Spin-Off Gets Facelift as it Turns 30

Spin-Off magazine, published by Aspire Media’s Interweave Press, celebrates 30 years of publishing this year with a new look and a new tagline—“It’s About Making Yarn by Hand.” The redesign debuts with the Fall 2007 Special Anniversary Issue, on newsstands and in craft shops nationwide today, retail $7.99.

The new look has a clean and contemporary design, and the shift in content will help make Spin-Off more user-friendly, more accessible to beginners, more inviting to knitters and crocheters, and more satisfying to the publication’s longtime audience.

“These changes to Spin-Off couldn’t come at a better time,” says Editor Amy Clarke Moore. “Spinning is a time-honored craft whose time is coming around again. Knitters and crocheters are taking up spinning at an astounding rate.”

The National NeedleArts Association 2007 consumer survey reports that 29 percent of all knitters and 22 percent of all crocheters would like to try handspinning. The report also indicates that handspinning is the most attractive new craft to knitters and crocheters, running far ahead of quilting and sewing, among others. Furthermore, it’s attracting a younger crowd. Of the respondents to the TNNA consumer survey who ranked spinning as their favorite, 31 percent were under 40 years of age.

“For today’s spinners, it’s all about making great yarn,” says Moore. “The new spinner is passionate, adventurous, and prosperous enough to invest in good equipment and hoard fiber by the bushel. She’s young, or young in spirit, and she’s hooked on all fibers—from cashmere and silk to bamboo, cotton, linen, and good old-fashioned wool.”

The new Spin-Off will appeal to this emerging spinner, while the magazine’s longtime readers will continue to find their favorite articles on techniques and unique projects for making and using handspun yarn. Several new features debut with the Fall 2007 issue:

* Armchair Traveler (page 28): This recurring travel feature profiles wonderful excursions for fiber-philes; the fall issue features travel ideas in Interweave’s backyard: Colorado's Front Range, an area rich with fiber producers, processors, museums, and shops.

* Spinning Tips (page 37): A new how-to section in each issue leads off by tackling the topic of Tying a 2-Yard Skein.

* Spun 2 Ways (page 64): This new feature will showcase one pattern created with two handspun yarns.

Each issue also will feature conversations between veteran spinners and exciting new movers and shakers, such as the Fall 2007’s Q&A between Paula Simmons Green, co-owner and operator of Patrick Green Carders and Eunny Jang, the new editor of Interweave Knits who is taking up spinning.

These changes to Spin-Off coincide with three special events at Interweave during the month of October: Spin-Off’s 30th Anniversary celebrations, National Spinning and Weaving Week (October 1–7, 2007), and the 25th Anniversary of the Spin-Off Autumn Retreat (SOAR, October 7–14) in Bellaire, Michigan.

”We’re having a Spin-tober here at Interweave. The entire month of October is an exciting time for the spinning community,” says Moore.

Interweave Press
201 E. Fourth Street
Loveland, CO 80537
Jaime Guthals, Publicist
(502) 243-6834
JaimeG@interweave.com

Published four times a year, Spin-Off features articles about the thriving crafts of spinning and dyeing yarns. From spinning tips for beginners to in-depth articles that satisfy the longtime spinner, readers will be inspired by the work of dedicated technicians and gifted amateurs. Every issue offers the newest information on fibers, tools, books, and wool events, and the coolest knitting, crochet, and other fiber arts projects you can make with handspun. For more information visit: www.spinoffmagazine.com

This release was published on openPR.