Highland Guild of Weavers Spinners & Dyers

Library – 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 via this website. 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

    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. By Anne Field, published 1995.

  • Learn to Spin on an Ashford Wheel

    Brief illustrated instructions on making a start with an Ashford wheel.

  • The Joy of Spinning

    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. By Marilyn Kluger

  • 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

    How (and why) to make your own yarn with a high-whorl spindle. By Pricilla A Gibson-Roberts

  • 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

    An in-depth exploration of more than 200 animals from around the world and the fibre they produce By Deborah Robson and Carol Ekarius

  • 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

    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. By Diane Varney, published 1987

  • 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

    Fully illustrated guide…detailed instructions for making and using your own hand spindle, spinning wheel and loom. By Thomas Kilbride (Self-sufficient Living Series).

  • The Craft of Handspinning

    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. By Eileen Chadwick.

  • 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

    Full of excellent information for those wishing to improve their spinning and learn to produce yarns they have designed intentionally for specific projects. By Mabel Ross

  • Start Spinning

    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. By Maggie Casey

  • 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 diaggrams.

  • 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

    A book for inspiration. Thirty spinning projects inspired by nature, from a range of materials. Step-by-step instructions and illustrations. By Alison Daykin and Jane Deane

  • 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

    Subtitled: Designs for Spinners and Knitters. Making, designing and knitting with handspun yarns. Twenty-four patterns with instructions and photographs. By Helene Rush and Rachel Emmons

  • 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