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The Intentional Spinner by Judith MacKenzie McCuin

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 Attention spinners! If you are interested in exploring the infinite possibilities of making your own yarns, veteran spinner and teacher Judith MacKenzie McCuin offers insight, understanding, and invaluable information about your craft in The Intentional Spinner.The Intentional Spinner is a compendium of spinning wisdom, with a fun blend of technical knowledge, history, tips, and gently opinionated narrative. Yarn making is approached in three fundamental areas.

  • Understanding Fibers: Compare the rich historic traditions of plant and animal fibers with the fascinating scientific advances in synthesizing fibers.
  • Managing Yarn Structure: step-by-step instructions and photographs demonstrate the range of possibilities in yarn, from sturdy plied yarns to playful novelty yarns.
  • Practical Uses: learn how to make yarns that precisely match your needs with decision making and planning to create the exact project you want from the beginning.

The Intentional Spinner also includes four projects that demonstrate how handspun can be used in weaving and knitting. The projects explain how to choose material, techniques, and finish the processes.

Blending technical expertise and fascinating lore, The Intentional Spinner is a must-read for every spinner.

Who wants this book? I’ve got one copy to give away, leave a comment telling me why you wanted to start spinning!

 

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Easter Basket Cross Stitch Patterns

I feel like every year for every holiday I’m looking for different ways to share patterns on a theme, and I’m a little surprised I’ve never done a post of Easter basket cross stitch patterns (that I could find anyway) so let’s get into it.

These cute bunnies in a basket from SVStitch aren’t super Easter in their look, so you could display this one through the spring and beyond. In fact it looks like the bunnies have apples so this could even be a fall project. It measures 97 by 69 stitches and uses 18 or 19 colors and blends. When worked on 16 count fabric it measures 5.91 by 3.94 inches, or 15.40 by 10.95 cm.

For a design that’s much more obviously spring, there’s this basket of flowers with eggs on the side. Designed by Galart Designs, this project measures 188 by 182 stitches and uses a staggering 75 colors, but at least it’s all whole stitches? Worked on 14 count fabric this design would be 13.3 by 12.9 inches, or 34 by 33 cm.

This gorgeous watercolor eggs and flowers design from Laser Arts Designs would be another lovely choice that will keep you busy for a while. The design is 181 by 183 stitches, and their designs use 20 to 25 colors at most. (This one looks like it’s on the high end.) It comes out to 12.9 by 13.1 inches or almost 33 cm square on 14 count fabric.

Design for Cross Stitch has an Easter basket cross stitch pattern that’s a little less realistic but still plenty cute. And you could change the colors on the eggs if you like to suit your decor. As shown this one uses 14 colors and measures 156 by 144 stitches, which comes out to 11.14 by 10.29 inches (or 28.3 by 26 cm) on 14 count fabric. The patternhttps://tidd.ly/4b4IUdx lists other sizes if you want to make it smaller.

I also like this simple (by comparison) and smaller design from Helen’s Crossing. at 75 by 75 stitches, or 5.5 inches/almost 14 cm square on 14 count fabric, this one is downright small compared to the others. But it still uses 24 colors so it’s a nice challenge on a smaller scale.