Clara Parkes has 4 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 4 narrators, with an average listener rating of 4.7★ across 38 ratings. The most-rated is Vanishing Fleece.
Vanishing Fleece
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
Knitlandia
Summary
Knitting aficionado and notable artisan Clara Parkes delves into her storied travels with this inspiring and witty New York Times best-selling memoir of a creative life enriched by her adventures around the world. Building on the success of The Yarn Whisperer, Parkes' rich personal essays invite listeners and devoted crafters on excursions to be savored, from a guide who quickly comes to feel like a trusted confidante. In Knitlandia, she takes listeners along on 17 of her most memorable journeys across the globe over the last 15 years, with stories spanning from the fjords of Iceland to a cozy yarn shop in Paris' 13th arrondissement. Also known for her PBS television appearances and hugely popular line of small-batch handcrafted yarns, Parkes weaves her personal blend of wisdom and humor into this eloquently down-to-earth guide that is part personal travel narrative and part cultural history, touching the heart of what it means to live creatively. Join Parkes as she ventures to locales both foreign and familiar in chapters like: "Chasing a Legend in Taos" "Glass, Grass, and the Power of Place: Tacoma, Washington" "A Thing for Socks and a Very Big Plan: Portland, Oregon" "Autumn on the Hudson: The New York Sheep & Wool Festival" "Cashmere Dreams and British Breeds: A Last-Minute Visit to Edinburgh, Scotland" Fans of travel writing, as well as knitters, crocheters, designers, and fiber artists alike, will enjoy the masterful narrative in these intimate tales from a life well crafted. Whether you've committed to exploring your own wanderlust or are an armchair traveler curled up in your coziest slippers, Knitlandia is sure to inspire laughter, tears, and maybe some travel plans of your own.
©2016 Clara Parkes (P)2016 Random House Audio
A Stash of One's Own
Summary
Named one of the top 10 lifestyle books for fall 2017 by Publishers Weekly. In tales from 21 knitters, Clara Parkes examines a subject that is irresistible to us all: the yarn stash. Anyone with a passion has a stash, whether it is a collection of books or enough yarn to exceed several life expectancies. With her trademark wry, witty approach, Parkes brings together fascinating stories from all facets of stash-keeping and knitting life - from KonMari minimalist to joyous collector, designer to dyer, spinner to social worker, scholar to sheep farmer. Whether the yarn stash is muse, memento, creative companion, career guide, or lifeline in tough times, these deeply engaging stories take a surprising and fascinating look at why we collect, what we cherish, and how we let go. Contributors include New York Times best-selling authors Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and Debbie Stoller, Meg Swansen and Franklin Habit, Ann Shayne and Kay Gardiner, Adrienne Martini, and a host of others.
©2017 Clara Parkes (P)2018 Audible, Inc.
The Yarn Whisperer
Summary
Stockinette, ribbing, cables, even the humble yarn over can instantly evoke places, times, people, conversations, all those poignant moments that we've tucked away in our memory banks. Over time, those stitches form a map of our lives. (From the preface) In The Yarn Whisperer: Reflections on a Life in Knitting, renowned knitter and author Clara Parkes ponders the roles knitting plays in her life via 22 captivating, poignant, and laugh-out-loud funny essays. Recounting tales of childhood and adulthood, family, friends, adventure, privacy, disappointment, love, and celebration, she hits upon the universal truths that drive knitters to create and explores the ways in which knitting can be looked at as a metaphor for so many other things. Put simply, "No matter how perfect any one sweater may be, it's only human to crave another. And another, and another." Praise for The Yarn Whisperer: “I see a lot of yarn books in this gig, and Whisperer is not only the best I’ve seen this year, it’s one of my all-time faves. Seriously, it’s that good.” (The Oregonian) “I don’t want to stop reading. Each chapter is a little jewel.” (KnitCircus.com) “Parkes has a poet’s appreciation for the interconnectivity of seemingly disparate aspects of life.... I have a sense of affinity with the metaphors she chooses, which are drawn from music, gardening, baking, and of course, knitting. Her language dances and gallops, chuckles and sings.” (Kangath Knits blog) “The Yarn Whisperer weaves together knitting anecdotes and life experiences of the author in a way that I think we can all relate to.” (Kelbourne Woolens blog) “It’s a fun book for curling up on a cool day with a cup of tea, knitting nearby, of course.” (CraftGossip.com) “It is seriously the best book about knitting experiences ever. I absolutely LOVED it!” (Sweetly Made) “If you haven’t read The Yarn Whisperer yet, you should. It’s sweet, funny and full of moments you’ll recognize or aspire to. I recommend you get a copy.” (Moth Heaven) “In this charming series of linked essays, Parkes metaphorically puts the fast whorl on her wheel and spins something entirely new, showing that she’s not just a good writer but a great one. Funny, sweet, and trenchant and offered in twenty-two digestible bits, this book is not only the quintessential sampler afghan of knit lit, it is also the ‘It’ gift of the season. Buy a stack to stuff inside the handmade stockings of your knitting-circle friends.” (Vogue Knitting) “The creator of Knitter’s Review has created a collection of stories of her life of knitting, yarn, baking and overall appreciation for all things beautiful, and has woven them together like afghan squares with charm, grace and hilarity.” (Petite Purls) “Her writing is incredibly clever...this book will be dear to your heart.” (Knit the Hell Out)
©2016 Clara Parkes (P)2016 Random House Audio