Box of books

 I picked up my little box of books Tuesday. These are review copies of Spinning with a Drop Spindle. I am sending them out to spinning and weaving stores to see if they would like to buy some. I have a long way to go before I have notified the fiber world that it’s back in print.

I remember this process from years ago. There was no internet back then. We went to the library and looked through telephone yellow pages and picked out stores with names that sounded promising. It is much easier today because I can search online.

I ran across an old friend at Halcyon Yarn in Bath, Maine. She is still in business 40 years later. I called her and she remembered selling the booklet years ago. I’m sending her a copy today and I hope she will write a review “blurb” for the back cover. Another friend, Susan Druding, was a pioneer retailer with her store Straw into Gold in Berkeley. Susan was one of our very first customers and sold thousands of copies of Spinning with a Drop Spindle. She now owns Crystal Palace Yarns and wholesales yarns, not weaving and spinning tools. Susan said she will write a comment for the back cover.

There is a big Conference of Northern California Handweavers at the Oakland Convention Center from May 18 through the 20^th.  I think it is way too late for me to sign up as a vendor, but maybe a fiber arts distributor will have my spinning booklet in stock by then. (I am prepared to order a big, fast print run if there is interest.)

And I have them for sale on my other website: Thresh Publications. Wish me luck.

Fiber fondling

I’ve been working on a reprint edition of my old spinning booklet, Spinning with a Drop Spindle. It will be the 40th anniversary of its original publication in 1972. I can hardly believe it has been such a long time. I dug out some old spinning projects. My grandson, Victor, took some photos for me. I think they look better today in his photos than they do in real life. The bottom photo is one of mine from an old dyeing book.

I also found an old manuscript called “The Knitters’ Weaving Book.” After I’ve re-published the spinning booklet, I’ll see what I can do with it. Years ago, when I submitted it to a publisher I was told there was no interest in such a limited subject. However, there has been a resurgence of knitting and yarn spinning.