Highland Guild of Weavers, spinners & Dyers
Books on Spinning
These are the books from our library that relate to spinning and fibre. Descriptions will be added gradually. Members can browse and borrow whenever we have a Guild meeting at the Highland Hotel, Strathpeffer.
To borrow at any other time, please contact us by email.
Here is the current list (October 2023) of spinning books.
For annotations see below.
Learn to Spin
By Anne Field.
Spinning basics for beginners. Step-by-step guide from fleece to yarn.
Also projects with instructions and colour photographs.
The Ashford Book of Carding
By Jo Reeve.
Methods of carding; using colour; projects; sampling; glossary.
Spin Control
By Amy King.
Fibre, drafting techniques – classic and less traditional – ‘travel off the beaten path and explore…’ Colour photographs.
The Intentional Spinner
By Judith MacKenzie McCuin.
Includes the history of plant and animal fibres; instructions and photographs; yarn structure and design; four projects of handspinning for weaving and knitting, from fibre to finishing.
Inspired to Spin
By Alison Daykin and Cath Snape.
“A blend of expert guidance, invaluable suggestions and practical tips”.
Colour photographs, line drawings
Yarn-i-tec-ture
By Jillian Moreno.
Building exactly the yarn you want.
Colour illustrations, instructions and patterns for projects.
Know Your Sheep
By Jack Byard.
Short descriptions and photographs of the 41 breeds of sheep you’re most likely to encounter on British farms.
Spinning Wool: Beyond the Basics
By Anne Field, published 1995.
For spinners who have mastered the basic spinning techniques.
The book starts with a section on fleece: how to choose and prepare a fleece for spinning; how to analyse it to see what it is best suited for.
This is followed by sections on spinning wheels and yarn design.
Finally there is a project section.
Learn to Spin on an Ashford Wheel
Brief illustrated instructions on making a start with an Ashford Wheel.
The Joy of Spinning
By Marilyn Kluger.
The first complete book on handspinning for the hobbyist and craftsman – from choosing a wheel to carding, spinning and dying the handspun yarns with native plant dyes.
Spin it
By Lee Raven.
Instructions for learning to spin with a hand spindle, plus five simple projects.
Diagrams and colour photographs.
Spinning in the Old Way
By Pricilla A Gibson-Roberts.
How (and why) to make your own yarn with a high-whorl spindle.
A Hundred and One Questions for Spinners
By Alden Amos and Susan Druding, 1978.
Questions asked by customers and students, with answers from experts in the field.
Wool: East Anglia’s Golden Fleece
By Nigel Heard.
A history, from first settlers to The New Draperies and the decline of the East Anglian wool trade in 18th and 19th centuries. B/w photographs.
Linen
By Patricia Baines.
Detailed description of working with linen – bleaching, dyeing, drressing a distaff, weaving techniques and basic drafts of traditional patterns.
The Wool Book
By Margaret Dixon.
A guide to spinning, dyeing and knitting, from fibre to patterns, line drawings and colour photographs throughout.
The Fleece & Fibre Source Book
By Deborah Robson and Carol Ekarius.
An in-depth exploration of more than 200 animals from around the world and the fibre they produce.
Colour Works
By Deb Menz.
Spiral bound, fascinating in-depth serious guide to working with colour.
Contains, tear-out colour tools, which Guild members will need to copy rather than detach.
Spinning Designer Yarns
By Diane Varney, published 1987
The author writes: ‘My primary goal is to inspire you…let’s not design by default, let’s design through choice…make informed, intelligent decisions about the yarn we make…let’s have more fun spinning’
More words than pictures, but all the basics of yarn design are here.
Spin Art
By Jacey Boggs.
Mastering the craft of spinning textured yarn.
Colour illustrations and instructions with instructional DVD.
Spinning, Dyeing & Weaving
By Penny Walsh.
Fibre, combing and carding, spinning, dyeing, weaving, projects, glossary. Illustrated.
Complete Guide to Handspinning
By K Grasett.
Small booklet with line drawings and guidance for preparing and spinning a wide range of fibres, from wool to flax and silk
The Essentials of Handspinning
By Mabel Ross.
Booklet containing complete instructions, with drawings, for learning to spin wool with a hand spindle and a spinning wheel.
Spinning and Weaving at Home
By Thomas Kilbride (Self-sufficient Living Series).
