Product Description

Not all yarns are alike. Some make our hearts and hands sing, some get the job done without much fanfare, and some cause nothing but frustration and disappointment. The gorgeous pair of socks that emerged from their first bath twice as long as when they went in. The delicate baby sweater that started pilling before it even came off the needles. The stunning colorwork scarf that you can’t wear because the yarn feels like sandpaper against your neck. If only there were a way to read a skein and know how it would behave and what it wanted to become before you invested your time, energy, and money in it. Now there is! With The Knitter’s Book of Yarn, you’ll learn how to unleash your inner yarn whisperer.

In these pages, Clara Parkes provides in-depth insight into a vast selection of yarns, giving you the inside stories behind the most common fiber types, preparations, spins, and ply combinations used by large-scale manufacturers and importers, medium-sized companies, boutique dye shops, community spinneries, and old-fashioned sheep farms. And, because we learn best by doing, Parkes went to some of the most creative and inquisitive design minds of the knitting world to provide a wide assortment of patterns created to highlight the qualities (and minimize the drawbacks) of specific types of yarns.

The Knitter’s Book of Yarn will teach you everything you need to know about yarn: How it’s made, who makes it, how it gets to you, and what it longs to become. The next time you pick up a skein, you won’t have to wonder what to do with it. You’ll just know–the way any yarn whisperer would.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3765 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-16
• Released on: 2007-10-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Review
“Un. Real. There is no other way to describe...well, that’s a lie because I'll come up with more. But my first impression of The Knitter's Book of Yarn? Un. Real. I open the hardcover to reveal a fiber family tree. Smitten. Smitten on the spot. This book is, without a doubt, everything you ever wanted to know not just about fiber but were afraid to ask….This is absolutely a MUST HAVE book, and I don't say that often.”
—MelissaKnits, blog

About the Author
CLARA PARKES left her career in the booming high-tech industry to pursue her love of knitting. She lives on the coast of Maine in a farm house full of yarn. She is the publisher of KnittersReview.com and a contributing editor to Interweave Knits.

Customer Reviews

Not spinning a yarn mate!
An extremely useful book - has given me a lot of useful background information and been absolutely invaluable helping us out with customer questions.

very good, but I'm still disappointed
This is a good, well-written book.

My beef is with the description, which led me to expect 256 pages of in-depth information about fiber properties, fiber blending, the effects of bleaching, dye and other processing on the fibers, and the benefits and drawbacks of various yarn constructions. I was very excited about getting such a book.

Which is why I was so disappointed when I got the book to find so much of the space was actually devoted to patterns. The patterns are certainly good, but there are pattern books by the hundreds---that wasn't what I was shopping for here, and space given over to patterns was taken away from the information I had expected and wanted.

The shame of it is that Clara Parkes is a fine writer with wide exposure to yarns and yarn types, and access to the people who create them and the people who use them. As someone who neither creates nor sells fibers or yarns, she is in perhaps an ideal position to synthesize yarn and fiber information in a readable, unbiased way - precisely the book I expected and wanted.

What appears in the book is more of a survey of fibers and yarns for the advanced beginner or intermediate knitter, while I was expecting more of a true fiber-whisperer master class. I would have bought this book anyway had it been more accurately described, but I would have been a much happier owner had my expectations not been raised so high by the description. In Sheep's Clothing: A Handspinner's Guide to Wool by Nola and Jane Fournier is closer to what I expected this to be as far as reviewing specific fibers, although it deals only in wool and does not discuss the issues of chemistry or yarn structure.

I do like this book, but I'm also still waiting for someone (maybe Clara?) to write the book I thought it was going to be.

Fantastic book for those interested in yarn
This book is gorgeous. It's well-bound, full-color, and printed on thick paper. Now, I know that how a book looks doesn't really matter, but in this case, the quality of the craftmanship is a definite bonus, as I can see myself using this book for years.

Parkes has written a wonderful book on everything you could ever want to know about yarn. The first part of the book has focuses on natural(both plant and animal) and synthetic fibers, including info such as where it's from, how it's made, what characteristics the fiber has, what it's good for, what its weaknesses are, and so on. After reading this book, you'll be completely prepared to make the appropriate fiber choices for the project at hand. Want to know which fiber would be best for a light but warm scarf? How about a yarn for a sweater that's both easy to care for but knits up without stretching and sagging too much? This book answers these questions and more.

In the second part of the book, Parkes has included a number of patterns that emphasize a particular yarn's highlights. All of these designs are beautiful, classic pieces that will stand the test of time...there's nothing in here that would look dated, so you can be assured that the sweater your worked on for months will, with care, last you many years.

I can't say enough good things about this book. It's chock full of useful information for anyone that works with yarn, it's organized beautifully, the quality of the book is high, and Parkes writes in a conversational tone that makes you feel as if you're being guided by a close friend. It's definitely something that should be on every fiber crafter's bookshelf.