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. ( )

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.

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). ( )

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. ( )

Whether I wanted to or not