Literate, knitter (OK, that’s almost redundant), engaging.
My own disclaimer: I think I’ve only ever met two knitting books I didn’t like. A Life in Stitches is emphatically NOT one of them.
Great book. A younger woman’s life, (IMO) a younger woman’s knitting. Will like to read what happens when she leaves the patterns behind and steps out on her own. Given the progression described in her knitting, it will come.
Incidentally, the last chapter describes Rachael working on a sweater, the pattern to which will be included in the book. The pattern in my copy of the book (close to pre-release) was not that sweater.
I’m (almost) envious of people who can knit sweaters to wear; where I live, we have about four months of sweater weather. We knit lace curtains and screen doors and rugs and other things (Mason Dixon knitting). However, the actual garment / item is not important to the stories, mostly.
+1 for someone who doesn’t fuss over socks and who simply knocks them out. Tube, turn, tube, finish. How hard is it?
Spoiler alert: The author tried spinning, and loved it. If you (like me) have resisted spinning for fear of another textile art black hole, skip the “Maidens and Flyers” chapter. My friends have alpacas, and sheep. I hear that siren call. (If Rachael writes another book, somebody please warn me if she gets a loom…)
Finally, I LOVE the design of this book! Real stitching, so it opens smoothly all the way through, front to back. Excellent typography. Book design by Allison Weiner, a first (for me) with this designer. I started keeping notes of designers a year ago when I finally noticed how much easier it was to read books that were well-designed. Not every publisher gives their designer credit; all should (or perhaps not, to protect the guilty). If I’m reading a book in one sitting, which I did with A Life in Stitches, at least some of the credit goes to the designer. Unfortunately, if a book’s badly designed, it hits the “return” pile (library) pretty quickly, regardless of the potential quality of the author’s work.
If part of your joy of knitting is the feeling of the fabric coming off the needles over your hand, you’ll love the way the paper version of A Life in Stitches feels to hold and read.
