Vanishing Fleece
Adventures in American Wool
Out of Stock- Regular price
- $21.99
- Sale price
- $21.99
- Regular price
-
- Unit price
- / per
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.
Praise for Vanishing Fleece
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!
actor, humorist, and author of Vacationland
“While I laughed and loved Clara's prose, I was left with so much more. It's actually a lovely and melancholy look at an American industry that's quickly changing, and a beautiful story of the people who are sacrificing to maintain it."
actor, director, and author of I Don't Know What You Know Me From: Confessions of a Co-Star
“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.”
The Washington Post
“Quite possibly the only writer you will ever read who can make a discussion of micron counts absolutely riveting.”
The Oregonian
Clara Parkes is an author, yarn critic, and wool expert whose work explores the fibers we wear and the stories behind them. She is the founder of Knitter's Review, an influential online platform that helped shape the modern knitting community, and the author of several books, including the New York Times-bestselling Knitlandia.
Through her writing, speaking, and media work, Parkes has become a leading advocate for greater awareness of textile production and the value of natural fibers, connecting readers to the people, processes, and traditions behind everyday materials.
You May Also Like
View moreSign up to our Newsletter
- Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.