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Vanishing Fleece

Page 17

by Clara Parkes


  Kraemer carries on with its wholesale yarn and pattern business. Victor’s dog, Mocha, has since departed for the great air-conditioned office in the sky. Eleanor has finally retired and is traveling the globe. The mill was tapped to help spin yarn for the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympic Games uniforms, and hand-dyers continue to top off an order list that keeps the machines humming.

  Our Texas road trip turned out to be good practice for Jennifer Heverly, now Jennifer Tepper. Her kids having headed off to college, Jen has decided to leave her tree house behind, along with her husband’s deer heads (and her now ex-husband), and start a new life for herself in the wilds of New Mexico. She’s curious what colors the Southwest will inspire in her yarn.

  In Massachusetts, things have taken a turn. The U.S. Navy announced plans to phase out its iconic wool peacoat from the Seabag Requirements List and replace it with a 100 percent synthetic winter parka. The move has the potential to devastate several New England textiles companies. I haven’t the stomach to ask S&D how they’ll fare. But I know that they still have one more year on that baseball contract before it comes up for renewal. (Seriously, anyone out there want to start a sweater company with me?)

  The Saco River Dyehouse has moved out of Biddeford and across the river to a modern industrial park in Saco. They’ve changed the name to Maine Dye & Textiles and gone through several new rounds of crowdfunding. Malik and Raana’s son is now ensconced in medical school, and they are no longer with the dyehouse. Claudia did away with the old poles and metal racks in favor of a space-age microwave yarn dryer that looks like a drive-through toaster and gets yarn dry in a matter of hours instead of days. They’ve left the drafty charm of the old mill behind—its romance, its authenticity, its historical significance—in favor of practicality and efficiency. Just before this book went to press, the dyehouse filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing problems with their landlord. But Claudia still remains optimistic.

  It can be easy for those of us who know how to knit or sew or crochet or weave our own clothing to feel smug. We have a magic weapon. We still have the capacity to create our own long-lasting garments using materials we can seek out ourselves, ones we can trace all the way back to their source if we want—to the farm, to the field, to the sheep.

  We are makers, but it’s also important to remember that we are consumers. In each step of our own creative process, through our purchases and our attention, there is an opportunity to reinforce the work of those we believe are moving us forward in a positive direction. It’s a collective power that has the potential to become great.

  This means being aware of where our yarn and clothing comes from. It also means being more cognizant of the people, communities, cultures, corporations, and traditions that our money is helping to support. These people’s products will become an intimate part of our daily lives, bending and stretching and breathing right along with us. Just as we are vigilant about the food that goes into our bodies, so we must be more mindful of what we put on them.

  There’s a common conception that wool, especially domestic wool, is too expensive for many people. I agree it can be prohibitive. But knitters, a worsted-weight skein of Brown Sheep Nature Spun yarn, made in Nebraska of American wool, at 310 yards (283 m) per skein, will cost about $9. Less if you find it on sale. That puts the bill for a medium-sized women’s pullover at about $36. And for roughly the cost of five venti caramel macchiatos, you can get a pair of thick wool socks from Duckworth, which sources all its wool from a single Montana ranch. American wool needn’t always be out of reach.

  Meanwhile, Eugene’s flock, now under Dominique’s care, remains blissfully unaware. They simply keep following her around, lovestruck, hoping for treats and growing wool for her, year after year, without fail.

  The more ways we can find to use their coats, the longer these animals get to be with us, the richer the lives will be for all those who work with them and their wool, and, I’d like to think, the better the world we’ll get to live in.

  I still don’t know what I’ll do with my Master’s of Yarn-Making degree. But I do know I’ll never look at a skein of wool yarn the same way again.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  While this journey took place entirely in the United States, it is in no way intended to be a nativist manifesto. What has happened to the American wool industry has happened to the wool industry around the world. A noble and worthy fiber that used to dominate our closets now barely exceeds 1 percent of what we wear. In its place, we’re being sold fibers that come from an oil barrel and that do not breathe or biodegrade, that readily ignite and melt, and that, in short, do not deserve to be our second skin.

