If you want to learn how to spin yarn, or if you know the basics of how to spin but want to improve your skills, you’ll want to check out these great books.
Start Spinning: Everything You Need to Know to Make Great Yarn
by Maggie Casey would be a great first book for any aspiring spinner. Maggie takes you through all the steps for spinning yarn, from preparing the fiber to spinning yarn using a spindle or a spinning wheel, to plying and finishing. Well written and illustrated with excellent photographs.
The Whole Craft of Spinning: From the Raw Material to the Finished Yarn
by Carol Kroll is another excellent ‘learn how to spin’ book. This book shows you all the basics, including preparing fiber, spinning on a drop spindle or wheel, and plying and finishing your yarn. If you’re interested in the history of spinning, you’ll find that information in this book as well.
Hands on Spinning
by Lee Raven is a wonderful book for any new spinner. The book is well-written and illustrated and includes all the topics you’d expect: spinning with a hand spindle, spinning with a spinning wheel, fiber preparations, drafting techniques, plying, and finishing your yarn.
A Handspindle Treasury: Collected Works from the Save the Sheep Exhibit
is one of the best books around on the history and usage of the handspindle. This book covers all types of spindles, including drop spindles (both top and bottom whorl) and supported spindles such as takhlis and Navajo spindles.
Spinning in the Old Way: How (and Why) To Make Your Own Yarn With A High-Whorl Handspindle
by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts has a clear focus: how to spin on a high whorl drop spindle (aka top whorl drop spindle). You’ll find information here on how to choose the right spindle, as well as some very well-illustrated information on basic spinning techniques.
Spin to Knit: The Knitter’s Guide to Making Yarn
by Shannon Okey is a great introduction to handspinning. The book covers using both handspindles and spinning wheels, and has quite a few patterns and ideas for using your handspun yarn. This would be a good first book for anyone who knits and is curious about spinning. Shannon encourages you to combine your handspun yarn with store-bought yarn so you don’t feel like you need to spin a whole sweater’s worth of yarn for your first spinning project.
Books for More Advanced Spinners
If you want to learn some advanced spinning techniques such as how to spin novelty yarn, you’ll want to buy a couple of these books.
Spinning Designer Yarns
by Diane Varney will introduce you to some more advanced spinning techniques. You’ll find some instructions and illustrations here on how to make slub, core-spun and snarl yarns, just to name a few of the techniques that are covered.
In Sheep’s Clothing: A Handspinner’s Guide to Wool
by Nola Fournier has so much information about all different breeds of sheep wool that every spinner will want it in their library. This book will give you the details you need to know about the distinctive characteristics of the wool from all the sheep breeds you have heard of, and probably a few you haven’t, which will help you decide what type of wool would be right for your next project.
Intertwined: The Art of Handspun Yarn, Modern Patterns and Creative Spinning (Handspun Revolution)
by Lexi Boeger is for the spinner who is interested in spinning novelty or art yarns. Lexi also gives some great suggestions on how to use these unusual yarns in projects.
Color in Spinning
by Deb Menz will show you how to dye or blend fibers for different color effects. Deb presents some helpful information about color theory in an easy-to-understand way, then goes on to give some good examples on how to put this knowledge to use in your spinning projects.
Creative Spinning
by Alison Daykin will inspire anyone who wants to spin art yarns. The book is organized by fiber type, and gives you some good ideas about what techniques work best with what fibers.
The Alden Amos Big Book of Handspinning: Being a Compendium of Information, Advice, and Opinion on the Noble Art and Craft
is considered by some to be the spinning bible. As you can probably tell from the title, Amos is very opinionated (for example, he seems to disapprove of the double-treadle wheel), but he knows his stuff. If can get past his writing style which can come off as rather condescending at times, you’ll find a lot of solid technical spinning information here.