I have been learning to spin and knit and this book was so helpful! Jillian walks you through how to think through creating the yarn that will work best for the project you want to make, shows examples of how little adjustments throughout the whole spinning process (including fiber prep and finishing) produce differences in your finished yarn and the fabric it will make, and then shares a collection of patterns and projects from a variety of designers. Thoroughly enjoyable and the photos are beautiful. ( )

This is a really useful book for anyone who wants to think more about what they’re spinning for and how to make the yarn they want. I’m a bit of a one trick pony and consistently spin ‘about fingering’ weight yarn. There are some useful tips in this about ways to shake things up a bit if you’re in a rut or if you just haven’t thought of different approaches.

The chapters I found most useful were the ones dealing with the different ways to spin coloured braids to achieve different effects, and the one on being a more technical spinner thinking about grist, twists per inch etc. There’s a lot in here to either dip into or it’s a fascinating quick read cover to cover. There are also twelve patterns with tips for spinning the yarn for each one.

Although aimed at wheel spinners, and there is a section exploring different wheel set ups, I think there is a lot in here that would be useful to spindle spinners in terms of fibre prep, drafting, working with colour/ply etc. It does mostly deal with traditional yarns, there isn’t anything here really on art yarn, although it is touched on if a few places.

Overall this is a great book and although some of it won’t be particularly new to experienced spinners I think it has enough in it to be of interest to beginners and experienced alike, ( )

I skim-read* this one as a library book, and have added it to my wish-list so that I can add it to my permanent collection. There are some patterns I want to make, but more importantly some spinning techniques that I want to remember.

* Most of what I read was the technical part of how the spinning method changes the resulting yarn; most of what I skimmed was the cute-but-not-actually-spinning metaphor part that seems meant to connect with people who want a story to go with their spinning. (Note: the book needs this part to make it cohesive and useful to the most people. But it wasn't what I needed to read at the time in order to improve my color-handling when I spin yarn.) ( )

I read this in German and have asked my bookstore to order it for me in English.

This is a very useful book for spinners who want to develop ways of spinning different yarns. As usual, it is aimed at those who spin on a wheel and is not as useful for those like me who spindle. Still, I think it will help.

The German translation is well done, but the German title is very uncreative compared to the English. Once I have the English copy, I will borrow the German again to copy the metric measurements in, as the English doesn't seem to include them. ( )

This beautiful book begins with a gorgeous cover, and is filled with photos of handspun yarn and various items knitted from handspun yarn.

The book begins with the usual introductions, and of course talks about the various types of wools. Naturally you'd expect that in any handspinning book. The book also talks about spinning with intention, which I think made some interesting points. The book also covers preparing fiber for spinning, and talks about the importance of twist, types of plying, finding balance, etc; again, with photos that can't help but inspire you (and makes me wish I was a much better spinner, with an actual spinning wheel and not just a hand spindle!)

Then there's a lot of information about color, color theory, etc., followed by finishing your yarn.

Lastly, there's a small, but nice, section of patterns specific to handspun yarn, by well known designers.

All in all, I think this is a must for any hand-spinners library, especially those that may not be spinning for a long time.