
← The Long Thread Podcast10 May · 39 min
You Need This Book! The Yarn Barn of Kansas Required Reading List
Book Club Podcast: Fiber art veterans Susan Bateman and Melissa Parsons compare notes with host Anne Merrow about the books every weaver, spinner, knitter, and crocheter should have on the bookshelf—plus big news about a classic weaving directory.
They’re the first books you reach for, the ones you’ll never part with, and the first thing you recommend to every new crafter. If you have only one book on weaving, spinning, knitting, and crochet, make it one of these. In this episode of the Long Thread Podcast, three book lovers talk about what reading material we’d never be without.
Multishaft Weavers
Technique Books
Learning to Weave by Deborah Chandler
The classic book on four-harness weaving, this updated edition includes clear and approachable explanations, illustrations, and instructions for warping both from front to back and back to front.
Weaving for Beginners, Revised and Updated by Peggy Osterkamp
Another look at weaving fundamentals, Osterkamp’s thorough book is especially strong in back-to-front warping.
Pattern Directories
Big news for “The Green Book”—A Handweaver’s Pattern Book by Marguerite Porter Davison
The first version of Davison’s four-harness pattern directory was published in 1944, and weavers have been hunting for used copies since it went out of print decades later. A group of weavers has been quietly working on a major new edition, with new samples woven in color and contemporary drafts, which Schiffer Publishing will release in 2027! Handwoven and Yarn Barn of Kansas join the crowd of weavers eager to add the new book to our shelves.
A Weaver’s Book of 8-Shaft Patterns from the Friends of Handwoven, edited by Carol Strickler