Spinning Books

The Ashford Book of Carding - $35.00
Jo Reeve. Tutorials: Flick carding; Hand carding; Drum carding; Fleece to sliver; Colour Blending; Fibre blending. Projects: Self-striping socks; Merino mittens; Triangular shawl; Merino and silk scarf. What more needs to be said? 92pp. Pb.

The Ashford Book of Handspinning - $34.00
Jo Reeve. Learn to hand spin with fibre artist Jo Reeve. Jo, the author of the very popular Ashford Book of Carding, has twenty-seven years of spinning experience and will show you how to spin from the beginning through to advanced techniques. Learn how to create unique yarns using different techniques and fibres and make five easy projects using your handspun yarn. Step by step instructions and gorgeous colour photographs will take you on a new journey of creativity. 116pp. Pb.

Ashford Book of Learn To Spin - $35.00
Anne Field. With easy-to-follow, step-by-step directions, this reference guides the novice spinner through the essentials of getting started. The process is explained in detail, beginning with preparation of fleeces before demonstrating techniques such as worsted and woollen spinning methods, plying, adjusting tension, treadling, skeining, drafting, and blending. Helpful advice regarding spinning wheels and how they work is featured, and inspiring projects round out each chapter, clearly illustrating the techniques discussed in that particular section. Reviewing a wide range of fibers from wool, alpaca, and silk to mohair, cotton, and angora, this crafty how-to allows for abundant practice with knitting, crocheting, and weaving. 206pp. Pb.

The Big Book of Flax - $89.00
Christian & Johannes Zinzendorf. Learn the fascinating story of the flax to linen process in history, legend, song, crafts, lesson plans, and recipes. With 414 images, this comprehensive book dates back thousands of years, from how flax was cultivated in the Middle East and Europe, its beginnings in America, to its use in the twenty-first century. Guidelines for planting, harvesting, breaking, spinning, weaving, and other processes provided. If you're a collector, flax tools, spinning wheels, and flax-made antique fabrics and linen make great collectibles. Make a rope bed, a linseed oil lamp, and even bake buttermilk biscuits with flaxseed. Discover the many great uses of this plant and the role it played throughout the world. This is a great resource for history buffs, collectors, educators, and planters. 256pp. Hb.

The Complete Guide to Spinning Yarn - $32.00
Brenda Gibson. Spinning is experiencing a resurgence of interest as it moves in a contemporary direction away from its traditional past. The Complete Guide to Spinning Yarn provides a new generation of crafters with all the information they need in one accessible package, starting with tools and equipment, types of fibers, and spinning techniques to making, processing, and finishing off a skein of yarn. Included are actual recipes for making many types of yarn, ranging from boucles, to worsteds, to flecked, and chunky yarns, all shown in full-color close-up detailed photos. Instructions for a small group of projects to use the yarn you make are also included. Last but not least, learn how to go commercial, with valuable tips on realistically pricing your goods, accepting commissions, selling at craft fairs or on the internet, and more. A must-have reference and source of inspiration for new and experienced spinners alike, The Complete Guide to Spinning Yarn provides all the know-how to get started, perfect your skills, or take your spinning to the next level. 144pp. Pb.

Fleece & Fiber Source Book - $42.00
Deborah Robson & Carol Ekarius. This one-of-a-kind photographic encyclopedia features more than 200 animals and the fibers they produce. It covers almost every sheep breed in the world from the longwool breeds of the United Kingdom to the Tasmanian merino, the Navajo churro, the northern European Faroese, and dozens and dozens more. It also includes goats, camelids (such as alpacas, llamas, and vicunas), bison, horses, musk oxen, rabbits, and even dogs. Each entry includes photographs of the featured animal, its raw fleece, its cleaned fleece, and yarn spun from the fleece; and the yarn knitted and woven. You'll find everything you want to know about each animal and its fiber, including the fiber's color, density, strength, and staple length, and recommendations for processing and using it. This is the essential reference no fiber-lover can be without. Spinners (and knitters) this is the book you've been asking for: more photos and breeds than In Sheep's Clothing and more sheepy and animal goodness than The Knitter's Book of Wool. 448pp. Hb.

