Spinning for Lace Video Download

Do you long to spin cobweb-fine threads that are both lively and durable? Margaret Stove is the expert. Her methods might seem counterintuitive, but they work! Beginning with a fine, crimpy fiber such as Merino wool, Margaret sorts, washes, spins, plies, and finishes wool and blended yarns for lace knitting that has won international acclaim.

A great advocate of the fine Merinos of her native New Zealand, Margaret is also fearless in creating plied blends using silk, angora, quiviut, and more. In this video, you'll learn how to:

• Handle a fine fleece without felting it
• Wash by the lock with shocking vigor and efficiency
• Adjust your wheel tension for exquisite delicacy
• Ply a balanced yarn, or tweak your hand positions for plying different fibers together
• Evaluate your results as you go
• And so much more . . . .

This video begins at the beginning and goes from there: choosing and sorting a fleece, separating spinnable staples, dissolving the grease, managing the staple to avoid felting and maximize durability and "bounce." Using high magnifications of the fibers and spun yarns, Margaret explains just how it all works. Yet supporting her great technical expertise is a sense of the pure joy of creating exquisite yarns.