making the final hiring decision.
Ultimately, although there are some decisions that might be different from what Jacey would have picked, such as the cover art, since Jacey and I have worked so closely (and so well) together for so many years, and will continue doing so, I don’t know that you’ll really notice very many changes to PLY. It will very much remain the magazine you’ve known and loved over the years.
Quick facts about Karen
Karen has been knitting since 2004, spinning since 2010, and dabbling in crochet here and there
She and her husband will be celebrating their silver anniversary this year (has it really been that long?)
They have a teenage son who loves video games (especially Minecraft and Roblox) and history (especially World War II); his career goal is to be a video game designer and create historically accurate games
They have three Boston Terriers (Luna, Nugget, and Oliver) and two cats (Wall-E and Eva)
They live in Texas (Karen was born there and left the state for graduate school but returned)
Karen has a PhD in English, with a focus on medieval literature especially the legends of King Arthur
She ran a yarn dyeing business, Round Table Yarns, for 6 years (yup, it was Arthurian themed!)
She designed knitting patterns as well, under KarenDawn Designs, and self-published two knitting pattern books (Gawain’s Shield and Parliament of Cowls)
She hosted a knitting podcast called T-Shirts and Shawls for a couple of years
She teaches copyediting classes through the UCSD Extended Studies program
She copy edits fantasy books, usually by indie authors, although she’s currently not taking on new clients
She loves to read, especially fantasy and science fiction, and is always happy to help recommend a book in those genres to you
She really wonders how she finds time for all of the above!
https://plymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Nugget-scaled.jpg25601920Karenhttps://plymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/plylogo-condensed-pnk-300x164.pngKaren2025-03-04 09:00:002025-03-08 14:13:59Meet the New Editor in Chief: Karen Robinson
New Monthly Spin-in focused on building foundational spinning skills!
There’s nothing like spinning with friends. As spinners, we love to learn from, share with, and generally support each other. Spin-ins provide all those things and the twice monthly PLY Spinners Guild spin-ins (via Zoom) have been one of my favorite regular happenings this past year. We meet for 90 minutes on the first Sunday of each month at 5pm pacific and the third Sunday each month at 10am pacific. We chat and spin, ask questions, show off what we’re working on, and often deep dive into a specific spinning technique or fiber.
These Sunday spin-ins have really focused on building community, SALs, show and tells, Q/A sessions, and special guests (PSG teachers, PLY Magazine authors and designers). While we’ve always welcomed newer spinners and celebrated spinners of all skill levels, we do understand that it can be intimidating to join in when you aren’t confident about your skills.
For anyone that has felt like that, even just a little bit, we encourage you to check out our new spin-in on the third Thursday of each month at 5pm pacific. These third Thursday spin-ins are dedicated to helping you develop the foundational spinning skills and fiber confidence you want. So if you’re looking for something a little more foundational, in addition to, or instead of, Sunday spin-ins, we’d love to see you on third Thursdays starting on March 20th.
All of the spin-ins are put on by the PSG. Third Thursday spin-ins will be hosted by one or two of our PSG hosts: Lori Paterson, Donita Westman, and Terri Guerette while Sunday spin-ins will still be hosted by Laura Linneman and Jacey.
Donita WestmanTerri GueretteLoriHeavenly Bresser
Donita Westman knits, spins, weaves, and teaches fiber arts in central Ohio. When she isn’t creating with fiber, she’s likely playing with her dog, reading, literally herding her husband’s cats out of her fiber studio, and sometimes blogging at donitawestman.com.
Terri Guerette learned a variety of fiber arts from her mom at a young age and began spinning in 2004. She quickly developed a passion for her newest hobby. Terri teaches and demonstrates spinning and other fiber arts in many different settings (living history events, schools, farm days, fairs, etc.) and is always happy to share her knowledge. She was a SOAR Scholar in 2011.
Lori brings her love of Black history and teaching to everything she does. Lori finds spiritual sanctuary in the meditative nature of knitting, spinning, and dyeing. Since 1990 when she saw a woman wearing handknit socks, she has been determined to not only make her own socks but to make so many things from fiber. Lori hand paints yarn for knitting and fiber for spinning in her Portland studio (a converted garage) and sews together pretty colored fabric in her (very little) spare time.
Heavenly Bresser is an award-winning handspinner, spinning wheel restorer, and international fiber arts instructor. Some of her areas of passion include a love for working with color, working from fleece, and researching historical information for antique spinning wheels.
