The Complete Guide to Spinning Yarn || Brenda Gibson

That this is a packaged book rather than a Black’s original is immediately apparent (if you know what you’re looking for) from the fact that it’s design rather than content-led. This isn’t necessarily (or even) a bad thing, but it does affect the way you approach and use the book.

Speaking as one who’s not qualified to comment on the value or accuracy of the contents, I can nevertheless say that it offers an easy way into the subject, with each yarn type being given a single spread in typical Quarto (they’re the people behind it) fashion.

I suspect that this is a book for the beginner and dabbler rather than the seasoned expert but, like all these things, a simple overview can sometimes bring new insights, so I’d never recommend that anyone passes them by without at least a glance.

The layout progresses from equipment – the sections on spindles and wheels are nicely simple and concise – to techniques such as carding, spinning in a variety of ways, skein making and then to the “recipes”, which discuss the merits and uses of a wide variety of yarn types. Finally, there is a series of projects, with full instructions and also a section on professional approaches if you decide to try making a living at the craft.

If this was something I was interested in and wanted to develop as a beginner, I’d feel this had given me a good start.