Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off: The Yarn Harlot's Guide to the Land of Knitting

I am still a relatively new knitter having taken up the needles in Feb of 2008. I was starting to worry myself when all I could think about was wool and my next fix (project). My family were also starting to wonder as the corners of various rooms (and cupboards) in the house began to fill with yarn. Since I was self taught, I didn't know if this was normal knitting behavior or not. Luckily I happened across this book at a local knit friendly library and checked it out. For the new knitter this is an intoduction to the culture language and obsessions of knitters. It is a funny engaging reassurance that you are not crazy, or if you are, you are in good company! I loved it from the first few pages and snorted my way thru the pages in restaurants, during work breaks and in bed at night next to my husband. If you have just gotten the yarn bug and you would like directions to the land of knitting do pick up this book. It has a permanent place in my library!

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is the Jon Stewart of the knitting world. She skewers us with our own needles, unravels our obsession for the uninitiated and helps us learn to laugh at ourselves. Her fresh, tongue-in-cheek observations about the crazy world of knitting have become wildly popular on her blog, her speaking tours (accompanied by her trademark socks-in-progress) and in her three previous books. In her newest book Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off: the Yarn Harlot's Guide to the Land of Knitting, the author looks at knitting as a journey and sets off on a whirlwind tour of the land of knitting. Whether a newly arrived visitor, a long-time resident or a tourist seeking understanding of a loved one; Casts Off is an essential guide to the people, customs, tourist attractions and common ailments of this fascinating land. Divided into the areas of reference commonly expected in a travel guide, the author investigates packing tips (just how much yarn does one need to take on a trip), consulates and embassies (local yarn stores), politics (the great "acrylic versus natural fibers" debate) and common ailments (the dreaded "Yarnesia" or the debilitating Viral Second Sock Syndrome), treatment and prognosis. Knitters who have caught the "Harlot" bug will find themselves laughing uncontrollably through Casts Off and most will remain convinced that the author knows them better than their closest friend. Whether she is commenting on the "four ways knitting is like playing the violin" (both are worked from a chart) or how to cope when bad knits happen to good knitters, knitters respond to Pearl-McPhee because she understands us. She knows our foibles because she shares them and like all good enablers, she helps us explain ourselves the skeptics around us. After all, as she reminds us, "We know it looks like yarn, but it's love...and for this it's worth giving up all your closet space." This knitter recommends regular doses of the Harlot, along with infusions of social knitting and stash diving, to ensure a pleasant and healthy stay in the land of knitting. Armchair Interviews says: For every knitter needing a knitting soulmate

This book is the perfect example of technology giving two very old art forms -reading and knitting--a boost. I "read" this book via audio book. Which I think is brilliant... my husband finds it scary. He thinks it's a very bad idea for someone to enable me to enjoy my two passions together... especially knitting. Because then I can do MORE, MORE of both!! SPM Casts off is a travel book about knitting. It looks at Knitting as a destination. As a country of sorts. With its own citizenry, customs, language, superstitions, history and so forth. I know, I couldn't imagine it either. But Stephanie Pearl-McPhee has pulled it off. She had me cackling happily as my needles clicked. And I learned quite a bit about the history of knitting (samurais used to knit!) and about what's possible (would you believe a knitted grandfather clock and a floating knitted boat?) Pearl-McPhee's writing and work is best known through her blog. She's done a lot to create an international community of knitters. In 2004, she founded Tricoteuses sans Frontières (Knitters without Borders), a group dedicated to raising money for the non-profit Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders). As of September, 2007, they have raised over $368,000. In 2006 she started the 2006 Knitting Olympics, a competition for knitters to start and finish one project during the timeframe of the 2006 Winter Olympics. Over 4,000 knitters worldwide participated. I found her voice and style really grew on me. She's funny and charming and it's so comforting to know that I'm not alone in my eccentric, yarn and pattern book hoarding behaviour... and perhaps that's what my husband finds so threatening about this. That there are other women (and men) out there like me. And it's all perfectly normal. One note.. I found particularly with the her other audio book "At Knit's End", but a little less with this one, that Pearl-Mcphee drops the last word when she reads. So you'll have to rewind occasionally to figure out what she says at the end of a track or paragraph. But on the whole, very entertaining. Certainly one that I enjoy listening to again and again.

This time, the Yarn Harlot has a clever spin; the Land of Knitting through the eyes of a tour guide. We learn how to pack, how many of us never knew how long we'd stay in the land of knitting, embassies, history, geography, famous knitters. You'll see something to make you chuckle or see yourself on nearly every page. Interspersed are tips, stories, humor; even a good scrap afghan pattern. I believe that this is the best book Stephanie has written; hated to see it end!

A light-hearted (but reasonably through) look at the culture that knitters have created for themselves. Wonderful antidote to misbehaving yarn..... Also a good read for those new to the knitting world.