Review: Respect the Spindle

You know how they say the best way to learn a foreign language is to completely immerse yourself in the language? To go where it’s spoken, to live it, and breathe it as if there simply is no other language? Well, that’s how the author learned to spin.

Review: Spinning in the Old Way

Almost every other spinning book I have tends to be broad in nature. They discuss everything from where the fiber comes from, to how it’s prepared, to the parts of a spinning wheel, to drafting, to finishing … everything. It’s all in there, like that old tomato sauce commercial.

This book (if you’ll forgive me for referring to the pair of them as if they were one and the same) is refreshing because it focuses on making yarn with one tool only–the high-whorl spindle.

Review: Start Spinning The Video

The DVDs–there are two in the package–are basically a spinning lesson from Maggie Casey (author of the companion book) to Eunny Jang, with just a few thousand of their closest friends watching over their shoulders.

Review: Spin Control

This book has been sitting next to the computer for days now, waiting for me to review it, and I have no idea what’s been holding me back, because it’s a great book.

Review: The Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook

This is one of those kinds of books that almost makes you rethink everything you know about knitting.

It was written in 2002, at just about the time that sock knitting started becoming popular, and spinning hadn’t taken off. Seven years ago, most people who knit automatically headed to their local yarn shop or craft store to buy yarn–the concept of making their own was still new. (New to our generation, that is. Obviously, people have been spinning their own yarn for quite some time.)

Enter Lynne Vogel.

Review: The Intentional Spinner

The subtitle is “A Holistic Approach to Making Yarn.” Now, I don’t claim to be an expert in holistic anything, so I’m not entirely sure where that came from, but what I can tell you is that this is one of the most in-depth books on spinning I’ve seen in a long time.

Review: A Fine Fleece

The idea behind A Fine Fleece is simple–making things out of your handspun yarn, except, you don’t NEED to be a spinner.

Hmm, let me rephrase that. The patterns in this book can be made out of commercial yarn, or yarn of your own.

Maybe I should just let the author explain:

“Every piece in this book is shown in both handspun and a commercially available yarn. … Ultimately, I feel being a spinner has made me a better knitter simply by teaching me to see yarn differently. You don’t need to spin to enjoy this book, but if you have even the slightest interest in learning to spin, I urge you to act on it. Most knitters I know are fascinated with yarn and fiber and have well established favorites, either in gauge, yarn company, or type. Being a spinner takes all these things to the next level and beyond. Handspinning opens up unlimited possibilities of yarn. If you can imagine a yarn, you can make it. As a knitwear designer, spinning has added a depth to my design work I never imagined possible.”