Get Spun: The Step-by-Step Guide to Spinning Art Yarns - $29.00
Symeon North. Pairing detailed instructions with clear, step-by-step photography, this dynamic guide of spinning techniques and demonstrations explores an array of fiber possibilities — such as wool, glitz, and sari silk — to create unique yarn for fiber art projects. Designed for the advanced beginner to the intermediate spinner, this reference covers a variety of subjects such as spinning fundamentals, techniques for wool and silk, spinning with non-traditional materials, introducing add-ins, and creating plying effects. Additionally, the comprehensive tutorial offers information on easy home dyeing and directions for using a drumcarder to blend colors and fibers. 120pp. Pb.

Hand Spun: New Spins on Traditional Techniques - $29.00
Lexi Boeger. This book contains a collection of never-before-published spinning techniques along with interesting, creative, hip projects. The essential momentum behind this book is to satisfy fans of the author's first two books in their desire for new materials to learn. As Intertwined becomes more well-known, these handspun styles are flooding the internet craft community. Hand Spun offers fresh, new, and exciting material for these spinners to move on to. Where Handspun Revolution, the author's first book, was the spark that ignited the genre of Art-yarn, and Intertwined is considered the bible of creative spinning, Handspun builds upon the now common knowledge of novelty spinning, digging deeper into the traditional underbelly of spinning, not as a means to teach traditional techniques, but rather as a way of turning very traditional forms inside out: Using time-tested techniques to deliver cutting-edge forms. This book also covers fiber-preparation processes, from scouring raw fleece to several carding techniques. 160pp. Pb.

In A Spin - $20.00
Pat Old. The author, handspun yarn designer and tutor, shares her extensive knowledge of spinning classic yarns in wool and other fibres as well as many of her more innovative preperation and spinning techniques. 112pp. Pb.

Intertwined - $27.00
Lexi Boeger. Intertwined is an inspirational handbook for yarn lovers everywhere, created in an eye-popping, showcase style and packed with sparkling, full-color photos.This book will be a delight to the enthusiastic fiber crowd that is growing by leaps and bounds. It captures all the excitement of experimental, handspun yarns, and includes recipes for handspun yarns, project ideas for knitters and crocheters, tips on how to use one-of-a-kind handspun yarns (whether you spin them or buy them at yarn boutiques), and a gallery of handmade creations. The book also features profiles, anecdotes, essays, and thoughts on fiber arts and the creative process. Contributors range from Alpaca farmers and cutting-edge spinners to well-known knitwear designers. 304pp. Pb.

Learn To Spin - $4.00
A small basic instruction manual in the art of spinning, from the makers of the famous Ashford wheels. 12pp, Pb.

Merino: Spinning, Dyeing & Working with Merino & Superfine Wools - $26.00
Margaret Stove. Merino sheep have a reputation for being difficult to spin. Fortunately the author proceeded to figure out how to spin it so that the fine wool was useable. Her techniques set the spinner on the path to successful yarns. 109pp, Hb.

The Secrets of Silk 1: From the Myths & Legends to the Middle Ages - $39.00
Priscilla Lowry. From the earliest days of prehistory silk has been highly valued. Here the secrests are slowly revealed. Stories of mayham and espionage, love and valour, corruption and beauty, the Silk Road, Marco Polo, and the eventual arrival of silk in Europe. The story of silk includes spinning and handling this exquisite fibre. 168pp. Pb.

The Secrets of Silk 2: From Textiles to Fashion - $39.00
Priscilla Lowry. This second book continues the story of silk in the West, and includes Byzantium, silk in Europe, the influence of the Huguenots, gold, dyes, knitting, lace, buttons and bows, silk in the home, and fashion. The practical section deals with knitting with silk. 198pp. Pb.