We can’t wait to see you there! Please remember that the PLY Spinners Guild is a space for spinners at all levels of spinning. We are an inclusive and diverse community that embraces all spinners and welcomes everyone to create a brave space to question, challenge, and support one another. We strongly believe that the more diverse our community is, the stronger our community is. Our core beliefs of kindness, diversity, and inclusivity inform everything we do. Racism, sexism, and other forms of oppression will not be tolerated. We reserve the right to remove anyone who meaningfully and purposefully disrupts the community or makes other members feel unsafe.
https://plymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/0-hello-guild-thumb-1-scaled.jpg19202560Jacey Faulknerhttps://plymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/plylogo-condensed-pnk-300x164.pngJacey Faulkner2025-02-27 09:00:002025-02-28 20:37:09New Monthly Spin-In for the Guild!
Oh, no! Meagan is at it again! Can we tackle an easier topic, like the cure for cancer or world peace, please? While the word luster brings to mind pearls and diamonds, it can be difficult to nail down exactly what luster means in regard to fiber. This is complicated by the fact that luster is most commonly used to describe mineralogy. Most of us can gather that it has something to do with shininess and light and that some fibers are shiny and some are not. This is a good place to start our exploration!
Luster is… how light reflects off a surface Words we use to describe luster… shine, brilliance, glow, radiance, luminosity
While that sounds like a simple explanation, this is where it gets complicated. Light may reflect off the surface layer or may pass through the top layer and reflect off the layers beneath, presenting a different reflective quality.
Commercial production of rayon and wool use a full list of official descriptors applied to luster:
1. Clear 2. Bright 3. Semi-Dull 4. Semi-Matte 5. Dull 6. Matte 7. Extra Dull 8. Super Dull
Luster in fiber is often expressed as a range from shiny to dull, with the most shiny and most dull fibers easily identified near the ends of the spectrum and all other fibers somewhere in the middle. Lincoln and Teeswater might be at one end while Southdown is at the other. However this doesn’t take into effect how the light is reflected. How would silk compare to Teeswater? Not all shiny is equal. For today, let’s stick to wool.
Luster in wool
The microscopic structure of wool is one of the primary factors in determining the luster of the fiber. For example, high-luster wools like Coopworth, Teeswater, and Wensleydale are fundamentally different from low-luster wools like Merino, Cormo, or Southdown. Beside crimp structure, the main difference between these wools is the size of the scales that make up the surface of the fiber. High-luster wools have larger scales which cover more surface area. When light hits these larger scales, more light is reflected in one direction, creating more shine. Low-luster wools have smaller scales. This causes the light to diffuse in different directions, so less light will be directed toward the eye.
I mentioned crimp. Crimp can also impact how lustrous a fiber appears. A higher crimp wool redirects light in many more directions than a low crimp wool, resulting in a more matte appearance.
What suppresses luster? How it is spun!
It is important to understand how luster changes when spun. In the most basic sense, worsted spinning makes use of a short forward draw and a combed fiber preparation to create a smooth, dense yarn. Woolen spinning makes use of a long draw and a carded fiber preparation, usually rolags, to create a light, fuzzy, warm yarn.
A worsted yarn will always be more lustrous than a woolen yarn of the same type of fiber. In a worsted yarn, we smooth down the fibers, helping them to align more parallel to each other. When the fibers are aligned, light tends to reflect in the same direction, making the fiber appear more lustrous. More light reaches our eyes. On the other hand, a woolen yarn has fibers crossing and going in all different directions. The different angles and bends of the individual fibers redirect light in all different directions, resulting in a duller appearance.
In addition to woolen and worsted techniques, the amount of twist you add can impact luster as well! The more twist added, the less luster. Why? The more bumps there are, the more light is diffused in different directions.
Try this!
Luster is impacted by how we spin. If we take a fairly lustrous fiber, how will the luster present in the finished yarn if we spin it with a worsted method vs a woolen method?
You will need:
A sample of lustrous wool, like Teeswater, Wensleydale, or Cotswold
A spindle or spinning wheel
Spin a sample of yarn using a woolen long draw.
Spin a second sample of yarn using a short forward draw.
Compare the two samples.
Which one appears more lustrous?
What words would you use to describe the luster of each?
Can you think of a reason you might try to reduce the luster of a high-luster fiber by spinning it woolen?
What other tricks could you try to increase or decrease the luster of your samples?
Challenge!
Take the same fiber and wet spin it. How does this sample reflect light when compared to the first two?
