The most-awesome Dianne of CraftLit/Knitty-2010-trip-fame pinged me with this early this morning and it was so lovely, I just had to share. This is a short film of Renate Hiller talking about the importance of handwork (spinning, knitting, etc.) in the modern world. Renate is the co-director of the Fiber Craft Studio at the Threefold Educational Center in Chestnut Ridge, NY. The film was uploaded in...

The Spinner’s Book of Yarn Designs: Techniques for Creating 80 Yarns  is the book I wish I’d had when I started spinning. Let me say right up front it’s not specifically a beginners book, per se, but it IS inspirational—and I think that’s awfully important when you first start out. If you paired this with a true “how to” book I think any new spinner would have plenty to work with. Sarah Anderson did an...

I admit I haven’t been very good at posting. Some of that is because my phone app that lets me post on the fly died, but the other part is that we’ve been running like maniacs at Jennie the Potter’s booth. However, right before sitting and having a lovely chat with a CraftLit listener and her husband (from Ontario, CA–O…Canada…) I had this for lunch. Baaaaa… Lunch! I can’t say that I’ve been...

MD Merch. This is the line on Friday. Were we here on Saturday you would see a sea of people who stretch from one edge of the picture to the other, and off to my left about a quarter of a mile. Glad to be here on Friday.

Ah! The new year! Last year I spent the First doing little more than spinning silk. This year I did that on the 31st. Heaven. Finished off a pile of Polworth from the last SOAR I went to. Light worsted. I have very little faith that I’ll be able to spin regularly this year either, but perhaps now that the wedding knitting is done… I have learned that ANY fiber prep has to happen during the cooler months. I just can’t seem to...

…six shots of some kind of steroid infused into your neck? Yeah, until an hour ago, me neither. And yet, now I have. Here’s how it feels: Aieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Here’s how they tell me it will feel tomorrow: Aaaaaah… Knitting hurts. Turning my head hurts. Supporting my head hurts. Typing in a semi-prone position…oddly this doesn’t hurt. Could be the heating pad I’m lying on… So...