All About Spinning Cotton + 4 Patterns Using Cotton Yarn

Cotton is an amazing fiber, growing in hot climates and emerging from beautiful flowers on spindly bushes and trees. Cotton fibers are great for keeping us cool and dry when it is hot and humid out. Cotton really is "the fabric of our lives" as the cotton industry says—but for handspinners, spinning cotton can be a bit intimidating.

However, you're in luck! This free eBook is filled with great tips about spinning cotton from spinners who love working with cotton and know how to get just the results they are looking for. Learn about the naturally occurring colors of cotton and some of the history of naturally colored cotton available to handspinners and then try out your handspun cotton by weaving dish towels, knitting a sweater, or crocheting a small bag. Whether you're new to spinning or have enjoyed cotton spinning for years, this eBook will teach you something new about spinning cotton yarn.

• Colored Cotton - Most people believe that this fiber is only white; however, other colors have been around for at least four millennia. Learn about cotton yarn characteristics, how to prepare naturally colored cotton for spinning, and get some patterns to knit up a few samplers with your new cotton yarn.

• My Cotton Shirt - Ann planted the seeds, harvested the cotton, ginned it, carded it, handspun it on a cotton spindle, and wove the fabric for this cotton blouse. It struck her one day that she had spun a couple of thousand yards of cotton yarn and was ready to begin weaving this project.

• Spinning Natural Colored Cotton for Dish Towels - When Gisela gets too many partial cones and spools of appropriate cotton yarns cluttering her shelves, she gets inspired to design and weave cotton dish towels. Dish towels make wonderful gifts so this is an exercise she repeats periodically. She always puts on a warp long enough for six towels and to avoid boredom, never weaves two the same. Follow the step by step instructions to learn how Gisela used natural-colored cotton for weaving beautiful striped dishtowels. Handspinning cotton has a reputation of being difficult, but with Gisela's expert tips and a bit of practice, you will find the craft relaxing and intoxicating.