Joan Ruane

Spinning off the Point

Joan has been teaching plant fiber spinning for many years. Spinning off the point is the easiest way to learn how to spin and control cotton fiber. When spinning off the point you have full control of when to let the spun thread go onto the storage quill. Any short staple fiber can be spun off a quill. Start with an inexpensive support spindle and once you have the drafting technique under control you can move to any type of quill spinning. Give spinning off the point a go and with a little practice you will relax and feel the thrill of drafting out the fiber and watching the twist turn your fiber into a well spun thread.

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Beginning Cotton Spinning on a Wheel

Cotton has been handspun for centuries, mostly by spindles and charkha wheels until sometime in the 17th century when the foot pedal spinning wheel was developed. This book is designed as an instructional book for those wanting to learn how to spin cotton on the foot pedal spinning wheel. At the same time, it gives you a brief history of cotton and how to prepare it for spinning, as well as plying their singles. This book is perfect for anyone with a bobbin/flyer mechanism wheel at all levels.

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Hand Spinning Cotton

Harry and Olive Linder were the first fiber artists to re-introduce hand spinning cotton to the modern fiber arts world. With this book, they poured out their love of teaching and spinning cotton. It includes the preparation for spinning, the tools needed to spin cotton, as well as spinning techniques and finishing. The original book includes natural dyeing of cellulose fiber and suggested uses for handspun cotton yarns. Since the first publication of this book, many changes in equipment and methods of spinning cotton have been made, and thus the new changes are noted in this edition of Hand Spinning Cotton.

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Hemp Spinning

After reading The Emperor Wears No Clothes by Jack Herer in 1998, Joan fell in love with cannabis hemp. Since then, she has been researching and spinning any hemp fiber she can find. This video discusses spinning wheels and how they work, so that you can better understand how to adjust your wheel for spinning different fibers. The basic techniques of spinning hemp fiber are taught, giving several different ways to achieve your desired hemp yarn. Plying and storing hemp yarns as well as suggestions for several projects for your handspun hemp are shown in this video. Throughout the video she discusses the importance of hemp, as well as a little history of this valuable plant.

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Cotton Spinning Made Easy

Cotton Spinning Made Easy, by Joan Ruane, a renowned cotton spinning teacher, is a classic film that will never grow old. This video takes you step-by-step through the process of spinning cotton on our wheel and shows you how to store and use your lovely handspun cotton yarns.

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Cotton Spinning with the Takli

In Cotton Spinning With The Takli, Joan Ruane, a renowned cotton spinner and teacher, not only teaches you how to use the little metal takli support spindle, but she includes instruction on the Indian book charkha. “Take to spinning to find peace of mind. The music of the wheel will be as balm to our soul. I believe that the yarn we spin is capable of mending the broken warp and woof of our life. The charkha is the symbol for nonviolence on which all life, if it is to be real life, must be based.” –– Mahatma Gandhi.

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