Today I’m sharing my reference books with you.  I entered the Fiber Side a bit over seven years ago, in 1999.  Before that I knew zero about fiber.  I was clueless about knitted vs. woven, wool vs. mohair, and woolen vs. worsted.  So, how did I amass a huge amount of information about knitting, spinning, dyeing in that amount of time? 

First, I found many fiber goddesses.  Maine is ripe with them and all were willing to share their wisdom with me.  I feel quite blessed to live in a place with so many wise women.  Many thanks to Beth, my Knitting Goddess; Sharon my dyeing guru; and Jody, who taught me to spin and, later, fixed my spinning wheel over the phone.  Amazing, wise and sharing women!

Second, I’m willing to try out almost any technique, and am very willing to try over and over again until it works or I find a better way.  There are no failures when playing with fiber.  What have I done with things I don’t like?

• Knitting: Take it out! Honestly, just take it out and do something else with it.  That’s one of the best things about knitting.  Nothing is final.
• Spinning: Either cut it up to use as bits in the next spinning project or give it away.  I’ve used both methods and I’ll talk about snipping up yarn at a later date.
• Dyeing: Dye it again or give it away.  Someone will love it even if you don’t.  You don’t like the green in your roving?  Give it away.  It came out too bright?  Give it away.  I have many wonderful friends and have never had trouble finding someone to take my "castoffs".

Third, I’ve found many good books.  I’ve read them and tested them.

What makes a good reference book? It needs to have good information, be clearly  documented in pictures and graphics, be well-indexed, and the data needs to be reproducible.

• In Sheep’s Clothing has more info about sheep’s fleece in one place than any other book.  I take it with me when I work at the fleece tent at the Fiber Frolic  and Common Ground Fair 

  Most breeds of sheep are covered in this book, with comparative information on lusture, length, softness, and feltability.  There are pictures of fleece from each breed as well.

• Color in Spinning is written with spinners in mind, but the color theories work with yarn as well as roving.  This is color theory at its finest, with many diagrams and pictures.  This was out of print for a long time, but is thankfully available again.

   

• Harmony Guides (Volumes 1 through 5) are a series of knitting stitch books.  I’m lucky enough to have all of them.  I often sit down with one of these books before I start a knitting project to pick out a stitch or cable to throw into a simple pattern.

Next time: books that inspire my Fiber side.

I love books and always have.  Since I learned to read I’ve collected books and consider them my friends.  I turn to them with I need advice, comfort, or inspiration.  Some books I need to have close at hand–they ride around in my knitting bag and sit next to my knitting/spinning lamp, seldom more than an arm’s length away from me while I work.  Others I reach for when I need to check a stitch pattern or breed of sheep–they live on my bookshelf.  Finally, there are books that inspire me–they include more than patterns, more than techniques.

Today I’ll go over the books I like to have close at hand. 

My knitting bag is chock full of projects, yarn, double-pointed needles, and patterns.  There’s barely room for some dark chocolate.  Two books are usually wedged into my bag next to the patterns:

• Knitter’s Companion is out in a new edition (2006), which has even more good information than the first edition.  This little book has everything from a variety of ways to cast-on, increase, and decrease, to pages on intarsia and colorwork.  There are no patterns in this book, but you can check your needle size on the handy gauge check page.
• Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns has patterns for scarves, socks, gloves, mittens, hats, sweaters, and vests in every size and almost every gauge.  In addition to the basic patterns, there are many ideas for embellishments (there are six different "toppers" for hats).  If you’ve ever needed to know how many stitches to cast on to make someone a mitten, this is your book.  It’s the last book you’ll need for basic patterns.
• It’s not a book, but Yankee Knitter Sock pattern #29

  is so good I’ve memorized most of it.  I still carry a copy with me at all times, in case I have an emergency need to cast-on a sock in a different size or weight of yarn. I teach people to knit socks with this pattern because I think it’s very clearly written.  Even the heel gusset is clearly written.

Next time I’ll tell you about my reference books.