
Vanishing Fleece
Adventures in American Wool
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Narrated by:
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Clara Parkes
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By:
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Clara Parkes
About this listen
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 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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- Unabridged
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How did human beings learn to knit? What's the story? We don't know, and there may be many stories of unknown knitters who figured out how to make fabric from a ball of yarn and two sticks. These fictional stories spin tales of how we all may have learned to knit, starting from the first knitted cloth made in Egypt and all the way up to the present. Told through the stories of three main characters, Knitting Through Time shows how women in Western Europe and North America may have learned to knit. Journey with Seraphina, a Roman aristocrat of the 4th century, who seeks solace in the stark ...
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Delightful on many levels!
- By Nell M. Benton on 03-01-25
By: Cynthia Coe
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Women's Work
- The First 20,000 Years: Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times
- By: Elizabeth Wayland Barber
- Narrated by: Donna Postel
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Twenty thousand years ago, women were making and wearing the first clothing created from spun fibers. In fact, right up to the Industrial Revolution the fiber arts were an enormous economic force, belonging primarily to women. Despite the great toil required in making cloth and clothing, most books on ancient history and economics have no information on them. Much of this gap results from the extreme perishability of what women produced, but it seems clear that until now descriptions of prehistoric and early historic cultures have omitted virtually half the picture.
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Respectful treatment of the archeological record.
- By fiberflair on 02-23-21
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Fibershed
- Growing a Movement of Farmers, Fashion Activists, and Makers for a New Textile Economy
- By: Rebecca Burgess
- Narrated by: Tia Rider
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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There is a major disconnect between what we wear and our knowledge of its impact on land, air, water, labor, and human health. Even those who value access to safe, local, nutritious food have largely overlooked the production of fiber, dyes, and the chemistry that forms the backbone of modern textile production. While humans are 100 percent reliant on their second skin, it’s common to think little about the biological and human cultural context from which our clothing derives.
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Interested In Sustainable Life, Not Just Food?
- By becky on 11-21-19
By: Rebecca Burgess
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The Fabric of Civilization
- How Textiles Made the World
- By: Virginia I. Postrel
- Narrated by: Caroline Cole
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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The story of humanity is the story of textiles - as old as civilization itself. Since the first thread was spun, the need for textiles has driven technology, business, politics, and culture. In The Fabric of Civilization, Virginia Postrel synthesizes groundbreaking research from archaeology, economics, and science to reveal a surprising history. From Minoans exporting wool colored with precious purple dye to Egypt, to Romans arrayed in costly Chinese silk, the cloth trade paved the crossroads of the ancient world.
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Pop journalism article lengthened into a book
- By Anonymous User on 02-05-22
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The Paper Garden
- An Artist Begins Her Life's Work at 72
- By: Molly Peacock
- Narrated by: Jill Tanner
- Length: 11 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Paper Garden, celebrated poet Molly Peacock explores the remarkable life of 18th-century British gentlewoman-turned-artist Mary Delany. In the 1770s, at the age of 72, the twice-widowed and nearly broke Delany turned her interest in botany into beautiful paper “mosaick” flowers still revered today.
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Loved it!
- By Diane Challenor on 10-25-12
By: Molly Peacock
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The Library
- A Catalogue of Wonders
- By: Stuart Kells
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 7 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Libraries are much more than mere collections of volumes. The best are magical, fabled places whose fame has become part of the cultural wealth they are designed to preserve. The Library is a celebration of books as objects, a celebration of the anthropology and physicality of books and bookish space, and an account of the human side of these hallowed spaces by a leading and passionate bibliophile.
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Excellent Story -- Really Enjoyed It
- By JW on 04-21-25
By: Stuart Kells
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Only the Clothes on Her Back
- Clothing and the Hidden History of Power in the Nineteenth-Century United States
- By: Laura F. Edwards
- Narrated by: Stephanie Richardson
- Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Only the Clothes on Her Back uncovers practices, commonly known then, but now long forgotten, which made textiles - clothing, cloth, bedding, and accessories, such as shoes and hats - a unique form of property that people without rights could own and exchange. The value of textiles depended on law, and it was law that turned these goods into a secure form of property for marginalized people, who not only used these textiles as currency, credit, and capital, but also as entree into the new republic's economy and governing institutions.
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Buy the book
- By Susan on 12-29-22
By: Laura F. Edwards
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Unraveling
- What I Learned About Life While Shearing Sheep, Dyeing Wool, and Making the World’s Ugliest Sweater
- By: Peggy Orenstein
- Narrated by: Peggy Orenstein
- Length: 5 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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The COVID pandemic propelled many people to change their lives in ways large and small. Some adopted puppies. Others stress-baked. Peggy Orenstein, a lifelong knitter, went just a little further. To keep herself engaged and cope with a series of seismic shifts in family life, she set out to make a garment from the ground up: learning to shear sheep, spin and dye yarn, then knitting herself a sweater.
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Nailed it!
