Want to learn how to spin the cool, funky art yarns found in knitting boutiques (at boutique prices) or on handspun websites in limited-edition amounts? Popular spinner Symeon North demonstrates how to spin unique and creative art yarns, accompanied by clear step-by-step photography that explains each technique in Get Spun.

Taking the craft beyond intriguing but often nonfunctional yarns that are often labeled "art yarns," Get Spun teaches the reader to create useful yarns with structure and balance. By combining this range of skills with an unlimited range of fiber possibilities,knitters and fiber artisans can not only create the yarn of their dreams, they can re-create it and use it for their fiber-art projects.

Intended for the advanced beginner to intermediate spinner, this book explores the spinning fundamentals, techniques for spinning wool and silk, spinning with nontraditional materials (fabric, silk cocoons), introducing add-ins (beads, locks, etc.), and creating exciting plying effects. Nearly all of the colorways featured in Symeon's yarns are created by hand-dyeing or blending. In addition to the spinning techniques, Symeon will share techniques for easy home dyeing and using a drumcarder to blend colors and fibers.

Symeon North is an unconventional domestic and mother of two, commonly known as Pippi Knee-socks. Symeon is a graduate of Penn State University and Massachusetts College of Art. Before settling in Vermont, she traveled around the country, supporting herself by selling handmade clothes and fabric accessories. After having children, Symeon relearned the quiet and portable craft of knitting. Handpainting yarn was quick to follow, and spinning seemed like the logical next step. Fibers quickly overtook her mind and home. She began selling her yarns at pippikneesocks.com to feed her fiber habit in June 2004. She began writing articles for Knittyspin in 2006 and was featured in Spin to Knit (Interweave, 2006).