The tools and fiber you need to dye and spin your own yarn, with inspiration and instruction from the most excellent Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook.

The Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook is, in my opinion, one of the greatest dyeing and spinning books ever written. Now you can apply Lynne Vogel's techniques to your own fiber, with a kit that contains the following:

• Interweave's Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook
• Eight (!) ounces of natural Blue-Faced Leicester fiber (enough for two pairs of socks!)
• Four 1/2-ounce containers of acid dyes, in primary blue, yellow, and red, plus black for darker colors
• Eight squeeze bottles. The four 32-ounce bottles are great for holding stock solutions of the primaries and black, and the four 8-ounce bottles are handy for mixing up secondaries or any other combinations you come up with.
  
• One NIOSH rated dust mask, for use when working with dye powders

(You'll also need latex gloves, a non-aluminum stockpot or roasting pan for immersion or steaming, white vinegar, and plastic wrap.)

Your kit will contain enough dye to do a lot more fiber (or yarn) than this 8 ounces! But this delicious BFL top will get you started on the addictive road to dyeing your own. I have included Interweave's description of the Twisted Sisters book below, but my own experience is that once you've tried dyeing, you'll go back to the book again and again for idea on how to achieve great color effects through various dyeing and spinning methods. The book contains a variety of simple sock patterns with various cast-ons, heels, and toes as well, but to call this a sock book would be to limit it unfairly.

Keep in mind that the book assumes a basic understanding of spinning. Although it focuses on the drop spindle rather than the wheel, the book does not contain instructions for either. It does, however, show you comparisons between plying techniques and how to achieve any color effect you want based on how you dye your fiber (or yarn).

From Interweave:

The title gives you a big clue: this book is about sisterhood, sharing, crafting, giving, laughing. It’s also about spinning yarn and making socks—not just any old yarn or any old socks, but glorious, zany, wildly colorful yarn for perfect-fitting socks of character. Dip-dyeing, pour-dyeing, and hand-painting yarns or wool rovings is as easy as making homemade soup, whether you use commercial dyes or Kool-Aid®. If you like starting from scratch, spinning one-of-a-kind yarn is easier than you think. And the socks—a pair of well-crafted, perfectly fitting socks is one of life’s true luxuries. It’s all right here in this book.

The Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook has it all—the techniques, the patterns, the invaluable tips—for creating authentic, perfect, made-to-order footwear. Even socks for new babies or socks with ten toes. And who are the Twisted Sisters? A hospice nurse, a post-doc scholar, an organic farmer, an assistant attorney general for the state of Oregon, a high school teacher, a finance and operations manager, a touch therapist, a mom. Your spinning and knitting mentors, your friends.

About the author: Lynne Vogel is a prolific and creative knitter and spinner with a marvelous sense of color. Lynne is an active participant in today’s fiber community and encourages people at all levels to pursue their craft with passion and commitment. She has authored magazine articles and has been a needlepoint designer and painter for A Stitch in Time in San Marino, California. She lives in Sewanee, Tennessee.

Paperbound, 8 1/2 x 9, 96 pages, 101 color photographs, 35 line drawings, 6 charts, ISBN 1-931499-16-0