Spin Control - $29.00
Amy King. Spin Control teaches spinners to control their handspun and make the yarns of their dreams. From soft, bulky singles to durable cabled yarns with terrific stitch definition; and from tweedy yarns with rich texture and color to serviceable 3-ply that holds up to heavy use, the sky is the limit with this thorough guide. 128pp. Pb.

Spin to Knit - $30.00
Shannon Okey. The essential guide for knitters wanting to learn to make their own yarn! Urban spinner Shannon Okey teaches the basic tools you need to get started spinning: whether you should begin with a drop spindle or a wheel, and how to control singles, twist, and ply. S also discusses incorporating color into spinning, from "dishwater dyeing," to incorporating beads, thread, or other media into yarns for visual interest. Inventive patterns include a thrift-store garment that is jazzed-up with the addition of a beautiful handspun trim, a boatneck pullover that combines both mill- and hand-spun yarns, a retro pom-pom scarf, a traditional lace shawl, and much more. 128pp Pb.

Spinning For Softness and Speed - $25.00
Paula Simmons. Paula is well known professional handspinner, author and shepherd. This classic book of hers has now been reprinted and is the result of a lifetime of spinning, and teaching others to spin. On her teaching journeys, she discovered that many people encountered the same problems, and has addressed them beautifully in this quintessential volume on spinning. Packed with photographs, helpful hints and tips it has helped thousands of spinners improve on the softness and speed of their work. 91pp. Pb.

Spinning Wool: Beyond the Basics (Revised Edition)- $37.00
Anne Field. Building on the basics presented in the author’s previous book, Ashford Book of Spinning, this handbook provides more advanced spinners with information extending beyond the act of spinning for greater mastery of the craft. Topics such as: how to spin an adequate yarn and extend the range of yarns produced; what happens during the spinning process; and the relationship between the raw materials and the final output. This new edition features up-to-date information about spinning wheels, new color photos, and seven new projects. Organized in four sections - wool, spinning wheels, yarn design, and projects - the text provides examples of a global range of fleece types, a detailed examination of the functions of bobbin and flyer wheels, a step-by-step analysis of spinning yarns of a predetermined size and twist count best suited to the properties of the fleece, and informative explanations of different spinning materials. The nine woven and knitted projects, including a fleece rug, skirt fabric, mittens, and a triangular shawl, are particularly suitable for handspun yarn. 160pp. Pb.

Start Spinning- $29.00
Maggie Casey. Everything you need to know to make great yarn. You can buy yarn anywhere, but spinners know that the best yarn is the kind you make for yourself. Start Spinning takes you from loose fiber to yarn made on a spindle and spinning wheel, with friendly advice and a sure hand at every step. Developed over two decades of teaching beginners, Maggie Casey's techniques and tidbits will have you creating delightful yarns to knit, weave, crochet and admire. Pb.

Textile Journeys: Notes From the Handweavers, Spinners & Dyers Guild of Tasmania - $39.00
HWS&D Guild TAS. Join the authors on a journey to ... create heirlooms, make everyday wear, absorb the advice of experienced craftspeople, learn age-old skills and new techniques. 166pp. Sb.

The Woolgatherers Handspun Pattern Book - $12.00
Albury Wodonga Hadweavers and Spinners Guild. A collection of favourite handspun patterns gathered together during the first ten yearsof the Albury/Wodonga Handweavers and Spinners Guild, 1970 - 1980. 64pp. Pb.

Flick Carder - $18.00
Also know as a flicker brush, this small hand carder is all that is needed for the simple opening of locks in a fleece for immediate spinning.

Drum Carder Packer Brush - $50.00
Adjustable packer brush to smooth, control and pack more fibres onto the large drum. Card mohair, angora, alpaca and other fine low crimp fibres. Fits Ashford drum carders. An exceptionally useful accessory, it adds immeasurably to the easy of drum carding.

Drum Carder Cleaning Brush - $20.00