The Fleece & Fiber Sourcebook: More Than 200 Fibers, from Animal to Spun Yarn Author: Carol Ekarius | Language: English | ISBN:
B005HITS6M | Format: PDF
The Fleece & Fiber Sourcebook: More Than 200 Fibers, from Animal to Spun Yarn Description
Thisone-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.
- File Size: 16605 KB
- Print Length: 448 pages
- Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC (June 30, 2011)
- Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
- Language: English
- ASIN: B005HITS6M
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #296,663 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #23
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Crafts & Hobbies > Weaving - #83
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Science > Agricultural Sciences > Animal Husbandry - #83
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Agricultural Sciences > Animal Husbandry
- #23
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Crafts & Hobbies > Weaving - #83
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Science > Agricultural Sciences > Animal Husbandry - #83
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Agricultural Sciences > Animal Husbandry
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.
The 2 star rating applies only to the Kindle version; the printed version deserves a 10!
This is an outstanding piece of research and compilation of over 200 fiber producing animals whose fiber is available to the fiber arts community. The authors have provided descriptions, history and photos of the animals, and photos of the raw and cleaned fiber, colors, yarns, and knitted and woven swatches. Special note is made of breeds that are rare and endangered, allowing fiber users the opportunity to choose fiber and thus support the farmers who breed these animals. Potential uses of each fiber are also mentioned. All that's missing is the actual fiber sample, which is not doable in a work of this magnitude at a price anyone could afford. It's amazing that the authors were able to acquire samples of so many different fibers that they could work with and evaluate themselves.
This book is an essential reference for anyone using animal fibers for any purpose. Breeds and species represented cover most of the world, though some sheep and goats specific to some parts of Asia and Africa are not included. Better known fiber animals from the Americas and Europe are discussed and described. It's not likely that fiber from the animals omitted would be available to many spinners, knitters and weavers in Western countries.
The photos in the book are superb, but unfortunately the photos in the Kindle edition are mostly low resolution and poor quality, especially the fiber and yarn photos. They're very small, and the labels on fiber and yarns in the Kindle version are not even readable in many cases, a real shame given the work that went into them and the valuable information they provide.
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