I've been following the discussion on the "dumbing down" of Spin-Off. Certainly a well-balanced magazine needs a range of articles that covers different skill levels and interests. So even though I've been spinning and shepherding for many years, I don't mind basic articles on the long draw, raising sheep or making a fluffy scarf. It's part of the ambience of a spinning magazine.
I flipped through several years of Spin-Off magazines to get a feel for them. I like the theme approach in many of the recent issues. For example, the vicuna and lincoln issues each had articles about raising the animals, techniques for using the fiber, and then several finished projects. Of course if you aren't interested in the topic, having multiple articles on it might be annoying. But overall, I like the approach. I just wish the articles were longer and more detailed. I still remember that series of articles on Wild Silks back in 2000. Even though I'll probably never spin some of those exotic silks, I learned a lot. It was like reading a Smithsonian or National Geographic article. I miss those kinds of articles. What I expect from Spin-Off is one article per issue that can stand on its own as a reference on some topic (like the wild silk articles). Too many of the fiber magazines are throwaways -- they're pretty eye candy for a brief time. And although I can enjoy the eye candy, I need that big in-depth article too. And because I'm curious, it doesn't matter what the topic is. My yardstick for success is when someone asks about a topic and you can refer them to a 10 year old Spin-Off issue as the best place to start. I think the trend in recent Spin-Offs is away from these reference articles. Another thing I expect are articles that bust the myths -- that is, someone takes the time to actually run experiments to see what works and doesn't. Previous Spin-Offs have answered questions like whether you have to weight your yarn when they dry (which used to be the common wisdom), and whether sock yarns have to have multiple plies to wear well. Kathryn Alexander's work on knitting with Z and S singles yarns falls into this category. And while recent Spin-Offs have lots of anecdoctal articles, there are very few study and experiment articles. If this doesn't make sense, I'll give an example. An interesting question just asked on this list was whether you have to presoak fibers before dyeing (which is the common wisdom). Someone said it works for them (anecdotal). It would be a great article if someone runs the experiment using the same fiber both presoaking and not. Does it work for all fibers? For all dyes? Does the fiber have to be washed first for it to work? Are the results consistent? Rita Buchanan used to write articles that studied this sort of thing. I miss them. I still subscribe to Spin-Off but don't enjoy it as much as I used to. I really don't think it's because I've grown beyond the scope of the magazine. I think there's been a decision to move away from the longer articles. And perhaps there just isn't someone around like Rita who will experiment and write up the results. Very sad. Beth To stop mail temporarily mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: set nomail To restore send: set mail
