Start Spinning: Everything You Need to Know to Make Great Yarn
by Maggie Casey
from Interweave Press
For knitters, crocheters, and weavers ready to make their own yarn, this handy guide provides detailed instructions for spinning both on a spindle and a wheel, and offers a special section devoted to troubleshooting and wheel maintenance that keeps projects on track. It offers a comprehensive look at the various available fiber options, choosing and preparing each type of fiber for use, and crafting these materials into ready-to-work pieces. A final chapter on the various uses of spun yarn focuses on project planning, with definitions and context for measuring wraps per inch, determining yards for specific projects, and choosing a yarn size.
The Handweaver's Pattern Directory: Over 600 Weaves for 4-shaft Looms
by Anne Dixon
from Interweave Press
A Fine Fleece: Knitting with Handspun Yarns
by Lisa Lloyd
from Potter Craft
The pleasure of knitting can be that much greater when you know you’re using the perfect yarn. In A Fine Fleece, designer, knitter, and spinner Lisa Lloyd explores the different qualities of handspun yarn and presents projects that show them to their best advantage. There is valuable information here for every knitter, even if you’ve never considered learning to spin (though you may find inspiration in this book to do just that).
While educating you on the differences in fibers (like Alpaca, Merino, Cormo, Rambouillet, and Suffolk) and the characteristics you can achieve in a handspun yarn by combining fibers according to certain recipes, Lisa Lloyd also shares the three important concepts that enlighten her designs: the use of contrasting color and fiber; scale and perspective (chunky yarns with chunky cable stitches versus chunky yarns with delicate ones); and the creation of “poetic” sweaters that try to capture an emotion.
Each of the 26 projects in A Fine Fleece shows the finished project knitted in both a handspun yarn and a commercial yarn so that you can train your eye to understand how fiber and texture can truly transform a piece.
Learning to Weave, Revised Edition
by Deborah Chandler
from Interweave Press
Since it's first printing a decade ago, Learning to Weave has become the standard text book for both teachers and self-taught weavers. All you need to know is here including warping, reading and designing drafts, and the basics of weave structures. Warping back to front is included as well as updated resource lists.
Beginner's Guide to Braiding: The craft of Kumihimo (Beginner's Guide to Series)
by Jacqui Carey
from Search Press
Folk Shawls (Folk Knitting series)
by Cheryl Oberle
from Interweave Press
The Complete Book of Decorative Knots
by Geoffrey Budworth
from The Lyons Press
The Big Book of Weaving: Handweaving in the Swedish Tradition: Techniques, Patterns, Designs and Materials
by Laila Lundell
from Trafalgar Square Books
The fascinating subject of handweaving is fully explored in this reference, which covers basic subjects such as warping a loom and making bobbins of weft, as well as more elaborate, highly decorative projects. Patterns are arranged by varying levels of difficulty and design so beginners and experienced weavers alike will discover new insights and concepts. Among the 40 step-by-step projects included in this volume are designs for baby blankets, shawls, table cloths, and linen hand towels.
Creative Weaving: Beautiful Fabrics with a Simple Loom
by Sarah Howard
from Lark Books
Leather Braiding
by B. Grant
from Cornell Maritime Press
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