On the Interweave (publisher of many excellent mags and books) you can
find pdf-format leaflets that will get you started on the spinning
path. If you spend a bit of time with Google you can find directions
for making many of your own fiber tools, including a spindle made with
a couple of CDs, a rubber grommet and a piece of wooden dowel.

There are endless sources of spinning fiber, including wool in its
various preparations, cotton, flax (linen), cashmere, and on and on
and on. Again, Google is your friend, though I can recommend a couple
of vendors if you email me off-list.

On Sat, 20 Dec 2003 16:04:58 GMT, Bibe wrote:

I've recently taken up knitting again after a few year break, and was
perhpas thinking of spinning my own yarn, but I have never done this
before, and frankly, I don't really know much about spinning.

Would anyone know of a great website or book that could teach me more
about this? While I have found some websites that were helpful, I am
still clueless.

Can I spin by hand? I don't want to be fully commited and spend lots of
money of equipment like a wheel, I just want to try it out. Also, this
may sound stupid, but what kind of materials would you spin? I don't
have a sheep in my backyard that I can go get wool from LOL. Can I
buy wool that is meant for spinning? I have heard of less conventional
materials such as dog hair for instance. This site for example,
http://www.mdnpd.com/pd/, talked about that and had tutorials about
spinning.

Thanks for any help.