  This book honors all those people, around the world, who’ve chosen to link their own well-being with that of sheep. Wool begins with them. They’re the ones who treat sheep for injuries and ailments, who barely get a wink of sleep during lambing season, who remove the sheep’s heavy winter coats every spring, who make the terribly hard decision of who stays and who must go for the good of the flock—and who get the tractor and dig a hole every time someone doesn’t make it. They are my heroes. It’s a hard and unglamorous life, but it has meaning and value, and I, for one, am grateful.

  Adventures don’t happen in a void. They occur because, at each juncture, someone is there who believes in you and encourages you onward. For me, that vital support staff began with my Knitter’s Review Retreat family. Without their faith and encouragement, I’m confident you’d be reading someone else’s book right now.

  There weren’t enough pages here to list every fellow graduate of my Master’s of Yarn-Making program by name, but they will forever occupy a very special place in my heart. We had quite a time together. As for those who’d hoped the Great White Bale would be my downfall, I’m sorry I failed to deliver that catastrophic failure. Have faith and stick around. Tomorrow’s another day.

  Endless gratitude goes to my friend Jane Cochran, who jumped in to wrangle spreadsheets and take care of people in the best possible way. I am indebted to Pam Allen for giving me a place to park my bale, and to Claudia Raessler for so generously offering help at each step of the way. I also must tip my (felted wool) hat both to my agent, Elizabeth Kaplan, for being such a fine lighthouse and gatekeeper, and to my publisher, Shawna Mullen, lover of words and wool in equal measure.

  The Blue Hill Public Library was my refuge while I pulled all the final strands of this book together. No greater public institution ever existed than that of the public library. And my beloved Clare kept the home fires burning not once but twice—first while I was living the year, and again while I was writing about it.

  That said, this book owes its biggest debt of gratitude to a person who is no longer here. Eugene’s absence deserves more explanation than simply “he left us.” To me it perfectly, albeit tragically, distills his very essence as a person.

  Eugene had been diagnosed with a progressive neurological syndrome that was already beginning to rob him of his language capabilities and would eventually lead to dementia. As it got worse and while he was still able, Eugene did what he’d done for every ailing sheep in his flock: He put himself on the truck. By which I mean he sent Dominique a final text, walked out into his garden, and shot himself. A responsible shepherd, he practiced what he preached until the very end.

  Countless times since then I’ve wished I could consult with him about this story. Or just let him know that the book was in the works. Instead, I relied on notes and emails and photographs and Dominique, who willingly revisited that room of grief over and over again so that I could get the facts right.

  Oh, but Eugene did keep me company. Hudson Valley photographer Francesco Mastalia had captured Eugene for his “Portraits of New Yorkers” series. After Eugene died, our mutual friend Robin Ringo sent me a framed print of Mastalia’s portrait. It hung on the wall right behind my desk so that Eugene could oversee the completion of this book. I asked for his help; I complained; I may have even begged once or twice. He urged
me ever forward, and we toasted when I hit “send” on the final manuscript.

  If I look closely, he’s smiling right now.

  INDEX OF SEARCHABLE TERMS

  A

  Allen, Pam

  animal-rights groups

  ASI

  Australia

  B

  bales

  Bartlett Yarn

  baseballs

  Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

  Biddeford, Maine. See Saco River Dyehouse

  Blackberry Ridge Woolen Mill

  Blakewell, Robert

  bobbins in spinning frames

  Bollman scouring plant

  Bosch, Anne

  Bronstein, Jake

  Burns, Robert

  C

  Campaign for Wool, UK

  canisters

  carbonizing

  carding machines at Blackberry Ridge

  Kraemer mill

  casting

  classing

  colors first synthetic

  natural dye

  one-of-a-kind

  combing

  cone winders

  costs

  crocking

  Crompton, Samuel

  D

  Davis & Furber

  Dearnley, Frederick

  draw stroke

  Duckworth

  dusters

  dyehouses and studios. See also Saco River Dyehouse; Spirit Trail Fiberworks; A Verb for Keeping Warm

  dyeing immersion

  natural

  stock

  with synthetic dyes

  uptake assists

  E

  EPA

  extractors

  F

  fibers appearance of scoured

  conditioning

  diameter

  length

  library of sample

  pressing of

  sorting

  synthetic

  uniformity of

  finishing dopper

  flystrike

  G

  Grandin, Temple

  Green Mountain Spinnery

  H

  Hallowell, Elsa

  hand-dyeing. See Spirit Trail Fiberworks

  handknitting

  hand-spinning

  Harmony, Maine. See Bartlett Yarn

  harrow rakes

  Herman, Dominique

  Heverly, Jennifer. See also Spirit Trail Fiberworks

  Hughes, Ladd

  I

  immersion dyeing

  indigo dyeing

  Indus Group

  J

  JCA dyehouse

  K

  knots

  Kraemer Textiles

  L

  lamb meat

  lanolin

  Littlewood, G. J.

