"The Big Book of Weaving" by Laila Lundell (with Elisabeth Windesjo) arrived this week, the new revised and expanded edition in English. At first glance, the line illustrations of weaving techniques and how-to are excellent, especially so if you are new to Swedish style countermarche or counterbalance style looms, since books in the U.S. are geared towards jack looms. The projects are very nice, Swedish-style weaving. Now, I'm looking forward to reading through the book, and finding new (to me) ways of doing things.
The issue I have with this book is not content or illustrations/photos, but for whatever reason, the publisher chose make the print, not black, but grayed down and quite small. I find it very difficult to read. Book publishers need to remember many weavers are no longer young, wear bifocals, and need clear, black type for the books to be read easily by readers of all ages.
The second book I bought, "Shear Spirit" by Joan Tapper, was for pure pleasure. Ten fiber farms were photographed and written up, as well as the owners and critters. I am having a most enjoyable time reading their stories, as well as perusing the twenty patterns provided. If you enjoy reading about fiber people and farms, critters, natural dyeing, weaving, spinning, and knitting, you will likely enjoy this book.
2 comments:
Thanks for the book review. I just enjoyed looking through your blog, and think we may have crossed paths at the Looms in Mineral Point, when I started weaving (1981) It was an inspiration, wasn't it?
Hi Susan, isn't it great after all these years we are both still weaving. And yes, both The Looms and Ken, were, and still are, an inspiration. I learned so much there.
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