First published 2007
Stephanie Pearl-McPhee presents knitting culture as a foreign country complete with its own customs, language, and tribal conflicts. She adopts the format of a travel guide to explore this territory where yarn devotees gather. Pearl-McPhee chronicles the peculiar inhabitants who speak in specialized phrases and follow strange rituals around their needles. She maps out the political divisions that split this community, from heated arguments over acrylic versus natural fibers to bitter disputes between circular and straight needle advocates. The author includes a timeline marking significant moments in knitting history and profiles forgotten heroes like Japanese samurai warriors and the legendary Terrible Knitters of Dent. Pearl-McPhee draws from her experiences touring North America, where she has encountered thousands of knitters and observed their behaviors firsthand. Her sharp commentary dissects every aspect of this subculture she knows intimately. The book captures the passionate devotion that transforms ordinary people into yarn obsessives who carry their projects everywhere and speak a language outsiders cannot understand.
Genres: art, humor, reference, non-fiction, academic
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking, whimsical
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, insider-perspective
218 pages · ebook · Storey Publishing