Shear Spirit
Ten Fiber Farms, Twenty Patterns, and Miles of Yarn
By Joan Tapper; Gale Zucker (Photographer)
(Potter Craft, Hardcover, 9780307394033, 160pp.)
Publication Date: April 15, 2008
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An artisan who captures Maine’s summer air in her sun-and-sea-dyed yarns. A weaver and a poet whose Buddhist stupa sits near the barns of their Massachusetts farm. Two scientists turned sheep farmers whose flock grazes in the shadows of Montana’s Bridger Mountains. A Navajo sheep herder and craftsman in the Black Mesa region of Arizona whose endangered breed of sheep were rescued from extinction. These are just a few of the captivating portraits of America’s fiber farms and ranches featured in Shear Spirit.
Part coffee-table book, part inspirational work, and part pattern guide, Shear Spirit connects knitters to the yarn-producing community in a new and intimate way. Filled with stunning photographs, fascinating essays, and heartwarming profiles, this book follows the writer and photographer to 10 fiber farms and ranches across America-from the Willamette Valley of Oregon to the coast of Maine-capturing the essence of the people, places, and animals that, together, create yarn. Twenty projects featuring yarns from the farms surveyed will inspire knitters everywhere.
A visual journey to America’s fiber farms and ranches plus a rich inside look at the challenging but rewarding lives of the people who have devoted their lives to harvesting and spinning fleece into yarn, Shear Spirit takes fiber enthusiasts of all ages and interests right to the source of their common passion.
GALE ZUCKER is an award-winning location photographer and avid knitter. Her work has appeared in books, advertising, and magazines. Her portraits and feature stories appear frequently in Smithsonian, Newsweek, Yankee, and the New York Times Magazine.
Before becoming an editor of the award-winning Islands magazine, which she headed for 13 years, JOAN TAPPER was the founding editor of National Geographic Traveler. She is the author of Island Dreams: Caribbean and The Most Beautiful Villages and Towns of California and writes features about people, arts, and culture for a variety of other national publications.
“With her perceptive profiles of life on farms from Maine to Oregon, Joan Tapper introduces us to passionate people whose lives are beautifully tied to the land. Gale Zucker’s rich, human photographs show us these stunning places, tender faces, and the most gorgeous fiber. Shear Spirit’s stories will stay with you long after you finish the book and will weave through your imagination as you create the lovely projects.” –Ann Shayne and Kay Gardiner, Authors of Mason-Dixon Knitting
“Set down your knitting needles, kick off your barn boots, and put on the kettle before becoming absorbed in every page of this book. Whether you are smitten with fiber or warm wooly faces, Shear Spirit provides a cozy window into modern-day fiber farming. Get ready to spend an afternoon on the farm without tuning up the tractor, and enjoy colorful patterns that will keep you happily counting stitches well into the night.” –Linda Cortright, Wildfibers Magazine
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