- By Miss Effie on 02-19-23
By: Peggy Orenstein
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The Golden Thread
- How Fabric Changed History
- By: Kassia St. Clair
- Narrated by: Helen Johns
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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From colorful 30,000-year-old threads found on the floor of a Georgian cave to the Indian calicoes that sparked the Industrial Revolution, The Golden Thread weaves an illuminating story of human ingenuity. Design journalist Kassia St. Clair guides us through the technological advancements and cultural customs that would redefine human civilization - from the fabric that allowed mankind to achieve extraordinary things (traverse the oceans and shatter athletic records) and survive in unlikely places (outer space and the South Pole).
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Excellent for those interested in textiles
- By Adeliese Baumann on 12-14-19
By: Kassia St. Clair
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Knitting Pearls
- Writers Writing About Knitting
- By: Ann Hood - editor
- Narrated by: William Dufris, Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
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The rhythm, ritual, and pleasure of knitting are celebrated in this new collection for lovers of both knitting and literature. In Knitting Pearls, two dozen writers write about the transformative and healing powers of knitting. Lily King remembers the year her family lived in Italy, and a knitted hat that helped her daughter adjust to her new home. Laura Lippman explores how converting to Judaism changed not only Christmas but also her mother's gift of a knitted stocking.
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Oh dear.
- By kgohl on 06-13-17
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Yarn to Go
- Yarn Retreat Mystery Series, Book 1
- By: Betty Hechtman
- Narrated by: Margaret Strom
- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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When dessert chef Casey Feldstein finds out that her late aunt's business, Yarn2Go, has one more yarn retreat scheduled, she decides to go ahead and host the event, despite her complete lack of experience as a knitter. At least the retreat is on the beautiful Monterey Peninsula. But the idyllic setting is soured when a retreat regular is found murdered in her hotel room. Feeling a sense of responsibility, Casey begins to weave the clues together and detects a pattern which may shed light on her aunt's suspicious death.
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Fun mystery...
- By Delia on 05-28-17
By: Betty Hechtman
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The Anatomy of Genres
- How Story Forms Explain the Way the World Works
- By: John Truby
- Narrated by: Nick Mondelli
- Length: 22 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Most people think genres are simply categories on Netflix or Amazon that provide a helpful guide to making entertainment choices. Most people are wrong. Genre stories aren’t just a small subset of the films, video games, TV shows, and books that people consume. They are the all-stars of the entertainment world, comprising the vast majority of popular stories worldwide. That’s why businesses—movie studios, production companies, video game studios, and publishing houses—buy and sell them. Legendary writing teacher John Truby provides a guide to understanding the major genres of the story world.
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Audible is not the best medium for this book
- By Ken on 02-13-25
By: John Truby
What listeners say about Vanishing Fleece
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- Amazon Customer
- 12-23-20
I LOVED IT!
A beautifully written story of yarn making. Since I work in the industry it was so great to hear someone write of how it is all done. I laughed, I cried and I appreciated our work even more.
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14 people found this helpful
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- Charles Daniels
- 09-11-21
I learned something new
I had no idea what this book was about other than the fact there was a sheep on the cover. Boy did I learn a lot! It was an amazing journey and I loved every moment. Thanks for the experience it was fun!
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1 person found this helpful
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- dr Frank
- 06-12-21
Excellent story -
Although I don't knit or typically wear wool, the book intrigued me from the beginning and it was well written that kept my interest. All of the backstories and journeys that Clara and the wool took to become a finished product were well done and interesting.
Additionally, the insights about the people, their lives in the industry, and how they ended up working in the industry.
Everything was well written and kept me interested until the end. I highly recommend this book, which is not only about wool, but the textile industry, sheep farms/ranches, and the history of the United States.
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- Amazon Customer
- 06-13-21
Beautiful
I crochet, when I can. Hearing the entire effort of what goes into making our beloved yarns was both interesting and beautiful, in equal measure. I am inspired to continue crocheting, but now, will use more wool.
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- Alexandria Moon
- 03-10-23
An Adventure
wow, what an adventure this book took me on along side Clara. As a total wool nerd and yarn fanatic I so enjoyed this journey.
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- Heidi Parkes
- 05-21-23
Very interesting project
I learned a lot in following Clara’s journey. As a fellow ‘Parkes,’ I could relate soooo well to her statement about the common misspelling of our shared last name.
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- EJ
- 06-09-23
Our consumerism can fuel or cripple an industry
This has been on my TBR list since it was released. Seriously, I have no idea why it's taken me so long to read it. I'm also rather clueless about how much manufacturing of American goods has diminished. It's really not anything I think of... I'm an immigrant. I drive a Japanese imported car. Our consumerism can fuel or cripple an industry. As a hand knitter, I'm proud to say that I've purchased yarn from indie dyers that are located in the US as well as abroad. I'm also a fan of Quince & Co and am a subscriber of their Quince Quarterly yarn subscription. While I make it a point to purchase most things from small businesses, I am guilty of taking advantage of Amazon's Subscribe & Save. le sigh. I see there is room for improvement.
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- Kaysi12
- 03-12-20
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.
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20 people found this helpful
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- w.l.
- 10-02-21
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.
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- Aunt Vee
- 07-07-21
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.
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