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Beth Smith
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The Spinner's Book of Fleece: A Breed-by-Breed Guide to Choosing and Spinning the Perfect Fiber for Every Purpose Kindle Edition

by Beth Smith (Author), Deborah Robson (Foreword) Format: Kindle Edition
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 226 ratings
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The characteristics of fleece — its structure, grease content, and fiber diameter — vary widely depending on the breed of sheep the fleece comes from. In this comprehensive guide, Beth Smith profiles 21 types of fleece, from bouncy and pliant to lacy and lightweight. A sheep-by-sheep reference describes the best way to wash and spin each fleece into rich, soft yarn. You’ll soon be confidently choosing the right fleece, spinning it to perfection, and enjoying the perfect yarn for your next fiber creation. 

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  1. Print length
    257 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Storey Publishing, LLC
  5. Publication date
    August 23, 2014
  6. File size
    58086 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Not Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

KNOW YOUR FLEECE BEFORE GIVING IT A SPIN
 
An essential companion for spinners of all levels, this sheep-by-sheep guide provides fleece profiles of 19 breeds and describes the different spinning methods that produce yarns suitable for a wide range of projects - from lacy shawls to sturdy outerwear. You’ll explore the basic characteristics of fleece – crimp structure, lock shape, and relative fineness or coarseness – and learn how they affect the quality of the yarn you spin. Also included are instructions on proper cleaning and processing techniques for different types of fleece and tips for successful spinning.

Choose the right fleece for your project every time, and you’ll have enviable control over each step, from washing to spinning to finished item.

About the Author

Beth Smith, author of How to Spin and The Spinner’s Book of Fleece, is renowned for her love of the variety and versatility of sheep breeds, and she teaches the whys and how-tos of preparing and spinning wool from different breeds. For seven years she owned The Spinning Loft, a shop celebrated for its selection of hard-to-find quality fleeces. She teaches internationally and writes for PLY, Spin Off, and Knittyspin magazines. She also sits on the editorial board of PLY magazine. She lives in Howell, Michigan.


 




Deborah Robson is co-author of The Fleece & Fiber Sourcebook and Knitting in the Old Way. She is a former editor of both Shuttle, Spindle & Dyepot and Spin-Off magazine, and she is currently the editor and publisher of Nomad Press, which publishes books on traditional and ethnic knitting and spinning. Robson is also an artist, working in textiles, printmaking, and oils. She lives in Colorado with her daughter.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00GU2RLF4
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Storey Publishing, LLC (August 23, 2014)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 23, 2014
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 58086 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 257 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1612120393
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 226 ratings

About the author

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Beth Smith

Beth Smith

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Beth Smith is so obsessed with fiber that she has fleece in every room of her house, including her bathroom.

She teaches the whys and how-tos of preparing and spinning as many breeds as a spinner can in her classes taught all over the world and in articles written for Spin Off, Knittyspin and Entangled magazines. She also writes for Ply Magazine and serves as a member of the editorial advisory board.

She is the previous owner of the world famous online shop ,The Spinning Loft, renowned for it’s selection of raw wool, including rare breeds of sheep , available by the ounce (or more) for studying, sampling or just stashing.

Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
4.8 out of 5
226 global ratings
from Bo Peep's Black Sheep
5 Stars
from Bo Peep's Black Sheep
This is a great resource for anyone who raises, breeds sheep and processes fiber.
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Top reviews from the United States

Nature Lane Fiber
5.0 out of 5 stars Very valuable book to own!
Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2024
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What a resource for all fiber/sheep enthusiasts! So much information, it's a must have!
One person found this helpful
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Amanda L. Anganes
5.0 out of 5 stars A wealth of knowledge
Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2014
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I am so pleased with this book. I read many rave reviews, and they are all well-founded! More than just a study in breed-specific spinning, this book thoroughly covers everything you need to know about working with fleeces of any type. In particular, I found the discussion of processing tools incredibly useful - sure, you might not know what style of handcards you prefer until you use a few, but what should you be looking for in the first place? I haven't seen this discussed elsewhere.

