What I Love Wednesday: PLY Magazine

What I Love Wednesday is a new feature I'm trying out on the blog.  This is where I share with  you the tools and toys I love to use.  All the items featured on What I Love Wednesday have been purchased, used and loved by me. 

The first item I'm featuring for What I Love Wednesday should not come as a surprise if you have been following me this week.  PLY Magazine is a fantastic new magazine masterminded and published by Jacey Boggs.  Currently on its third issue, this magazine approaches spinning in a whole new way. 

Each issue of the magazine covers a discreet topic, and that approaches that topic from many different directions.  The first three issues have been focused on Firsts, Color and Woolen, respectively.

I must confess when I got the "Firsts" magazine I was less than thrilled with my purchase (subscriptions are not inexpensive, but well worth it if you can find room in your fiber budget).  I found the articles un-interesting and the design lacking. However, with the arrival of the "Color" issue in October (or so) my feelings changed.  I felt more engaged by the articles and more eager to pull out my wheel to try out some of the tricks they were teaching me.  

With the arrival of "Woolen" just after Christmas, I'm sold.  With numerous articles on how to spin Woolen yarns approach the issue from a different angle, it would be hard NOT to be able to spin woolen by the time you finished all the different articles, and exercises in the magazine.

The next few issues will be "Silk" (Spring 2014), "Twist" (Summer 2014), "Community" (Fall 2014) and "Worsted" (Winter 2014).  I'm very much looking forward to these issues and I will certainly be renewing for the year to make sure I don't miss an issue. 

If you are interested in subscribing you can do it on their website plymagazine.com, and you will start with the "Woolen" issue, however the subscriptions will be switching over next week.  If you want to get back issues, "First" is currently out of print, I know it's been mentioned on Ravelry that Jacey is planning on doing another run so keep your eyes peeled for that.  You can get your hands on Issues 2 and 3 "Color" and "Woolen" and I would strongly recommend you doing so, and soon, there are limited copies of "Color" and "Woolen" left.

All I can say is I Love PLY Magazine and if you haven't had a chance to get your hands on it yet, now is as good a time as any.

PLY Magazine made me do it

Spin (point-of-contact) Londraw, that is.

Two bobbins, on the left true woolen and on the right semi-woolen from combed top

That's right.  I spun honest to goodness long draw, and I liked it.

I am an inveterate worsted spinner, I have spun yarns that would best be described as ropes rather than yarns. I have managed a few puffy skeins over the year but for the most part my yarns are beautiful, shiny and dense.  Like crazy dense.  I really need to be knitting socks out of  some of my skeins because they would no pilling.

An example of some of my recent worsted spinning 

However, when the most recent PLY Magazine showed up I knew I had to change my ways.  With a "Woolen" theme, this issue approaches woolen spinning from a number of different ways. The first article, by Jacey Boggs (who is the brains and publisher of the magazine) has an article she calls "Lying about Longdraw" and it is her patented step-by-step method to trick worsted spinners to let go and spin long draw.

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I am still miles away from a woolen yarn that I want to write home about, but I'm feeling like this is a damn good start.

Up next, I will go back to the "Color" issue of PLY from the fall and make a good go at chain-ply which is beautifully highlighted by Jacey in that issue.  And if this woman can get me to spin long draw in the course of an evening, she can get me doing chain-ply.