Book Review-The Yarn Whisperer

Do you have a hobby?  My friends say that I pick up a new hobby every 6 months!  The one I've stuck with for almost 40 years, though, is knitting.  I always have a book and my knitting with me...just in case I have to wait for something (I knit if there are other people around because reading is a solitary activity.)  I even started a knitting group.  If you have a fiber related hobby-or know someone who does-you will enjoy The Yarn Whisperer by Clara Parkes. The book is a series of essays on life and the act of knitting-sometimes more about knitting, but mostly about life and how it is like knitting.  The essays are funny and at times wistful. Clara tells us of the upheaval in her life when her parents divorced, and how she "hid" her knitting in college until she found friends who knit.  It is not a technique book or a book on how to knit. This was a very gentle and peaceful book.  I liked the way she made parallels between life and knitting, but didn't force the link.  Some of the essays were very funny (the bobbles chapter cracked me up), but on the whole they were thoughtful and introspective.  I feel like Clara is a friend with whom I'd like to have tea on a regular basis.

The Yarn Whisperer: My Unexpected Life in Knitting By Parkes, Clara 2013-09 - Stewart, Tabori, & Chang 9781617690020 Check Our Catalog Clara Parkes shares 22 captivating, poignant, and laugh-out-loud funny stories about the role yarn and knitting play in her life. In the process, she hits upon the universal truths that drive knitters as well as the ways in which knitting can be looked at as a metaphor for so many other things. …More

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Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of a Knitter By Pearl-McPhee, Stephanie 2005-09 - Andrews McMeel Publishing 9780740750373 Check Our Catalog These essays cover the obsession, frustration, reflection, and fun of knitting. The author says, "It is a well-known fact that knitting is a sparkling form of entertainment, as spiritual as yoga, as relaxing as a massage, and as funny as Erma Bombeck trapped in a PTA meeting." …More

All Wound Up: The Yarn Harlot Writes for a Spin By Pearl-McPhee, Stephanie 2011-10 - Andrews McMeel Publishing 9780740797576 Check Our Catalog Bestselling author and self-proclaimed Yarn Harlot Pearl-McPhee spins her third yarn on knitting for the 60 million knitters in North America. In her trademark style, she talks about knitting, parenting, friendship, and--gasp!--even crocheting in essays that are at times touching, often hilarious, and always entertaining. 240 pp. 50,000 print. …More

Knitting Yarns: Writers on Knitting By Hood, Ann 2014-09 - W. W. Norton & Company 9780393349870 Check Our Catalog A collection of poignant essays about the transformative power of knitting by twenty-seven extraordinary writers. …More

A Life in Stitches: Knitting My Way Through Love, Loss, and Laughter By Herron, Rachael 2011-08 - Chronicle Books (CA) 9781452100531 Check Our Catalog In these 20 heartfelt essays, Rachael Herron celebrated romance novelist by day, 911 dispatcher by night, and founder of the hugely popular blog Yarnagogo.com shows how when life unravels there's always a way to knit it back together again, many times into something even better. Honest, funny, and full of warmth, Herron's tales, each inspired by something she knit or something knit for her, will …More