Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Knitting Yarns

When I graduation from my MFA program last January, my dear, sweet, fabulous-in-every-way mentor gifted me a copy of Knitting Yarns, a book edited by Ann Hood and in which my mentor Suzanne's essay "Crafty Critters" is included. When I got home from residency, being generally burnt out on reading and words in general, I added the book to the teetering pile of to-be-reads at the top of the stairs. I would get to it as soon as I was in the mood to read again.


I'm a winter knitter--from around Halloween to St. Patrick's Day is my knitting season--not by any conscious decision, but that's just how it seems to shake out. So by the time I was in the mood to read again, my knitting season was winding down and, so it seems, my desire to read about knitting. Again, not by any conscious thought, but whenever I've gone to grab a new book to read over the last year, that one just didn't rise to the top of the stack.

And then, when I got home from work on New Year's Eve, with a strong desire to sink into a hot bubble bath, and then, when my family chose a movie I wasn't interested in for our traditional New Year's Eve viewing, I went upstairs and turned on the water in the tub and perused the leaning tower of books at the top of the stairs.

The cover of Knitting Yarns grabbed my eye. The gorgeous balls of yarn, wound perfectly spherical and arranged in a rough wooden hod (I'm not sure if it is actually a hod--or what a hod even is--but it seems like the right word for those cubbies. Also, where can I get my hands on such a hod to house my partial balls of yarn?). I flipped open to the intro, the part where Ann Hood writes about coming to knitting out of grief after her five-year-old daughter died and I knew this was the book to read in the tub on the last day of 2014.

By the time the bathwater temperature dropped to frigid, I had finished half the book. On New Year's Day, I found time to loll on the couch reading another quarter (with breaks to knit several rows on a cabled, color-work hat, the perfect companion knit to this book), and I polished off the remaining essays over the weekend.

Knitting Yarns is the best kind of anthology--a simple, single starting point (knitting) that a wide range of writers riff on, all stitching together widely different, unique, and universal stories. There are stories of learning to knit and teaching to knit and failing to learn to knit. Of knitting well and knitting very, very badly. Of knitting daughters and mothers and aunts and grandmothers and nannies. Of the ways knitting weaves a thread through generations. Of buying yarn and books and unfinished projects. Of knitting and sex and sexuality. Of knitting into love and out of a bad marriage, knitting  down blood pressure and knitting (or observing knitting) to quell nerves. Of knitting through grief. Heartfelt, heartening, heartbreaking stories, all threaded together with yarn and needles.

I don't know for sure that this book would appeal to those who do not knit, but as they often said in my MFA program, "Good writing is good writing." And the essays in this book are the very best, from writers you're familiar with (Ann Hood, Suzanne Strempek Shea, Andre Dubus III, Barbara Kingsolver, Hope Edelman) and writers you've never heard of but whose work you will want to search out. If you've ever knit or tried to knit or loved someone who knits--and I think that pretty much covers all of us--I think you will love this book.

Linking up with Yarn Along and Keep Calm Craft On.

21 comments:

  1. Love hearing how you came to pick this book up again. It sounds like a great read, adding it to my list, thanks!

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  2. i remmber coming across this book on amazon. what yarn enthusiast could pass that cover?! it sounds really wonderfully heart-warming and supportive.

    i, like you, have a crochet season lol

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    1. If you can get your hands on it, do read it. And what is with the yarn season? I would feel so much more productive if I could knit year-round!

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  3. I have that book and have not finished it yet. I love Ann Hood - she is a great local author. Is that and Inspira Cowl I see?

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    1. She is good, isn't she? It's the ulijhan beanie: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ALani/uljhan-beanie. A fun knit. Thanks for stopping by!

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  4. Really like the sound of this book, I'm going to see if I can find a copy. I too have a knitting season - less so in the Summer because I'm normally so busy in the garden and any free time I have is spent reading about it/planning.

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    1. I hope you find a copy, Gemma, it's a great one. I can't use gardening as my excuse for not knitting in summer, since my husband does most of the gardening. I'll have to come up with something good, though. Thanks for stopping by!

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  5. I will have to check that book out! Sounds like a fun read. I agree that knitting is much more fun in the winter.

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    1. It is, Desiree! It must be the warmth of wool in cold hands that makes knitting so appealing in winter. Thanks for stopping by!

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  6. Thanks for sharing this book, it sounds amazing. I will be adding it to my wish list.
    Ali xx

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    1. I hope you enjoy it, Ali. Thanks for stopping by!

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  7. I want to read this book after your review. Thanks!

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    1. I hope you like it Dahle! Thanks for stopping by!

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  8. That book may have to go on my wish list... Thank you for the recommendation and the lovely story behind it. Oooh... to take a bubble bath until it goes cold. What is THAT like??? (says the mother with 2 very intrusive kids).

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    1. I know what you mean, Yanic. My kids are older and they still always DESPERATELY need me the moment I go into the bathroom. Putting them in front of a movie they really really want to watch did the trick, though. Thanks for stopping by!

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  9. Oh that book sounds wonderful - thank you for sharing.

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    1. You're welcome! Hope you find your way to a copy.

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  10. Love sinking into a good book like that!

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  11. I agree with all the other commenters- it looks like a great book. Good review too ;)

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