Stephanie Pearl-McPheeReseñas

As a knitter, I always appreciate Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's books. This early collection of her blogs (published 2011) is no exception.

Knitters will identify with swatches that lie, unfortunate matches between pattern and yarn, random mathematical oddities (such as the inability to count up to two), patterns with land mines embedded in them, and other hazards of the hobby.

Non-knitters will have to satisfy themselves with domestic humor (how replacing a washing machine essentially led to the deconstruction of a large portion of her house), a break-up letter written to an inanimate object, musings on family life, and how even the dorkiest kid in high school can eventually end up sitting at "the cool table".

This one goes into the permanent library.

First book by The Yarn Harlot I've ever read. Mildly amusing but never really laugh-out-loud or outrageously funny. I have some others by her so hopefully those are funnier.

I've almost never laughed harder. Maybe you have to be a knitter to really get it, but I don't think so. I think even those of you unfortunates who can't or won't knit will laugh out loud.

I love Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and have since she was only posting on the knitting lists before she started publishing. While not quite as funny as [bc:Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of a Knitter|210362|Yarn Harlot The Secret Life of a Knitter|Stephanie Pearl-McPhee|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172719049s/210362.jpg|203608] I still laughed out loud in public while reading this book. Maybe it's only marginally less good because the Yarn Harlot was so new and refreshing and different when it came out. In this one several of the essays were quieter and more reflective. There were a couple that I had to read out loud to my non knitting sister. My sister is a spinner so she gets the fiber addiction of it all. And really these essays speak to all crafters really. You don't have to be a knitter or even a crafter to enjoy this but it makes it even funnier. The author has a turn of phrase that just breaks me up.

Recommended, you'll laugh.


I received this free from netGalley for review.

I dont usually read this kind of non-fiction essay type book but I picked this up second hand because it looked interesting. Really enjoyed the authors writing style and found her stories both hilarious (the yarn in the elevator incident was my favorite) and relatable (even though Im much more a crochet person and rarely knit). Several struck a more serious note as well as the author takes a look at self esteem, family, and feminism. Easy to read and fun for any knitters or fibercraft types.

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.

A must read for knitters.

I listened to this on audio, so that may be skewing my opinion. This may be a much better book if you don't read it cover-to-cover, but rather flip through it for an anecdote/"meditation" as desired. It had Pearl-McPhee's typical humor, but it was very repetitive. I could see it more as a daily calendar than as a book.

Love her, loved the book (technically it's 4.5 stars but I'm rounding up because in person she's even funnier, but also more touching, and a wonderful teacher--it's hard to separate the author from the text once you've met them).

When I began knitting I searched in vain for a book like this. I don't want to learn how to knit, I want to learn what it feels like to be a knitter. (There are wonderful books in this vein for gardeners, for instance, some masterpieces of memoir). But instead I basically found these:

1. Knitting for brand new stupid people like you
2. 1,000 patterns for sweaters for women (note: I'm a man)
3. How to knit cutesy teensy weensy whimsical forest thingummies
4. Norwegian tufted bobble weaving-stitch, made easy

So what a thrill when I stumbled across Ms. Pearl-McPhee and her compassionate, hilarious accounts of how it feels to knit. I am not alone!

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).

Memoirs, particularly in the form of a collection of personal essays, are very difficult to review as a significant part of the enjoyment is whether you respond to the author's writing style or not. Lucky for me, I connect with her style. I appreciate that the essays can be largely stream of consciousness (I actually cannot tell if she plans the essays, as her stream takes her to a different place from where she started - leaving me delightfully surprised). She infuses her observations of everyday life (most of it, a common experience - most) with a sense of humour I appreciate: light, relatively non-judgemental, smart without being obtuse. Being personal essays, I also appreciate that I can easily read this book in smalls doses - a little pick-me-up on a rough day or leave the book in my purse for stolen moments. Overall, I am enjoying myself and recommend this book to others.

