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Clara Parkes

Vanishing Fleece: Adventures in American Wool Hardcover – 1 Oct. 2019

by Clara Parkes (Author)

172 ratings

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A fast-paced account of the year Clara Parkes spent transforming a 676-pound bale of fleece into saleable yarn, and the people and vanishing industry she discovered along the way

Join Clara Parkes on a cross-country adventure and meet a cast of characters that includes the shepherds, dyers, and countless workers without whom our knitting needles would be empty, our mills idle, and our feet woefully cold. Travel the country with her as she meets a flock of Saxon Merino sheep in upstate New York, tours a scouring plant in Texas, visits a steamy Maine dyehouse, helps sort freshly shorn wool on a working farm, and learns how wool fleece is measured, baled, shipped, and turned into skeins.

In pursuit of the perfect yarn, Parkes describes a brush with the dangers of opening a bale (they can explode), and her adventures from Maine to Wisconsin (“the most knitterly state”) and back again; along the way, she presents a behind-the-scenes look at the spinners, scourers, genius inventors, and crazy-complex mill machines that populate the yarn-making industry. By the end of the book, you’ll be ready to set aside the backyard chickens and add a flock of sheep instead. Simply put, no other book exists that explores American culture through the lens of wool.

Print length

192 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Abrams Press
Publication date

1 Oct. 2019
Dimensions

15.24 x 2.92 x 21.34 cm
ISBN-10

1419735314
ISBN-13

978-1419735318
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Product details

Publisher : Abrams Press; 1st edition (1 Oct. 2019)
Language : English
Hardcover : 192 pages
ISBN-10 : 1419735314
ISBN-13 : 978-1419735318
Dimensions : 15.24 x 2.92 x 21.34 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 485,333 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 102 in Textile Arts
- 221 in Agricultural Science
- 327 in Agriculture Industry

Customer reviews:
172 ratings

Product description

Review

"Given my hatred of puns, I absolutely do not want to say Clara Parkes spins an incredible yarn, but how else to describe this incredible book? Parkes is the Marc Kurlansky of wool!" --John Hodgman "actor, humorist, and author of Vacationland "

"Long before social media cluttered every corner of our existence, Parkes's conversational 411 about new yarns and interesting pattern designs forged connections among far-flung knitters, who discovered they were a global community rather than lone practitioners of a cozy hobby they'd learned from Mom." --Kathy Blumenstock "The Washington Post "

"Quite possibly the only writer you will ever read who can make a discussion of micron counts absolutely riveting." --Mary Mooney "The Oregonian "

About the Author

Author of six books, including the New York Times bestselling Knitlandia, Clara Parkes has dedicated her life to figuring out what makes yarn tick―and finding the right words to write about it. Through her writings, workshops, and appearances, Clara champions the notion of paying closer attention to what you knit and where it came from. She lives in Portland, Maine.

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5 star		83%
4 star		11%
3 star		3%
2 star		1%
1 star		2%

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Top review from United Kingdom

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Wailliewaillie

Compulsive reading

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 January 2021

Verified Purchase

This book is a true case of an author taking their readers along on a journey, in this case through the US wool processing industry. Without hyperbole, absolutely unpardonable.

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