This is a heavy, expensive-feeling book. The layouts are clear, photographs are well-lit, perfectly focused, and attractively styled. Each breed's fleece is discussed along with many different spinning samples, all from a single fleece of that breed, with detailed notes on exactly how each sample was spun (prep, drafting method, wheel configuration, finishing, etc). The samples illustrate directly how that fleece behaves when handled in these different ways. It is wonderful to see clear examples to demonstrate how these differences pan out. It is one thing to offer advice, such as "always spin to the spin count of the fleece", but it's another thing to see demonstrations of what happens when you do or don't to illustrate the point. There is a wealth of knowledge in this book and I highly recommend it to any spinner. Whether you want to prep your own fleece or not, the spinning instruction would be useful for any handspinner.
7 people found this helpful
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Dear Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars I've just read the first three chapters of the book and I LOVE IT! Even with all the other good spinning ...
Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2015
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I hadn’t heard of Beth Smith when I’d first seen the book, and I chose not to buy it, but her name came up among members of my guild, so I gave in and got the book. My, oh, my! I've just read the first three chapters of the book and I LOVE IT! Even with all the other good spinning books I have on my shelves, this is a good one.
Of course, one of the reasons I love it is because she approaches spinning the same way I do—she likes to start with a fleece rather than top or roving, and she wants to spin a consistent yarn. The part of the book that I've read so far is all about how to choose a fleece, process it, and how to spin and ply the wool, any wool. The rest of the book is a breed study.
Truthfully, I wouldn't have bought this book if her name hadn’t come up, but I was curious to find out who she was and so I looked at the preview of the book on Amazon. I have the Fournier's book, Anne Field's books, Clara Parke's book, the Fleece & Fiber Sourcebook, and others, but this one is a keeper. It’s good enough that once I finish reading it, I'll read it again and make notes.
She doesn't have tons of new information for me particularly, but she puts things that I know into words, and then organizes those words well. The whole book, especially the pictures, is gorgeous. It has marvelous pin-up pictures of sheep, wonderful close-up pictures of locks and spun yarn. It’s a beautiful book. It’s published by Storey, so it’s good quality, well edited, well put together. It's money well spent. It's a great book for someone who knows how to spin, but wants to know more.
Another reason I'm in love with it: last year at a fiber festival I bought four ounces of lots of different breeds. I've been wanting to do an in-depth breed study for some time now, and this is her specialty. The book focuses on: Merino, Cormo, Polypay, Corriedale, Wensleydale, Romney, Lincoln, BFL, Suffolk, Southdown, Dorset Horn, Poll Dorset, Black Welsh Mountain, Karakul, Scottish Blackface, Shetland, Icelandic, California Red, Jacob, and Tunis.
Heck, yeah, I recommend it.
20 people found this helpful
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RedAnn
5.0 out of 5 stars I didn't think i needed it, but I wanted it anyway
Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2016
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At first glance, I saw The Spinner's Book of Fleece as just another reference book, something I neither needed nor wanted, with regard to its particular topic of consideration. However, I have since found that it is also an engaging, well-written book, and organized, interesting and readable book. I have other excellent references on this subject, and there's a wealth of information on the internet, but i bought
The Spinner's Book of Fleece anyway. I'm retired and on a very limited budget. Another reference book about sheep breeds, spinning qualities of different fleeces, how to clean, prepare, or anything else to do with choosing or using fleece would at the very least, be superfluous to my needs.
So, under those circumstances, you may ask why did I purchase this particular book? The answer is simple: Its a great book and I enjoy reading it. I'm interested in the subject, of course, but as I said, I already have an abundance of reference material to support pretty much any inquiry I might have on this subject. I started looking at this book at a friend's house, and she encouraged me to take it home and check out what the author has to say about something we'd been discussing. So I borrowed the book, and read the passage, which gave rise to my inquiry about another relevant topic, and I was hooked. I really wanted this book, whether I needed it or not. And I don't regret spending the money, even though it meant putting off getting something else that I have a more immediate need for.
.
14 people found this helpful
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Msavvides
4.0 out of 5 stars Worthwhile addition to your fiber library.
Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2014
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Beth Smith's book covers everything from purchasing a fleece to a finished product. Lots of information in a chatty yet authoritative voice, much of it an intermediate fleece-lover like me would already know, but there are quite a number of" oh wow,' moments that are worth highlighting.
Very much a spinners reference, whether you knit, crochet or weave.
3 people found this helpful
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Laura L. Benjamin
5.0 out of 5 stars comprehensive guide to spinning wool
Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2021
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I love this book! Not only do you learn about different kinds of wool, you also learn about scouring, preparing and spinning in detail. I learned so much just flipping through it. It's a comprehensive sourcebook and one that every spinner who buys fleeces should have.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Ellen tieman
5.0 out of 5 stars The breeds of sheep and how to process the wool before spinning.
Reviewed in Canada on February 18, 2021
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Great information in this book . Wonderfully written. Well laid out .
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まゆ＠かえるすきー
5.0 out of 5 stars 紡ぎわけの参考に！
Reviewed in Japan on October 1, 2019
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４-8章で、各タイプの毛の扱い方（洗い方～糸にするまで（こちらの著者は3-4plyがお好き）が紹介されてます。
気軽に紡ぎの教室に通えない私にとっては、単糸/双糸の違いや、撚りの強弱の違いが写真で紹介されているのが、とてもうれしかったです。
例えば、羊1種で、単糸・2ply/laceweight・3ply/甘撚り・3ply/きつめとか。
実物大の出来上がった糸・編み地の写真と、その糸の仕様が書かれています。
自分では、なかなか紡ぎ比べができないので、とても参考になります。
2 people found this helpful
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xpnutzer
5.0 out of 5 stars Schön und voller Informationen!
Reviewed in Germany on January 18, 2015
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Das Buch ist sehr informativ, sehr schöne Fotos. Auch wenn es nicht leicht ist, an Wolle von den abgebildeten Schafen zu kommen, kann man doch sehr anschaulich sehen, was man aus dem Rohmaterial machen kann. Es ist sehr ausführlich beschrieben, wie man das Rohwolle beurteilt und verarbeitet. Macht viel Spaß, im Buch zu blättern!
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Heather
5.0 out of 5 stars Essentials for beginners with surprises and detail for experienced spinners
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 5, 2014
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I think if you’re sort of learning on your own, and you don’t have access to a breed study workshop and you don’t know anyone else that spins: This book is your new friend. I also think experienced spinners will be delighted with having all this detail in one reference. The production quality is very high and the photography is lovely.