Fully illustrated guide…detailed instructions for making and using your own hand spindle, spinning wheel and loom.
The Craft of Handspinning
By Eileen Chadwick.
Published in 1980, the photographs make this book look very dated.
However, it is a very good introduction to handspinning, covering all the basics, and including sections on different kinds of fibres, with an excellent series of photos on dressing a flax distaff.
The Wonderful Work of the Weaver
By Lilias Mitchell.
Despite the title, this little booklet covers breeds of sheep, fleece preparation, spinning, dyeing and weaving as practised in Ireland.
Spinning and Dyeing the Natural Way
By Ruth Castino, 1974.
A general introduction with colour and b/w photographs throughout.
Spindle Spinning
By Paricia Baines.
Short but comprehensive booklet with clear drawings and photos in b/w and colour.
Search Press Needle Crafts series
Introducing Spindle Spinning
By Mike Halsey.
Booklet with instructions and drawings, followed by short sections on other aspects of hand spinning.
The Essentials of Yarn Design for Handspinners
By Mabel Ross.
Full of excellent information for those wishing to improve their spinning and learn to produce yarns they have designed intentionally for specific projects.
Start Spinning
By Maggie Casey.
Covers the basics of spinning on spindle or wheel. The information is clear and well illustrated.
Spinning is probably best learned from a person, but beginners will find this helpful in consolidating what they have learned.
Spinning and Weaving
By S E Ellacott.
Wide-ranging history of the development of spinning and weaving from hunter-gatherers to the modern textile industry.
Spinning, Dyeing and Weaving
A WI Home Skills guide, remarkably comprehensive, simple publication with colour photographs and diagrams.
Q J
One of the books left to the Guild by Rose McLennan, a spinner, weaver and dyer who died in 2011 at the age of 103. She has noted on the front: survey of fleeces for handspinning.
Creative Spinning
By Alison Daykin and Jane Deane.
A book for inspiration. Thirty spinning projects inspired by nature, from a range of materials. Step-by-step instructions and illustrations.
The Woolcraft Book
By Constance Jackson and Judith Plowman.
Written for beginners by New Zealand authors with a worldwide aim. ‘…a reliable, comprehensive and practical course of instruction’.
Covers weaving, spinning and dyeing.
Sweaters by Hand
By Helene Rush and Rachel Emmons.
Subtitled: Designs for Spinners and Knitters.
Making, designing and knitting with handspun yarns.
Twenty-four patterns with instructions and photographs.
Designer Knitting from Handspun Yarns
By Nina Shuttleworth and Janet Biggs.
A chart system allows any knitting pattern and any yarn to be used together by calculating the yarn thickness.
Thirty-one patterns with instructions and photographs.
The Handspun Project Book
By Deborah Kahn.
Descriptions – a few with instructions – of creative projects by 20+ artists/spinners, from fibre to finished article.
How to make a Spinning Wheel
By Alan Bush.
Entertaining wee booklet, decribing the author’s method of building a spinning wheel from bicycle parts.
‘Printed in Scorraig using handmade organic electricity generated by traditional crofter windmill.’
The Journal for Weavers, Spinners and Dyers
Issue no: 256, Winter 2015
The Journal for Weavers, Spinners and Dyers
Issue no: 261, Spring 2017
The Journal for Weavers, Spinners and Dyers
Issue no: 262, Summer 2017
The Journal for Weavers, Spinners and Dyers
Issue no: 263, Autumn 2017
Yarnmaker
Magazine No 12 November 2012 TWO COPIES
Summer School
Brochure for the AGWSD Summer School 2017
Threads in Time
House, Exeter. Two copies
Yarns in the Cathedral
Programme and catalogue, in colour, of the AGWSD Biennial summer school exhibition in Norwich Cathedral. 2015
The Slide Collection 1971-2010
Two CDs of images from the Association of Guilds of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers.
‘These slides are subject to copyright but may be freely shown.
They may not be reproduced without permission’
Coloured Sheep and Handspinners Fleece Directory 2002-2003
Directory of UK breeders and their flocks.
The British Wool Education Pack
Produced by the British Wool Marketing Board and aimed at primary school children, this pack contains a number of fact sheets and activities in Maths, Science, Technology, Geography, English and History – all of intrest to general wool workers.
Tynsell Handspinning Supplies
Catalogue leaflet from the suppliers. 2005