Clara Parkes

Clara Parkes is an American author, yarn critic, and wool expert.[1][2] Parkes has been described as “quite possibly the only writer you will ever read who can make a discussion of micron counts absolutely riveting.” [3] A graduate of Mills College, she began her career in high tech publishing in San Francisco before moving to Maine and launching her online magazine Knitter's Review.[4] In 2012 she purchased a 676 lb. bale of American Merino wool and began a crowd-funded project known as The Great White Bale, in which she chronicled the process of turning the raw wool into finished yarn.[5] This project led to the creation of her own small-batch yarn company, Clara Yarn. Parkes is the author of seven books: the trilogy The Knitter's Book of...; the memoir The Yarn Whisperer, the travel memoir Knitlandia, and the upcoming Vanishing Fleece, which chronicles her experience as a yarn producer. In addition, she edited the collection of essays A Stash of One's Own. She is a Certified Level 1 Wool Classer, and a member of the American Sheep Industry Association.[6] Parkes lives in Portland, ME.

Knitter's Review

In 2000 Parkes founded Knitter's Review, a knitting review website which became a major social media resource for knitters before the advent of Ravelry. Using her experience creating the website Tech Shopper and technology acquired from the Quilter's Review,[7] she began to publish product reviews, a weekly newsletter, and created an interactive user forum. At its peak, the Knitter's Review Forums had over 70,000 members .[8] For several years Knitter's Review sponsored a fundraising drive for Heifer International, raising in excess of $47,000.[9] In 2002 members of the forums created a small, in-person gathering that grew into a larger annual event known as the Knitter's Review Retreat.[10] By the time of the final Knitter's Review Retreat in 2015 it had become known as a "bucket list" item for knitters.[11] In 2015 she retired the old Knitter's Review site and forums in favor of a more streamlined site.

Media presence

Her travel memoir Knitlandia: A Knitter Sees the World appeared on the New York Times bestseller list for travel books in 2016.[12]

She edited the anthology A Stash of One's Own: Knitters on Loving, Living with, and Letting go of Yarn, a collection of essays by knitting experts including Meg Swansen, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, and Debbie Stoller. It was named one of the top 10 lifestyle books for fall 2017 by Publisher's Weekly.[13]

Parkes appeared in the Yarn Spotlight segment on the 9th, 10th, and 11th seasons of Knitting Daily TV,[14] a television show produced by Interweave Press for PBS.

She is the narrator of the audiobooks The Yarn Whisperer: My Unexpected Life in Knitting and Knitlandia: A Knitter Sees the World released by Random House Audio in 2016.

Bibliography
  • The Knitter's Book of Yarn. Potter Craft Books. 2007. ISBN 9780307352163
  • The Knitter's Book of Wool. Potter Craft Books. 2009. ISBN 9780307586995
  • The Knitter's Book of Socks. Potter Craft Books. 2011. ISBN 9780307586803
  • The Yarn Whisperer: My Unexpected Life in Knitting. Stewart Tabori & Chang. 2013. ISBN 9781617690020
  • Knitlandia: A Knitter Sees the World. Stewart Tabori & Chang. 2016. ISBN 9781617691904
  • Parkes, Clara ed. (2017) A Stash of One's Own: Knitters on Loving, Living with, and Letting Go of Yarn. Abrams Press. ISBN 978-1419727047
  • Vanishing Fleece: Adventures in American Wool. Abrams Press. October 2019 ISBN 9781419735318

References
  1. Timmons, Heather; Timmons, Heather. "China's latest genetic engineering experiment is a flock of sheep no one wants". Quartz. Retrieved 2019-04-08.
  2. Nassauer, Sarah (2019-01-07). "Fiber Optics: Wool Lovers Battle Animal-Rights Crowd Over Sheep Shearing". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2019-04-08.
  3. Mooney, Mary (2013-06-16). "Book review". oregonlive.com. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
  4. Blumenstock, Kathy (February 8, 2016). "The Story of a 'Yarn Evangelist' Who Traveled in Search of Her Congregation". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
  5. "Clara Yarn from Clara Parkes". Interweave Knits: 10. Fall 2014.
  6. Korkzan, Shireen (2018-12-24). "'Shop local' movement drives sales of American-made yarn". AP NEWS. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
  7. "Clara Parkes, the Yarn Seer". Interweave. 2017-07-18. Retrieved 2019-04-08.
  8. "Special Report: Online-Only Publishers". Folio. 2009-04-30. Retrieved 2019-04-07.
  9. "Rubbing Elbows with the Knitterati: An Interview with Clara Parkes | Heifer International | Charity Ending Hunger And Poverty". Rubbing Elbows with the Knitterati: An Interview with Clara Parkes | Heifer International | Charity Ending Hunger And Poverty. Retrieved 2019-04-08.
  10. Martini, Adrienne, 1971- (2010). Sweater quest : my year of knitting dangerously (1st Free Press trade paperback ed.). New York: Free Press. ISBN 9781416597643. OCLC 424555373.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. Steege, Gwen (2011). The Knitter's Life List. US: Storey Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-1603429962.
  12. "Travel Books - Best Sellers - March 13, 2016 - The New York Times". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-04-08.
  13. "Fall 2017 Announcements: Lifestyle". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2019-04-07.
  14. "Yarn Expert Clara Parkes Joins Knitting Daily TV!". Interweave. 2012-05-07. Retrieved 2019-04-08.
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