Product Description

The Yarn Harlot strikes again! Best-selling knitting author and humorist Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is back with an irresistible collection of witty observations on how knitting and life wisdom are spun together.

In Things I Learned From Knitting (Whether I Wanted To or Not), Pearl Mc-Phee examines age-old aphorisms in light of knitting. From "Hope Springs Eternal" to "A Friend In Need Is A Friend Indeed" and "Birds Of A Feather Flock Together," Pearl-McPhee casts a fresh, off-beat light on these sayings. Presented in quick, punchy takes, each entry in this book calls out to be read aloud and shared with anyone who enjoys playing with yarn and needles.

Pearl-McPhee's observations are hilarious; the situations she describes strike a familiar, "not you, too?" feeling in the heart of anyone who knits. Interspersed throughout the book are her notes on the things that "Knitting is still trying to teach me. . ." That no matter how well you knit, looking at your work too closely isn't helpful. It's like kissing with your eyes open. Nobody looks good that close up.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10499 in Books
• Published on: 2008-03-19
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 160 pages

From the Inside Flap
Pick up the needles, grab a skein of yarn, cast on…and let the life lessons to begin! From Patience is a Virtue and Hope Springs Eternal to Look Before You Leap, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee applies her trademark humor and wry insights to reveal the wise (and sometimes unexpected) truths contained within 45 familiar adages, understood as only a knitter could.

These irresistible reflections on life will have you laughing, crying and marveling out loud at how amazingly fortunate you are to be living your life as a knitter.

From the Back Cover
"Beginning is easy, continuing is hard" takes on special meaning for a knitter faced with five projects already on needles, yet struck by the irresistible urge to start something brand new. Share Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's amazement at the resounding, and even astonishing, truths found in everyday clichés and adages. Babies grow is a hard-learned lesson if you are a knitter who's stayed up nights making a tiny sweater for a special newborn, only to discover that a baby's ability to grow far exceeds your ability to knit. Knowing that you gotta roll with the punches can push an airborne knitter to the extreme of casting on with a couple of coffee stir sticks. After all, as every knitter knows for sure, idle hands are the devil's workshop.

About the Author
Stephanie Pearl-McPhee has become the irreverent spokesperson for today's knitting revival through her popular blog (www.yarnharlot.com), and her best- selling books, At Knit's End, Knitting Rules!, and Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off. She shares a home with her admirable yarn stash (and her family) in Toronto.

Customer Reviews

learned not to buy any more Yarn Harlot books
I bought this book hoping to find more of the same humor that was in her first two books. The third book (The Yarn Harlot Casts Off) was a disappointment to me, but I'd hoped it was a fluke. Sadly, I think book#4 is more of the same trend. If you've never read her books, it would probably be amusing, but there wasn't much original in this one. I guess there is only so much you can write about the follies of knitting, and two books is about that much! wish I'd not bought it - will be donating to our library.

Not as good as the others
I've read all the Yarn Harlot's other books, faithfully read her blog, and heard her speak live. I enjoy her style and funny anecdotes. This book was disappointing. It didn't have any substance to it, and I found it dull. Her next book sounds like it'll be much better. I wish I'd skipped buying this one and waited for the next one to come out.

Haven't I been here before?
The Yarn Harlot is a funny lady with a genius for telling home truths in ways that sound fresh. I bought this book because -- okay, (a)it's McPhee, (b)I have all her other books,(c) I've never met a knitting book I didn't need to have immediately (except those that purport to be not your grandmother's something or other). Pathetic reasons, but there you are. This book divides a bunch of those home truths into brief chapterettes -- a clever way to organize the material but one which (sorry) shows off its shallowness. "Practice Makes Perfect," for instance. Oh, thanks; never thought of that. "You Can't Win Them All." Yes, well; you learn that one the first time you try to frog mohair. "Patience is a Virtue:" This little essay does raise the interesting question of whether knitting teaches patience or whether patient people become knitters. Either way, so what?

My sense is that her publishers said, "Steph, it's time; you've got to get another book out there and do another tour." My stronger sense is that between the books and the tours and the blog and whatnot, this lovely knitter is becoming too much of a brand, the voice is becoming too familiar, and the same thing is being sold over and over, with diminishing returns for the reader. Excuse me; I need to attend to my own knitting.