Memoirs, particularly in the form of a collection of personal essays, are very difficult to review as a significant part of the enjoyment is whether you respond to the author's writing style or not. Lucky for me, I connect with her style. I appreciate that the essays can be largely stream of consciousness (I actually cannot tell if she plans the essays, as her stream takes her to a different place from where she started - leaving me delightfully surprised). She infuses her observations of everyday life (most of it, a common experience - most) with a sense of humour I appreciate: light, relatively non-judgemental, smart without being obtuse. Being personal essays, I also appreciate that I can easily read this book in smalls doses - a little pick-me-up on a rough day or leave the book in my purse for stolen moments. Overall, I am enjoying myself and recommend this book to others.

The Yarn Harlot continues to amuse and enlighten as she finds new ways to draw parallels between knitting and life, or sometimes just between knitting and knitting.

Non-knitters may find her devotion to the craft a bit puzzling, but knitters will see themselves at least once (and probably several times) in this fun collection of essays.

Picked this up after reading all of the quotes about the book. It's a little frustrating that they're all just short snippets - but that's also part of the fun of it.

I enjoyed it!

Random thoughts:
* Are there really people who walk and knit? If so, my weirdness with knitting has not quite hit that point (yet).
* I didn't know there were special bags for carrying around your yarn so it doesn't roll around on the bus. I promptly went out and bought this: Sock Knitting Project Bag Hexipuff Small Crochet Wip Bag - Crazy Calaveras so that I can carry around my socks in progress (SiP?).
* The story of the ball of the yarn in the elevator seriously cracked me up.
* The story of the little girl learning to knit was awesome.
* I no longer feel quite as guilty at the thought of having multiple needles of the same size so I can have more socks going at once. There is nothing wrong with my addiction and it's very nice to have it confirmed.

It was a light-hearted, funny book that poked fun at all of the things we do as knitters - or things that we think about doing but don't actually do.

I also really liked Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off: The Yarn Harlot's Guide to the Land of Knitting - I listened to that one on audio book. After all, what's better than reading fun knitting annocdotes than knitting *and* listening to an audio book about knitting? :)

Part of what I loved about this one was I got the audio book, and listened to the author read her own work. That was a rare treat, and I really liked hearing where she had intended to place the emphasis. Plus, her humor is always amusing to a fellow knitter.

I'm knitting socks from Chapter 6 and I'm pretty obsessed. I love her philosophy and sense of humor.

Knitters, if you feel a little bad about your stash or how much time you spend knitting READ THIS. YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Some essays will make you laugh out loud and, while you may not cry, others will really inspire some deep, philosophical thought. Only Stephanie could pair the two so wonderfully. I loved this book- though I will warn the non-knitters (or I as I like to call them, Those That Don't Knit...Yet) you just won't get it. But by all means, give it a go- maybe it will inspire you to pick up the needles!

neither particularly funny nor entertaining

Actually funny, in that I would force my family and friends to listen to select passages (which, as non-knitters, they couldn't appreciate, unfortunately!).

Ms. Pearl-McPhee, whom I met at a recent knitting event, describes this book as her only actually useful book, but her voice is so compelling that I look forward to reading more of her not-truly-useful oeuvre. This is a very easy read, with short essays (technically the right term, but that sounds so dry--they're not!), sidebars, lists, caveats, etc., interspersed with instructions for making things, sometimes as simple as (I'm approximating) "knit to desired width, turn, keep knitting until scarf is desired length." See, knitting patterns don't have to be complicated!

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).

I found this book to be quite helpful. I'm a big Yarn Harlot fan, and a devoted reader of her blog, which is why this book initially caught my eye. It's been helpful in helping me transition from strictly following a pattern to striking out on my own and trying some designing.

On an excursion to Powell's, I violated my 50 page rule and grabbed this book when they announced closing time. The book is not what I expected, as I would have discovered if I had taken time to read a few pages. Still, the author writes well, and this light hearted "guide to the land of Knitting" will appeal to many knitters.

This is a wonderful book. Stephanie is hilarious at times.

Whether I wanted to or not

Fun and breezy. Easy and delightful read. If you knit, you will find yourself in this book.

A collection of short stories and essays about knitting and knitters. I did not find them "laugh out loud" funny, for the most part, but many were humorous in a wry "been there" way. My favorite was probably the Dear John letter written to a sweater that was not working out.