The Spinner’s Book of Fleece: A Breed-by-Breed Guide to Choosing and Spinning the Perfect Fiber for Every Purpose

For those who are very serious about spinning, weaving, and knitting, knowing about the length, crimp structure, fineness or coarseness, and breed origin for fleeces are really important. Wool isn’t just wool. Every breed of sheep produces wool with particular characteristics that are different from other breeds. To really understand what kind of yarn one will end up with, one has to understand the particular qualities of the various kinds of fleece.

Beth Smith has put together a spectacularly complete guide for choosing and spinning that is organized into eight rich chapters covering such topics as the dos and don’ts of buying fleece, fine wools, longwools, multicoated breeds, and more. The information is well laid out, well indexed, and easy to access. The color photographs throughout are really beautiful. Even a photograph of combs looks like a piece of art, and the photographs of sheep are especially charming. Close-up photos of finished yarn and knitted samples are very useful. An excellent glossary, pages on measurements and metric conversions and WSDA Standard Wool Specifications, a reading list, and a resources page polish off a very useful, well-written book.