As a knitter, I always appreciate Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's books. This early collection of her blogs (published 2011) is no exception.

Knitters will identify with swatches that lie, unfortunate matches between pattern and yarn, random mathematical oddities (such as the inability to count up to two), patterns with land mines embedded in them, and other hazards of the hobby.

Non-knitters will have to satisfy themselves with domestic humor (how replacing a washing machine essentially led to the deconstruction of a large portion of her house), a break-up letter written to an inanimate object, musings on family life, and how even the dorkiest kid in high school can eventually end up sitting at "the cool table".

This one goes into the permanent library. ( )

I love Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and have since she was only posting on the knitting lists before she started publishing. While not quite as funny as [bc:Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of a Knitter|210362|Yarn Harlot The Secret Life of a Knitter|Stephanie Pearl-McPhee|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172719049s/210362.jpg|203608] I still laughed out loud in public while reading this book. Maybe it's only marginally less good because the Yarn Harlot was so new and refreshing and different when it came out. In this one several of the essays were quieter and more reflective. There were a couple that I had to read out loud to my non knitting sister. My sister is a spinner so she gets the fiber addiction of it all. And really these essays speak to all crafters really. You don't have to be a knitter or even a crafter to enjoy this but it makes it even funnier. The author has a turn of phrase that just breaks me up.

Recommended, you'll laugh.


I received this free from netGalley for review. ( )

Love Stephanie's stuff, love her sense of humor, love how she turns knitting into the main character & makes it come alive.

I've actually read this book a couple of times, each time you read it you gain something new from the book, see something you hadn't seen the first time. ( )

If you're a regular reader of her blog none of this is really terribly new, just reformatted from blog posts really. Still an enjoyable read, but glad I got it from the library! ( )

I read the yarn harlot blog but this was the first book I'd read. It was truly funny and well written - across between a memoir and a book of funny essays. ( )