Shear Spirit: Ten Fiber Farms, Twenty Patterns, and Miles of Yarn [Hardcover]

Joan Tapper (Author), Gale Zucker (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 2008

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“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

About the Author

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.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Potter Craft (April 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307394034
• ISBN-13: 978-0307394033
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 0.7 x 11.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #731,768 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A visual delight; A textu(r)al pleasure, May 2, 2008

By 

K. Kassap (CT) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shear Spirit: Ten Fiber Farms, Twenty Patterns, and Miles of Yarn (Hardcover)

If you are not familiar with Gale Zucker's photography, then you are in for a real treat. Her portraits have an amazing way of compassionately capturing many facets of an individual. Her landscapes and narrative work express joy and excitement for color, light and texture. She takes a personal pleasure in photographing sheep and animals and somehow brings out a human quality in her subjects. These photos make it obvious why the fiber farmers love their work.

Joan Tapper is equally talented at providing an engaging and interesting text for this book. As you read each chapter you feel transported to another location. She tells these unusual stories with an intimacy that gives the reader the feeling that she really knows something about the lives of these farmers. There is nothing typical about their lives and stories, and they are frequently quite inspiring.

This is a book that will remain off the shelves in your home and on hand. You cannot devour the gorgeous photos in one or two sittings. Nor can you keep yourself from checking your recollection of interesting facts. For example, who knew that the Icelandic sheep being raised in Minnesota are genetically the same as the sheep the Vikings first brought to Iceland? I am familiar with a Navajo story about a Spider Goddess and weaving, but I had never heard about Talking God who created sheep from clouds, willows, rocks, plants and rainbows. And although I have spent close to 20 summers vacationing in Maine, I did not know that the Damariscotta River could provide seawater to fix the dye in fiber.

While knitting has gained in popularity as celebrities are seen carrying their knitting bags, this book pays homage to a wide variety of fiber arts. The authors explore knitting, crocheting, Navajo weaving, felting, spinning, and dying. Patterns accompany each chapter which beginners and experts can enjoy. If you are any sort of crafts person, if you are not a crafts person but appreciate the beauty and effort of well made crafts, if you are interested in small agruicultural businesses, or would like to vicariously experience a more rural life, then this is the book for you. I foolishly purchased only one copy. As soon as it arrived I realized that I should have bought at least three more as gifts. (Which I promptly did.)

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I dream of owning sheep, April 20, 2008

By 

College Kid (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shear Spirit: Ten Fiber Farms, Twenty Patterns, and Miles of Yarn (Hardcover)

I am a knitter who dreams of owning her own sheep. This book was perfect for me! It shows you what it's really like! Beautiful pictures and long descriptions! It look me over an hour to read it all! I loved seeing close-ups of life on a fiber farm - shearing, carding, dying etc. Most of the profiles follow the owners through a day of work and interview them about their farming, so you get both the specific and the general picture. Lots of text and lots of pictures! Most of the farms are very concerned with being environmentally friendly / sustainable, which is nice too. The actual knitting patterns are no big deal - nice but (shrug) - the real attraction with this book is the inside view of working fiber farms, and low impact living on a working farm.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Marvelous tour of fiber farms coast to coast, April 16, 2008

By 

Vera "Constant reader" (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Shear Spirit: Ten Fiber Farms, Twenty Patterns, and Miles of Yarn (Hardcover)

When this book arrived last night I sat up savoring it cover to cover: very much in the spirit of Knitting in America, this fresh take of notable and varied fiber farms include all the major fibers(wool, cashmere, angora, alpaca, etc.), together with their special cultivation, processing and suggested patterns. These are some of the best of the best in all categories -- a glimpse into the places that some of us know only from fiber festivals. The photographs and texts flow easily and delightfully.