The Fleece & Fiber Sourcebook: More Than 200 Fibers, from Animal to Spun Yarn [Hardcover]

Carol Ekarius (Author), Deborah Robson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2011

This one-of-a-kind photographic encyclopedia features more than 200 animals and the fibers they produce. It covers almost every sheep breed in the world — from the longwool breeds of the United Kingdom to the Tasmanian merino, the Navajo churro, the northern European Faroese, and dozens and dozens more. It also includes goats, camelids (such as alpacas, llamas, and vicunas), bison, horses, musk oxen, rabbits, and even dogs.  Each entry includes photographs of the featured animal; samples of its raw fleece, its cleaned fleece, and yarn spun from the fleece; and samples of the yarn knit and woven. You’ll find everything you want to know about each animal and its fiber, including the fiber’s color, density, strength, and staple length, and recommendations for processing and using it. This is the essential reference no fiber-lover can be without.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Every once in a while there is a book that lives up to it’s hype. Only once in a blue moon are we lucky enough to get a book that surpasses all the stories that have led up to it. The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook is a blue moon book. The spinning world has been buzzing about this book for years, and Deb Robson has been kind enough to share writing the process on her blog, but that still didn’t prepare me for the completeness of the book.

The sheer complexity of the subject made clear, useful and not just interesting, but fascinating. More than 200 animal fibers and breeds laid out and dissected by an animal expert and a spinning expert jump off of the page in concise prose that speaks to the history of the breed; fleece, fiber and lock characteristics; using the fiber in dyeing, spinning, knitting and weaving. The photography is crisp enough to count crimps and shows fiber as washed and unwashed; prepped and spun, and sometimes knit or woven. The authors manage to do all of this using 2-4 pages per breed.

Spinners (and knitters) this is the book you’ve been asking for: more photos and breeds than In Sheep’s Clothing and more sheepy and animal goodness than The Knitter's Book of Wool.  A labor of sheepy love and a stellar book." (Knitty.com )

This is an excellent resource for fiber artists curious about different types of animal fibers and how best to use them. (Library Journal )

Two experts, one a farmer and livestock guru, the other a fiber magazine editor, join brains to produce this resource for yarn crafters. Far from drab and dreary, Robson and Ekarius enliven the pictures and descriptions of about 200 breeds of sheep, inserting critical information and fun facts. Well written and researched, a reference for all ages.
Starred review (Booklist )

Not only is this a library essential for yarn users who take their wool, alpaca, llama, cashmere and yak seriously; it’s also an important text for those involved in the husbandry of our four-legged fiber friends. If we want to preserve our “heirloom” fibers, we need to know their names. (Vogue Knitting )

A reference you'll return to again and again as you grow as a fiber artist. (Craftzine )

A comprehensive manual for the wool aficionado. Packed with photos and detailed fiber properties, it covers every breed of sheep you are likely to encounter and then some. (Interweave Knits )

About the Author

Carol Ekarius is the author of Storey's Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds, Pocketful of Poultry, and several books on small-scale farming. Carol and her husband live with their many critters in Hartsel, Colorado.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC (June 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1603427112
• ISBN-13: 978-1603427111
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 8.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,696 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful!, May 25, 2011

By 

Sue Weaver - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Fleece & Fiber Sourcebook: More Than 200 Fibers, from Animal to Spun Yarn (Hardcover)

Since I'm writing a sheep book (The Backyard Sheep) for Storey Publishing, Storey graciously sent me a PDF of the sheep section of The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook. It's so beyond fantastic that I don't know what to say except WOW.

The British Wool Board's British Sheep and Wool was my wish book until now, but this book goes way, way, way beyond that. The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook is 448 lavishly color-illustrated pages simply jam-packed with information. Every breed of sheep you can possibly think of (and more) is covered, along with goats, rabbits, horses, camelids, bison, yaks, musk oxen, dogs and cats, and even wild animals such as wolves.

Each breed section incorporates wonderful color pictures of the breed in question, of raw and washed staples of its wool (in several colors, where applicable), and of several types of yarn spun from its fiber along with information about the tools used in its creation. Breed sections range from two to ten pages; Shetland people, you are going to love the Shetland section!

As I write this I'm reviewing the three-page section about Rough Fells, a breed I would keep if they were available in North America. Material includes a comprehensive description of Rough Fells illustrated by a gorgeous picture of a group of five sheep (love those guys!), a big color picture of Rough Fell staples and yarn, and a page with "Rough Fell Facts" (fleece weight, staple length, fiber diameter, lock characteristics, and natural colors) along with a half page write-up on "Using Rough Fell Fiber" including dying, fiber preparation and spinning tips, and knitting, crocheting, and weaving.

And, a photo I took of Lori Olson's ram (Lori is my friend and partner-in-sheep), Shepherd's Croft Oran, illustrates the Brecknock Hill and American Miniature Cheviot pages. The Miniature Cheviot write-up is right on!

Carol Ekarius and Deborah Robson know their sheep. They have written an absolutely must-have volume not only for fiber enthusiasts but sheep fanciers everywhere. Well done, ladies! I can hardly wait to own a copy of this book.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's Like a Who's Who of Sheep!, June 9, 2011

By 

D. Boyken "Knitting Scholar .com" (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Fleece & Fiber Sourcebook: More Than 200 Fibers, from Animal to Spun Yarn (Hardcover)

This book-a true sourcebook-is like the Who's Who of the sheep world. It's exhaustive and chock-full of huge amounts of research. This not only includes the list of over 200 different breeds, families, groups (along with non-sheep species), but ... Photos! Stories! Songs! Legends! Charts! Maps! If there's a story behind a breed, pertinent facts about the geography, a farmer who dedicated his life to raising them, a legend about their origin, it's in here. And did I mention the photos? Oh, the photos! Not only pictures of the sheep (in the fields as well as properly posed "show" pics), but of the fleece-both clean and raw-yarn spun from it, swatches knitted and woven from it. So many beautiful photos. This book is full of true eye candy for a sheep lover.

I was prepared to be impressed by this book. Just knowing the amount of work that went into it, I was ready to like it. (How much work? Just for starters, the bibliography is five pages long. The index ix nine pages.) But "like" is too mild a word. I was floored by how exceptional this book is. Though it's true-there are no patterns in this book. There are no instructions on spinning. No step-by-step guides on how to prepare a fleece for spinning. There are plenty of books that do those things. But this? This is a love letter to sheep, to wool, and to the history of human beings and natural fiber.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything I had hoped for and more, June 3, 2011

By 

Teresa Hubbard (Huddleston, VA, US) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Fleece & Fiber Sourcebook: More Than 200 Fibers, from Animal to Spun Yarn (Hardcover)

The Fleece and Fiber Source Book is everything I had hoped for and more. The information is so complete! No matter what your interest in the fiber world, this book has something to teach you. Starting with the cellular make-up of different fibers, archeological facts, the specifics of breeds, and the photographs are beautiful. As a spinner, knitter, weaver, and dyer this is a book I will reference again & again. It has become the star of my (quite large) collection of fiber books. No matter what area of fiber use you prefer or what your level of accomplishment, this book is a treasure and a bargain. I have paid much more for much less.