In The Yarn Whisperer: My Unexpected Life in Knitting, 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. Within the foreword, she explains: "In Victorian times, people often spoke through flowers. They called it floriography. A simple acacia signified secret love, an oxeye daisy called for patience, and the pear blossom spoke of lasting friendship. But, as in Agatha Christie's Miss Marple mysteries, some were harbingers of danger, dishonesty, even death. Women 'corresponded' through flowers, able to communicate far deeper meaning through them than they could put into words. What if it turns out we do the same thing with our own knitting, creating swatches and garments that, when deciphered, tell stories of their own? Stockinette, ribbing, cables, even the humble yarn over can instantly evoke places, times, people, conversations, all those poignant moments that we've tucked away in our memory banks. Over time, those stitches form a map of our lives." And with that introduction, Parkes goes on to regale us with stories of her childhood and adulthood—of family, friends, adventure, exploration, privacy, disappointment, love and celebration--all tied together with a strand of yarn, of course.
If one thing is pretty much universal about knitting nerds it's 'The Stash'. We joke about it, sometimes feel guilty about it, sometimes revel in it... in short, most of us can't pass up a sale, charity resale shop, going out of business sale (*sigh*), or any other place which has the potential for stash enrichment without at least having a look. There are, apparently, knitters who have one project going at a time and who buy supplies for that project and only that project, knit on it until it's finished and then move on... those people are outliers... they are not in the statistical norm.
We knitters even have acronyms built up from our shared experience... LYS (Local Yarn Shop), SABLE (Stash Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy), WIP (Work In Progress), UFO (UnFinished Object) and a million others.
This book is a collection of essays and musings by some of the best known knitters and designers, authors and fibre-philosophers. A casual look at Ravelry or Craftsy will contain page after page of patterns or mentions of the contributors to this book. The book contains an introduction (worth reading!), 23 essays (ditto) and closes with an 'about the authors' section that is well worth taking notes from to inspire follow up reading.
The voices in this volume are varied, as in all such compilations. You'll find whimsy and serious reflection. I tried to read this collection as a box of chocolates, one at a time, savoring the individual nuances.. but honestly read it like I generally eat a box of chocolates, having 'just one more' until the box is empty.
Lovely book, and not just for us knitting fanatics. I think it's a good window into our stashing mindset and justifications... so if you're close to a knitter, this could explain a lot.
Four stars Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher.
