Vanishing Fleece

Adventures in American Wool

By: Clara Parkes

Narrated by: Clara Parkes

Length: 5 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©2019 Clara Parkes (P)2020 Tantor

Must read for knitters

Clara narrates her story beautifully!
If you are interested in where your Wool comes from this is a fascinating tale.

I loved this book!

I laughed, & cried. This was an awesome listen & I recommend it highly.

Marvelous story! 10 stars worthy

Ms Parks takes sewers of all kinds through the vanishing state of wool textiles from growing and shearing, through detailed processing taking the reader from Maine to San Antonio to Canada in order to find the best place to process and dye her precious bale of exclusively bred fine wool. This is a great read for Ranchers, mill owners, and yes, for people who knit or use yarn in creative ways. Great book. Thank you.

Ewe-nite for sheep and wool!

Terrific story with a message for all in these climate-troubled times. Go Clara Parkes, Hurray!

No greased sheep race

Clara Parkes, with her self-imagined "Master's in Yarn Making" program, visits a wool farm, buys a commercial bale of fleece, and follows through the entire process from caring for and shearing the sheep to scouring, carding, spinning, plying, skeining, and dyeing that wool. All this takes place in the dwindling (and perhaps dying--no "e" in that) US wool industry.

A sympathetic voice with a personal interest in the subject, people, and situation, she spins a tremendous tale here in her own words, one of hope as well as tragedy. Well worth listening, even if you aren't a hand spinner or knitter. Fascinating too, if you are.

Absolutely delightful

As a knitter of wool and other natural fibers, I learned a lot about wool production and the trials and tribulations of wool producers and processors that had somehow skipped over me. The personal stories of the people trying to keep wool production alive in the US is astounding and heartbreaking.

Thank you Clara for bringing this story to light.

A revelation

For my family I pay close attention to every bit of food we eat, shopping locally for organic and healthy foods. Rarely, however, have I thought about the source of my clothing except to be pleased when I find something made in America but after reading this book I will make a priority to search out wool that has been produced start to finish in the US.

The story of a bale of wool from sheep to home.

This was more than I ever wanted to know about the making of small batch yarn. However it was somewhat interesting. Clara Parkes decides she will obtain a bale of wool and walk it through the steps to usable yarn. She begins by visiting a small farm with a special flock of Merino sheep, learns about and witnesses the shearing process, then takes this bale and divides it for processing in several different ways.

She begins with a small business with aging equipment for the baling, another for the cleaning, gets a portion spun and then dyed. Each batch goes through a different set of companies of various sizes until her final portion which she takes to a large commercial house for processing. Along the way we learn about the people, the process, the machinery, and the history of American wool.

If working with wool is one of your passions, you will enjoy this book.

Now, about the narration. An author generally should not narrate his or her books, but Clara Parkes is an excellent narrator! I commend her.

The Great White Bale

I was an armchair traveler for the original great white bale and looked forward to each update from Clara Parkes. This book wonderfully captures the sheep-to-yarn journey and the people along the way. I love Clara’s descriptions - she uses words that are filled with presence- and hearing her read them makes them even more rich. I am jealous of the people who managed to sign up for the yarn samples of the journey but this book is definitely the next best thing.

Lovely story well written and read

It’s usually a treat when an author narrates their own story and Clara does this exceptionally well. Even if you are not a knitter or that interested in textiles this is still a compelling story of our country’s textile industry decline and it’s hope for the future. And so much more!