Most of us have good stories about how we learned to knit, the first time we taught someone to knit, a tale of knitting in public or some other story about how knitting has changed us and the way we look at the world.
Linda Roghaar and Molly Wolf have collected a bunch of these stories in essay collections called KnitLit. The first of these books, KnitLit: Sweaters and Their Stories...And Other Writing About Knitting shares tales of crazy projects, yarn disasters, the loved ones who helped writers learn to knit and the loved ones they remember through their knitting.
Heartfelt and Heartwarming
If these stories don't make you feel good about being a knitter, I don't know what will. This book was the beginning of an ongoing series of tales about knitting by knitters and lovers of yarn. The brief stories are perfect bedtime reading, and the stories--beautiful, funny, generous stories of knitters and their yarns--will make you smile and make you feel good about your chosen craft.
These stories cover learning to knit, knitting disasters, special knitted objects, knitting memories and much more. Written by women and men, young and old, knitting evangelists and those who rarely pick up their needles, these stories are sure to strike a chord and have you thinking, "Wow, that sounds like me."
These stories sparkle with the joy of knitting and its meaning in our lives.
"I learned more than a simple craft from her," one writer says of learning to knit from her aunt. "I learned the value of problem-solving. I learned how to persevere until the job's done (although you wouldn't know it judging my collection of unfinished projects). I learned to be patient with myself. I learned a little math. I learned to be proud of my work. . . . I learned to knit."
The Boyfriend Sweater and Other Life Lessons
Not only does this book make you feel good about being a knitter, it teaches important life lessons like:
- Why you should never knit with wolf hair.
- When it's OK to knit for guys (if you're a woman).
- Why sometimes it's best not to take your knitting to the bar.
- How a pair of socks led to a marriage of more than 50 years.
- How knitting (or at least yarn) could save the world.
These stories cover a huge range of the knitting world, from a sweater sacrificed to save a premature cow to an ugly cardigan jacket passed around a too-cold office, to a lesson on naming projects and a heartbreaking story about remembering people through the knits they leave behind.
There's truly something for everyone in this book. It might not make you a better knitter, but it will certainly make you appreciate knitting more. And when you're done with this one there are two more volumes to enjoy.
