This book was given to me as a gift and I loved reading it! It is filled with beautiful photos of different species of wool-producing species, as well as their fleeces / fibers in raw, cleaned, spun, and knitted states. I am allergic to sheep's wool but I enjoyed reading about the different breeds of sheep so much that I almost ordered samples of several different fleeces just to see if perhaps my body would allow me to work with them. (I may still do that one day.) I loved that the camelids, goats, rabbits and other fiber animals were also included.

The stories of the different sheep breeds and other animals were fascinating and I especially loved reading about the at-risk and scarce species.

This seems to be a well-researched labor of love that must have taken so much time to compile. I'd recommend it for anyone interested in the fiber arts. ( )

Deborah Robson and Carol Ekarius began writing the Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook after the United Nations declared that 2009 would be the International Year of Natural Fibers. The declaration was an environmental one as the process of producing synthetic fibers released harmful compounds into the air. The result was smog and many health problems for people who lived near the areas where they were produced. The book was published in 2011.

As a person who spins fiber into yarn, having a book with information on 200 different sheep and other animals is quite resourceful to have on my bookshelf. The hair, or fiber, that is shorn from each type of animal has different characteristics and may need to be spun a certain way. A spinner may need to purchase more fiber from a particular species to complete a project than from another species. Having all of this information at your fingertips helps in making purchasing decisions.

When an animal can be grouped into a category, it is. For example, there is the cheviot family of sheep, a down family, English longwool family, merino family and others. Goats, camelids, bison, yak, rabbits and musk ox are also covered. Note that a camelid can be an alpaca, llama, guanaco, vicuna or camel.

For each animal there is a description of its traits, facts on its fleece weight, length, diameter, lock characteristics and natural colors. There is also information on how to prepare it for spinning, how well it takes dyes and the types of garments that it is best suited for. You can see with all this information at hand, the spinner or weaver basically has a goof proof guide to selecting the best fiber for a project.

This is a must read for all spinners! ( )

This book is a must if you are interested in learning about the various types of fleeces, their characteristics, and the type of yarn they produce. Don't buy a fleece without consulting this book! ( )

Describes every sheep and its wool

Okay, I have to give this 5 stars because I wrote it and I know what went into it. I do know that there was more I wanted to write, but we ran out of time. I wish I knew how to add the cover image! I have one right here on my computer. / Hmm. I also am trying to change from the e-book edition (which I have not seen yet, although I know it exists) to the physical book, which isn't in the database. Can you guess that I'm relatively new here? I signed up about the time I started researching Fleece & Fiber, at which point I suddenly didn't have time for anything else. . . . ( )