Beth Smith breaks down sheep fleece (no other animals included) into four main types; and introduces distinct breeds which fit into those types. For each she offers tips on:
• Choosing the source. purchasing and breed selection.
• Best scouring, preparation, Spinning techniques, finishing for each type.
• Tracking and measuring results of your experiments, twist, WPI, recording what you did so you learn!
• Best applications for these choices of source + preparation + finishing.

There’s so much included here that I haven’t seen covered much elsewhere and not much online either (unless you mine the rich ore of Ravelry). Did you know you could reconstitute the crimp in a commercially prepared fibre which has been compressed for so long? Had you considered the degrees of fulling yarns when setting twist, why you would? I’ve seen instruction on how to “thwack” the yarn, but hadn’t considered the degrees to which you might do this and to what effect. For this reason, I think also experienced spinners will find something surprising in this book.

It’s really the perfect companion to put in practice the info in the Fleece and Fibre Sourcebook, and help you prepare for using your spindle (Respect the Spindle) (or wheel) and making gorgeous yarns (Spinners Book of Yarn Designs).

Beth Smith’s main message: PLAY!

My biggest take away is what Beth Smith refers to as “sampling”, which what the book is made of. Lovely, inspiring, intriguing samples. The sample photos show lots of detail. For example a tag might say “Flicked/worsted spun from cut end/ 2 ply”.
Beth Smith makes me any to get organised and undertake my personal breed study. She advises experimenting and keeping records, with practical advice on storage, and inspiration of experiments to try.

She includes spinning advice for knitting, types of stitches which work best with a given yarn. She also makes distinctions of finishing yarns for knitting or weaving. There’s nothing specific on twist and crochet, which I’ve seen covered in other sources. But the weaving detail is very interesting.

Also included:
Tips on Plying for a specific effect with a given fleece type
Breed selection for a specific purpose
Choosing fleece; fleece faults

Spinners Book of Fleece is chock full of inspiration. I’ve just booked my summer “staycation” at home and not sorry I can’t travel because I’ll be elbow deep in fleece :) Thank you Beth for this guidebook, it’s so full of wooly love and care.
27 people found this helpful
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anon
5.0 out of 5 stars Exactly the information needed!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 16, 2023
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Excellent book, if you're a spinner or just interested in the process this book has all the need to know.
Clear concise and well illustrated , the hardback is well bound and will stand up to the years of thumbing through this book will get.
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