Who doesn’t love the Spin Off magazine covers? They always draw me in and beg for a few uninterrupted hours with a good cup of coffee…yesterday, while the drizzle came down here on the coast of Maine, I fully indulged in that pleasure by reading the magazine from cover to cover.
It was great to see that four of the articles were directly related to classes offered this Fall at Fiber College.
Robin Russo did an article on CVM’s…California Varigated Mutant.
Our own Wayne & Jo Meyers from Beau Chemin Farm in Waldoboro are one of the 25 breeders in North America of this rare sheep. If Wayne’s not off making the world a safer place in September, he’ll be here at the College with a talk on rare breeds of sheep and he’ll bring a few of his favorite wooley animals.
As a matter of fact, just last week, FC faculty member Mary Jane Mucklestone and I drove down to see the Meyers new CVM babies.
We can tell you from personal observations that if you’re looking for a rare breed fleece or roving, now’s the time to visit or call the Meyers because the selection of this year’s clip is lovely. Ask them about their latest research and plans to revive the numbers of a wonderful Icelandic goat, capable of producing fiber, milk and meat
Mary Jane is a professional photostylist among other accomplishments and taught the (sold out) class last year on Photographing Your Work…all of these photos are hers.
Speaking of Mary Jane, knitwear designer and color coordinator extraordinaire…if you liked the hat Robin Russo’s snug CVM hat with all those lovely hues and designs but are intimidated by the thought of knitting with so many colors, Mary Jane will be teaching a class this fall in stranded colorwork knitting on Saturday from 9-1 PM. You can bring 3-3000 of your favorite colors and learn from one of the industry’s best…you want to sign up early for this class because I’ve heard rumors that Mary Jane Mucklestone will soon the the highlight of one of the national magazines coming out in the fall…after the exposure she’ll be in high demand.
Then there was the article on the pleasures of inkle weaving by Gwen Powell. This lovely, portable art has always been an intriguing way of making one-of-a-kind lanyards, belts, guitar straps and narrow ribbons. Gwen took it one step further by sewing these ribbons together to make an inkle woven handbag. If this artform catches your fancy, you’ll be happy to know that Dawn K Forde will be teaching two classes in Inkle Weaving…on Saturday Morning she’ll teach the fundamentals of Inkle weaving and on Sunday she’ll teach the more advanced technique of pick ups on an inkle loom. Dawn will lend you the loom for the duration of the class if you don’t have one or we’ll have them available for purchase while you’re here. Either way, you’ll have the opportunity to learn a technique that will stand on it’s own or lend itself to embellishing your other forms of fiber work.
If you’re like me, you always jump to the photo gallery section of the magazine first…I love to see the how many variations there can be on a project depending on how the yarn was spun. This edition of Spin Off has a photo gallery of Quants this season…the only catch, you need to know how to entrelac…sounds like a dance doesn’t it? Actually it’s a knitting technique that looks extremely complicated but is rather soothing once you get the hang of it. To get started, plan on taking Kellie McKenzie’s class scheduled for Sunday, 12:30-3:30. Kellie’s ever so patient and capable of knitting ANYTHING! If you like to expand your techniques but want to be encouraged gently…she’s your instructor!
Spinning a better world, one thread at a time,
Astrig
Fiber College of Maine 
Wasn’t that a fun day?! Wayne and Jo are the nicest people.