Sunday, February 6, 2011

Let There Be Yarn!

Despite the fact that I have been actively using yarn for nearly a decade, I still use the cheapest yarn I can find in the local chain craft store.  A few years ago I decided I would raise alpacas for fiber and offspring sales.  But that is still in the future.  So I have taken on the mission to find out everything I can about turning that fiber I will be shearing off my future alpacas (and since then I have added fiber goats and sheep to my dreams). 

I went to the library and checked out three books on handspinning and dying fiber.  I just finished the first book this morning.  It is called  by Judith MacKenzie McCuin.  Now, I haven't much experience actually using this book so at the moment this in purely a "reader's review". 

I found Teach Yourself Visually Handspinning a very excellent and informative book.  There were great pictures detailing each section.  It not only covered spinning on a wheel or drop spindle, but also covered a little on dying and spinning exotic fibers.  There was also a section on how to cable, ply and create different artistic effects while spinning yarn.  I would recommend this book to anyone interested in learning to handspin. I plan to use this book when I actually attempt to teach myself to spin my own yarn. 

Now I know what questions to ask the people who are in the handspinning competition at County Fair!   Until next time!  God Bless!

1 comment:

  1. You might enjoy Farmama's blog http://farmama.typepad.com/farmama/2011/02/wool-processing-picking-carding.html
    She is an avid spinner and just bought a beautiful spinning wheel.

    Have a great day!

    Petra Christensen
    Parelli 2Star Junior Instructor
    Parelli Central

    ReplyDelete