Some short book reviews
Teach Yourself Visually Handspinning by Judith MacKenzie McCuin: Her name is a hard one to miss if you read knit/spin blogs. The book lives up to her stellar reputation with very clear pictures, explanations, and more information than you can shake a stick at. I want to buy this book, if only for the section on how to prep different fibers and how to set the twist and care for finished yarns using different fibers. I’d recommend this to anyone who is learning to spin or teaches spinning. I’ve seen a few of these “Teach Yourself Visually” books, but this is the only one I’ve looked at and I was very impressed - if they’re all this good they’re definitely worth looking into.
Spinning in the Old Way: How (and Why) To Make Your Own Yarn With A High-Whorl Handspindle by Priscilla A. Gibson-Roberts: I admit that I didn’t read every word in this book. It has some interesting tidbits of information.. I was thinking about what my issue with this book is, and I think it’s that it doesn’t have a focus. It has a bit about high whorl history, a bit about how the author found high whorl spindles, and a bit about how to spin with high whorl spindles which I didn’t find very useful at all - either it was general spinning knowledge no matter your tools, or I couldn’t quite duplicate what she was describing. Get it from library if you’re interested in high whorl spindles, but as a general spinning reference it’s not worth it.
I also ended up with Alden Amos’s Spinning Wheel Primer, although I thought I clicked on his handspinning book, but oh well. This is the perfect book if you have an old wheel you want to fix, or are thinking about building a wheel yourself. It is chock-full of very precise details.
I have read (and re-read) so many books lately, if there are any you want to hear about let me know.
Originally published at har og ra fee. You can comment here or there.