  L.L. Bean

  lubricant

  M

  madder

  Madison Knitters’ Guild

  magenta

  Maine Dye & Textiles. See also Saco River Dyehouse

  Maine Grain Alliance

  Make It with Wool

  Malik, Muhammad

  Malik, Raana

  Martin Guitar

  Matuszewski, Robert (“Bobby”)

  McColl, Angus

  Melville, Herman

  microplastics

  Millbury, Massachusetts

  mills. See also specific mills bigger

  first synthetic fiber

  new

  of 1980s

  system used in early

  Miss Wool of America Pageant

  Moby-Dick (Melville)

  mordant

  Mules, John

  mulesing

  N

  NAFTA

  National Wool Act

  natural dyeing

  Nazareth, Pennsylvania. See Kraemer Textiles

  neps, in yarn

  New Zealand

  NMFC

  O

  Oakland, dye studio in. See A Verb for Keeping Warm

  oatmeal texture

  P

  packaging

  Pantone color system

  pencil roving

  Pendleton

  Pepperell Mill Campus

  PETA

  pickers

  pin drafters

  Pine Island

  Planet Money

  plying

  Portage Woolen Mill

  putting up

  Q

  Quince & Co.

  R

  Raessler, Claudia

  Rappahannock County. See Spirit Trail Fiberworks

  Rice, Lindsey

  Roberts, Richard

  Robertson, Marc

  Rodriguez, Adrienne

  rub condenser

  S

  Saco River Dyehouse

  San Angelo. See Bollman scouring plant

  San Antonio, ASI event in

  scavenger, spinning frame

  Schmidt, David

  Schmidt, Victor

  scouring. See also Bollman scouring plant overseas

  in small mills

  trains

  S&D Spinning Mill

  shearing

  sheep. See also Wyatt, Eugene, sheep farm branding

  catchers

  common breeds of

  farms

  health and

  ranchers

  risks for unshorn

  slaughter staring at

  shipping

  silk

  skeins and skeining calculating

  knots in

  skein winder

  skirting

  sliver

  Sobkowiak, Stanley

  spinning color cycles

  hand-

  in 1700s

  spinning frames bobbins in

  modern

  Whitin

  spinning jenny

  spinning mules invention of

  spinning frames vs.

  successor of

  Spirit Trail Fiberworks cult status and

  fiber preparation in

  Heverly’s methods for

  niche market

  steaming, yarn

  Stobart, Bob

  stock dyeing

  Swansen, Meg

  T

  Texas. See Bollman scouring plant

  textile industry NAFTA impact on

  1700s

  between 2000 and 2011

  top-making

  twisting

  U

  United Kingdom (UK)

  United States (U.S.), wool industry in

  USDA

  U.S. Navy

  V

  Vejar, Kristine

  A Verb for Keeping Warm

  vinegar

  W

  water frame, invention of

  Wisconsin

  wool. See also fibers; yarn; specific topics bagging

  breed-specific

  fine Merino

  finest quality

  fumes

  industry

  manufacturing uses

  market for

  misconceptions about

  moisture in

  Saxon Merino

  UK campaign for

  worsted vs. woolen

  Wool Council

  Woolrich

  Wool Trust

  worsted

  Wyatt, Eugene meeting

  passing of

  sheep farm of

  Y

  yarn. See also spinning for baseballs

  blotchy

  breed-specific wool and

  consistency

  final step in making

  life cycle

  mulespun

  neps in

  rest before plying

  skeins

  smell of

  steaming

  types for project

  used by hand-dyers

  variegated

  yield

  Yocom-McColl Wool Testing Lab

  Z

  Zimmermann, Elizabeth

  bsp;

  Clara Parkes, Vanishing Fleece

 

 

 


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