Book review- Hand dyeing yarn and fleece

This week it is all about the book Hand dyeing yarn and fleece by Gail Callahan. Amazon linky here.

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I have not had this book long, a little over a month, and would usually wait a bit longer before doing a review so I have time to use the book quite a bit and get a feel for how useful it really is. No need with this one, I love it already!

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There is loads of info in here, and it all seems to be the useful kind of stuff that sometimes you can't find in other places. In particular for me it was the dip dyeing info that swung it, the other books I had bought did not give any details on it and I wanted to know!

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The book starts with the pretty much standrad details of setting up for dyeing, health and safety, dye types and colour. No big suprises here but nicely written with plenty of pictures to keep it interesting.

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For me the best bit of this book is the method instructions. Every step is clearly illustrated with lovely pictures and good written instructions. Although some of the methods use microwaving rather than stovetop steaming which is my preferred method it is simple to transfer the techniques across.

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Finally there are some patterns given to show off the hand dyed yarns, including the dyeing instructions (a range of methods are used across the patterns). I have not used any of these but they seem well written and clear. I would not buy the book just for the patterns as there are only eight (fine for a dyeing book, less so for a pattern book) and while nice they are not really my personal FO style.

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Price wise I paid about £8, I would definately say that is good for what I have got from the book. I can also see myself coming back to it often to try out different methods so will have got my moenys worth out of it.

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A final good point is that the book is spiral bound inside the cardboard cover. It might seem odd to mention this but it really is fantasically helpful as it means the book will lie flat on the table without having anything to hold it open. This makes it much easier to follow as you work. The only downside to this is that as you look through the first time some of the pages are a little stuck together where the holes for the bindings are. Careful separation is needed to avoid tearing. Once you have been through the book once this is not a problem.

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And since I don't like to post without pictures, some raspberry yarn dip dyed using the method in the book:

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Starting to run out of things to review, will have to get knitting or get myself to a new yarn shop!