Out For A Spin

Toni Neil of The Fold in Marengo poses among some of the many items for sale at the store. (Photo by John Konstantaras)

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When you ask someone about spinning, you will likely get a variety of answers. 

Someone might talk about their great spinning class at the gym. A child will tell you about “Sleeping Beauty” and how Briar Rose pricked her finger on a spinning wheel and fell into a deep sleep for many years. And a lover of the art of spinning will describe how relaxing and satisfying it is to spin wool into a wonderful yarn to make whatever your heart desires. 

“(Spinning) is a very relaxing thing to do,” says Toni Neil, owner of The Fold, a spinning, knitting and dyeing company in Marengo. “You just sit and spin. There are rhythms to it that make it very pleasing to our bodies and minds.”

Spinning is an ancient art dating back thousands of years. Crafters spun animal fibers into yarn by hand before the Middle Ages. Not until the Middle Ages did the invention of the spinning wheel make greater production possible. It has evolved into a craft all ages can enjoy. Often popular with older people, it has caught on with younger people as well. 

“When you’re young, you’re busy with your kids,” Neil says. “When you get older, you have a little bit more spare time. We’ve got an awful lot of people who are young now. They are very interested in the green end of things.”

Neil’s love for spinning began more than 30 years ago. When she was first married, she loved horses, and she and her husband bought a farm in McHenry County. They ended up with sheep and goats. Neil had wool from her sheep and didn’t want to waste it, so she learned how to spin. 

“A long time ago, when we were first married, I was horse crazy and always wanted horses,” she says. “I liked other animals, so we wound up getting sheep. I had the wool, so I didn’t want to just throw it out. Through McHenry County College, I had an extension course where they taught us (spinning). A lady who had a spinning studio in Libertyville commuted out, and she taught us how to spin. That’s how it all got started.”

Neil opened The Fold in 1993. The company focuses on fibers, but it also sells cards, combs, yarns, knitting patterns, knitting needles and other related items. Classes are offered on dyeing, spinning and knitting. One of the bigger current trends in spinning is using different fibers. Wool is still a staple, but people can use other animal fibers, as well as plant fibers. 

“You can use any kind of animal fibers,” Neil says. “There are a lot of plant fibers like cotton. Now they are using corn and pulling out all the proteins from the corn and making it into a rayon. They are doing the same thing with milk. They have started using the leftovers from tofu, which is made from soybean. So those are spinnable things as well.”

People like to knit a wide variety of things, including baby clothes and sweaters. The Fold offers classes monthly on knitting, dyeing and spinning. One class offered in March is Your Personal Footprint, where participants can create their own socks. 

“(In that class) I take a simple sock pattern that I made up myself,” Neil says. “Socks are sort of architectural-shaped garments because of the fact that our foot grows at a 90-degree angle to our leg. If you are going to make a garment that is going to fit, it also has got to turn 90 degrees, which is odd. I’ve incorporated all my favorite parts of socks into this particular pattern.”

The Fold is at 3316 Millstream Road in Marengo. For more information, call 815-568-5730 or go to
www.thefoldatmc.net.