The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook

I haven’t finished reading this book, yes it reads like a novel you can’t put down. And, as a bonus, if a stray Yak or Musk Ox walks through your yard, this book will tell you what to do with that awesome fiber.

Got some buffalo fur hanging from the barbed wire of the farm next door? (Actually, yes, I do!). Collect it, turn to page 390 and find out that one hide can yield as much as 3-4 lbs of raw fiber. Find out about different colors, characteristics of the fiber and how you should expect it to act while spinning, knitting or crocheting.

This hardcover “coffee-table style” book is 438 full-colored pages devoted to just about every type of fleece and fiber animal you can think of. Beautiful photography accompanies every story. Maps show you where the critters are found and tabbed pages make it easy to find everything.

Find out why wool can be “prickly” next to your skin. How did the Jacob sheep get it’s name? Why is the Gray Suffolk considered rare? Find out what Badger faced means in an animal. Find out the difference between top and roving. A full glossary will tune you right in to the specifics of the language of “Fiber”.

More than 200 fibers – from animal to spun yarn! Get yours now by clicking HERE, to go to Knit Picks!

Next Pattern:

As I write this, it’s probably time to start thinking about winter knitting if you haven’t already. And it’s definitely time to think about gift knitting if you have any of that you plan to do for the holidays.

The Dreamy Waves Scarf from Knit Picks, designed by Stacey Winklepleck, would be a great project to go in either category.

It uses two different multicolored yarns and a simple repeating wave pattern to make a project that looks a lot more complicated and dramatic than it is. The gradient look happens naturally just by switching which yarn you’re knitting with.

This pattern uses worsted weight yarn so it’s a pretty quick project even though a scarf is large and this one is pretty wide. It measures 8.5 inches (21.5 cm) wide and 63 inches or 120 cm long. Of course you can make it longer or shorter as you like. As written it takes one ball of each color so it’s a pretty economical project, too.

It’s rated for intermediate knitters but if you know how to do various increases and decreases you’ll be all set. The pattern uses knit 2 together, make 1 left and right, centered double decrease and slip slip knit. All of the stitches are explained in a glossary in the pattern so even if you haven’t done all of them it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out.

The pattern also includes tons of options for different colorways in yarn that Knit Picks sells, so you can see how different combinations knit up before you buy the yarn. That’s such a great idea!

Of course if you already have two multicolored yarns with long color runs on hand, you can absolutely use them, too. It might also be fun, but would give you a totally different look, to use a solid color and a bunch of scraps or one multicolored yarn to see how the different colors play together. So many options!

You can grab this free pattern and check out all the color options at Knit Picks.

[Photo: Knit Picks]

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Next Pattern:

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