Creative Spinning [Paperback]

Alison Daykin (Author), Jane Deane (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2008

Needleworkers no longer have to settle for what’s available at the local yarn shop! Alison Daykin and Jane Deane, who have decades of experience spinning, weaving, and dyeing, show how easy it can be to create personalized and gorgeous skeins of one-of-a-kind fibers. Designed for complete beginners, this attractive guide offers 30 beautiful projects that teach a repertoire of skills on both the hand spindle and spinning wheel. It starts with simple, basic combing, twisting, plying, and finishing, then goes on to offer a primer on working with fibers. All the chapters are organized by yarn type, including short wool and down, medium fine wool, long wool and lustre, hill and mountain, rare wool, animal hair, silk, and vegetable fiber.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Alison Daykin has been teaching spinning, weaving and dyeing since 1983. While studying for her HNC in Hand Woven Textile Design at Bradford in 2002 she won third place and a commendation in the Bradford Student Textile Design Awards. She now runs Alison Yule Textiles, producing bespoke hand-woven fabrics. Location: Willington, Derbyshire. Jane Deane is a spinner, weaver and dyer with 30 years' experience. She works with natural and synthetic dyes and runs a bespoke yarn and fibre dyeing service Cross-Eyed Chameleon. Location: Tavistock, Devon. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Lark Books (January 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1600592236
• ISBN-13: 978-1600592232
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 9.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,035,543 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Yarn Eye Candy for Spinners, January 17, 2008

By 

K. Franklin "Are we there yet?" (Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Creative Spinning (Paperback)

First of all, this is a BEAUTIFUL book. If you love yarn, and love to look at great photos and dream of what you too could do with a little fiber and a big idea, you will like this book. It is not a book for beginning spinners. The spinning how-to section is very basic, with drawings, not photos. More useful is the plying section - how to combine strands to get different effects, but then again, this section is also drawings, not photos. The photos of the author's yarns are gorgeous, and she tells a bit about the kind of sheep/plant the fiber comes from, and a few properties of that particular fiber. I wouldn't call this a serious How-To, rather it is a very good idea book, and a great pleasure to leaf through over and over again.

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Gift Book for Spinners, December 7, 2007

By 

Lynne E. (California) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Creative Spinning (Paperback)

A beautiful gift book for spinners, filled with gorgeous close-up photos of amazing handspun yarns, accompanied by instructions for duplicating the yarns using specific fibers (for example, merino, lincoln). The opening section includes good instructional material, although the book chiefly provides inspiration for spinners who aspire to create lovely designer yarns. The book amply demonstrates the results that can be achieved by accomplished handspinners, and it is a typical high-quality softcover book from Lark Books.

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Coffee Table book for Spinners, March 27, 2008

By 

Trulyblessed "Trulyblessed" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Creative Spinning (Paperback)

This is a stunningly beautiful book, if you want to see close ups of gorgeously spun yarns. However, that's about all it is. The sparse information in the front on spinning can be obtained from most spinning websites or in pamphlets given away with the purchase of a spindle. I found very little useful information or even inspiration to copy the yarns created. My recommendation, peruse this one at a bookstore with a cup of coffee, then put it back on the shelf and instead spend your money on some yummy fiber to spin.