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

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.