Well, in all honesty it was last week that I picked these books up. I’ve decided to break it up into two groups this week as I found quite a few winner and they are in two distinct categories. We will start out today with dyeing and then I’ll show you the embroidery books on Thursday.

I really wasn’t fond of the two silk painting books I picked up. They both seemed to be lacking in facts and, really, the end products just weren’t my style so I lost interest in them pretty quickly. I have to admit that all the books on silk painting I’ve picked up always seem a little, well, funky. Not like funky like funky town, just off. There is just always something about them -be it photography, or projects, or information, or illustrations- that just makes me go “meh”. I like historical silk painting. And I like painting. And I like silk painting I’ve seen done by artisans and artists and at local craft fairs. It’s just the books. Anyway, so it was same old same old with those two.

Then there was The Yarn Lover’s Guide to Hand Dyeing by Linda La Belle. I love this book. In fact it’s about to hit the “checked out three times better just add it to my own library so someone else can check it out” point.

It has a little sampling and instructions on how to use just about every type of dye out there available for home dyeing – including natural dyeing to kool-aid dyeing (a huge plus point for me).

They also have a project for each type of dyeing.

And they have interviews with each dye studio as well as pictures of those studios (another huge plus point for me). I am so envious of this converted barn into a dyeing studio. That is a dream for me – well, not just for dyeing, but a converted barn into a massive fiber studio on a hobby farm where I could have a bed and breakfast/fiber arts retreat + sheep for spinning + a few goats + chicken. When a book leads me on to a tangent of dreaming and wistful thinking it’s a good one just for inspiration alone. But this book has some pretty good intro to dyeing information too.

This book has met the checked out three times level, but I already have a good natural dyeing book, so I’ll hold off getting it until my craft diet is over (mid Feb or early march)

It shows the process of collecting, processing, and making your dye bath from the dyestuff.

This is my favorite part – there is a huge index of dye stuff (the plants the dyes are extracted from) with color tabs and instructions for each type. That would be really nice to have as my other dye book is black and white.

And then this is just pretty neat. It’s yarn swatches of color made from just one dye bath – 25 shade/colors for each dye stuff – 3 dye baths shown.

This is a pretty small book, but it is packed with some really good information and projects.

Of course the generals of how to do batik is covered. Things like wax blends to use and their properties, making your design, and then the process of removing wax. All good things to know.

And then there are some great projects. the twill ribbon was my favorite, followed by the lunch bag on the cover, and then a pretty three piece wall hanging.

And in the back there is a gallery of all the patterns shown and what pages they are on, very handy.

I hope you go see if you library might have some of these, and if they don’t, like I say every library book post, you can usually request them and they will order them for the library and you will get first dibs on checking it out. Just ask.

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On another note, I’m having a giveaway on the KroStudio blog. I have a knit/crochet pattern in the newest issue of Knit Scene, so I’m giving away a copy. Go check that out.

Other than that there are not really anymore updates, so I will see you all tomorrow!

Have a great day and happy crafting!
Kristin

ps – okay, so I just went to the website, and was like “hey, where’s my most recent post!?” – umm, sorry… i didn’t publish it! (thank goodness I saved it!) So that thing about “on thursday”, disregard. This is kind of funny and good at the same time. Now I can work tonight on tomorrow’s post and put this up today and then tomorrow’s post will be really awesome. I was also wondering why more of you hadn’t signed up for the knitscene giveaway! So make sure to go leave a comment over on KroStudio and get signed up. Tomorrow is the last day to sign up for it.