A Fine Fleece: Knitting with Handspun Yarns

The pleasure of knitting can be that much greater when you know you're using the perfect yarn. In "A Fine Fleece", designer, knitter and spinner Lisa Lloyd explores the different qualities of hand spun yarn and presents projects that show them to their best advantage. There is valuable information here for every knitter, even if you've never considered learning to spin (though you may find inspiration in this book to do just that). While educating you on the differences in fibres (like Alpaca, Merino, Cormo, Rambouillet and Suffolk) and the characteristics you can achieve in a hand spun yarn by combining fibres according to certain recipes, Lisa Lloyd also shares the three important concepts that enlighten her designs: the use of contrasting colour and fibre; scale and perspective (chunky yarns with chunky cable stitches versus chunky yarns with delicate ones); and the creation of 'poetic' jumpers that try to capture an emotion. Each of the 26 projects in "A Fine Fleece" shows the finished project knitted in both a hand spun yarn and a commercial yarn so that you can train your eye to understand how fibre and texture can truly transform a piece.