Tell us in the comments!
https://plymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/PXL_20240629_222533707.jpg9191221Meagan Condonhttps://plymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/plylogo-condensed-pnk-300x164.pngMeagan Condon2025-02-25 09:00:002025-02-22 11:53:15What is luster?
No matter when I go to bed, I wake between 4:30–5:00 a.m. Months ago, I gave up fighting this and decided these predawn hours were for me. My husband often stays up late and has admitted that he relishes these solitary midnight hours because everyone else is asleep; nobody is going to make any demands on him. He can do what he likes – work until the wee hours, read old comics, watch shows I have no interest in. I understand, because for me the predawn hours are like this. And what do I do in these hours where nobody makes any demands? I create. Sometimes I knit. Sometimes I write. But mostly, I spin.
I always open the west curtains covering the patio doors first, to let in the darkness. My spinning wheel lives in front of this floor to ceiling window, and when I am seated on the ottoman I place in front of the wheel, at first all I can see is my own reflection. Some mornings I put on a fiber arts podcast or an audiobook. Other mornings I choose to let my thoughts drift where they will. I pull out the wool of the moment, sometimes something sheep colored, sometimes dyed in the hues of a sunrise or a body of water, and I begin to spin.
It is a tactile occupation. No matter how much I try to learn about the technical aspects of spinning, in the darkness at 4:30 a.m. spinning is simply me holding the woolly animal of dawn in my hands as my feet treadle in rhythm to my breaths, and I draft and let in the twist and then let the newly made yarn wind onto the bobbin, and none of it is thought, but feeling, an occupation of instinct. Although I only started spinning a year ago, my body believes it has been longer. My body believes I have been spinning since the predawn of agriculture, my hands setting a spindle twisting against my thigh over and over again as I draft the fiber in my hands. Don’t reason with the body, ever.
There are thoughts as I spin, sometimes a tight focus on a book being read over my phone’s speaker. Sometimes simply my thoughts, going where they will. I am bipolar, having been diagnosed so for nearly three decades, and I have complex-PTSD, having been diagnosed so for less than a year. I have thoughts, hard thoughts, and though I try not to drown in them, I’ve found that if I let them drift through me while I spin in the dawn, they do not overwhelm me. My feet are treadling, my left hand holds the roving, my right hand lets in the twist. I am rooted and no memory can completely overtake me.
I began knitting the year I turned 49, and a large reason was because I read knitting has a similar effect on those with PTSD as EMDR therapy. Eye Movement and Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy is a mental health technique that involves moving the eyes in a certain way under the direction of a mental health practitioner while recalling a traumatic memory. Its aim is to help a person process the trauma so that it becomes a thing that happened in the past and not a thing that still overtakes them in horrible flashbacks. I do not understand how or why it works, but it seems to have something to do with using different parts of the brain and with crossing the midline of the body.
A couple months after I picked up knitting, I began to spin as well. I have not read it anywhere, but surely spinning, with how it uses the whole body, both sides of it, the feet in rhythm, the hands each with their separate task, surely spinning is the same as knitting when it comes to processing trauma. It allows me to have these memories without being overwhelmed. They come and then leave, and through it all, I am okay, still rooted to my wheel and my wool, not floating through recollections in a way that allows them to traumatize me anew.
My window faces west, so I don’t see the sun rising over the Sandia mountains. Instead, I see the black sky gradually become alight. First just a hint of something not black. Then a rosy dawn. When I see the pink sky outside instead of my own reflection, I cease spinning. I have spun in the day. It is time to rise from the wheel to step into the bustle of making breakfasts, packing my son’s lunch, being a part of a family and community that does make demands on my time. I do so joyfully, fortified by my predawn creativity, by learning to let memories be memories and not things that overtake. I have not been a spinner for long, but already I cannot imagine a life without its grounding presence.
Born and raised in Wisconsin, Christina Socorro Yovovich has lived in New Mexico since 1998. Her nonfiction has appeared in The Hunger, Cagibi, MUTHA Magazine, the Atticus Review, and elsewhere. She is currently working on and seeking representation for a fiber arts memoir about wool, mothering, and mental health. She can be found at https://christinasocorroyovovich.com/
https://plymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/b0fbb4dd-60f7-42af-98fb-5d210fac13f8.jpg8441266Guest Bloggerhttps://plymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/plylogo-condensed-pnk-300x164.pngGuest Blogger2025-02-20 09:00:002025-02-17 18:10:40The Woolly Animal of Dawn
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