Needlearts in fiction

I don't often come across needlearts in my reading, but today was the second time in one weck (and the second time in two books) that knitting was mentioned or described in a book I was reading.
So obviously I want to know about books (and I primarily mean fiction here) you've read where some form of needlearts popped up.

What kind of needlearts was is? What book was it is, and did you expect to come across needlearts there?
Share a quote?

Love this idea.

The novel that leaps to mind immediately is The Time in Between, by the Spanish author Maria Dueñas. The original Spanish title is El Tiempo entre costuras.

The time period is the Spanish Civil War leading up to the start of WWII. Sira Quiroga is a seamstress who opens her own couturier shop. She is able to transmit messages as a spy in her intricate stitching and beading. Her work also allows her to travel to Morocco in search of fabrics and trims, a bonus if you are a spy.

The story is a bit over the top at times, but there are historical figures here like Rosalinda Fox, a suspected spy, and Alan Hillgarth, a member of British Intelligence.

I loved the descriptions of style, sewing, planning and everything connected with dressmaking, and the spy story moved along well. It was also good at the actual conditions in Spain during these frightening times.

Given the subject matter, I did expect to find needlearts there, but not nearly in such detail.

This was a well appreciated gift to me one dark winter from someone who obviously knew what would keep me reading.

I think you are more likely to come across the theme in cozier genres such as cozy mysteries and Amish fiction.

I loved Monica Ferris' needlework series. It's an older cozy series. The first is Crewel World which is the name of the shop in which it is based.

Betty Hechtman has a crochet series. First is Hooked on Murder. She also has a yarn retreat series. The first is Yarn to Go.

Maggie Sefton has a knitting series. First is Knit One, Kill Two.

Sally Goldenbaum has a knitting series. First is Death by Cashmere.

I did not enjoy Mary Kruger's first knitting mystery, Died in the Wool. Apparently others didn't either, because LT only shows 2 in the series.

Peggy Ehrhart has a knitting series. First is Murder, She Knit.

I just finished reading Murder in a Scottish Shire by Traci Hall which is the first in a knitting shop series.

Molly MacRae has a haunted yarn shop series. The first is Last Wool and Testament. It's a little on the paranormal side, and I did not finish the first book.

Jennifer Chiaverini has the Elm Creek Quilts series. The Quilter's Apprentice is the first.

Terry Thayer has a quilting series. The first is Wild Goose Chase.

Clare O'Donohue has a quilting series. The first is The Lover's Knot.

Isabella Alan has an Amish quilt shop series. The first is Murder, Plain and Simple. There are several other Amish fiction series in both the romance and mystery genres with a quilting/quilts theme.

Amanda Lee wrote an embroidery series. The first is The Quick and the Thread.

Janet Bolin has a needlework series. The first is Dire Threads.

Some others with needlearts tags in my library.

Casting Off by Nicole R. Dickson (knitting)
The Knitting Circle by Ann Hood (knitting)
Postcards from Cedar Key by Terri DuLong (knitting)
Buried in Quilts by Sara Hoskinson Frommer (quilting)
The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas (quilting)
Alice's Tulips by Sandra Dallas (quilting)
A Single Thread by Marie Bostwick (quilting)
The Crystal Needle by Daniel Peyton (cross stitch)

Thanks for sharing >2 SassyLassy: ! I like the sound of that book.

I mentioned above that I'd come across two books with needlearts recently.
Firstly there was a mention in The Borrowers Afield by Mary Norton where, after fleeing the big house, Arrietty has brought "an extra jersey knitted by Homily on blunted darning needles from a much-washed, unraveled sock" and Homily has brought along "her knitting needles and the rest of the raveled sock".

I found the image of unravelling a sock to knit a sweater very sweet - especially since I was knitting socks at the time.

Secondly I came across another mention of knitting in Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes, where our protagonist Will comes home to find his mother "In a chair by the fire mother knitted and hummed like a tea-kettle." Later on the same page we get this rather wonderful description of a happy knitter "His mother's fingers twitched, her mouth counted, the happiest woman he had ever seen."

I wasn't expecting to find a sweet scene about knitting in a dark fantasy novel.

>3 thornton37814: You're absolutely right that certain genres are more likely to features these things (I'd be shocked if I read a Marple mystery and Miss Marple *wasn't* knitting at some point).

I'm personally not particularly drawn to the kind of "themed mysteries" like many of the ones you listed seem to belong too (I know baking is a popular theme for mysteries as well). I prefer to have my needlearts pop up a bit more unexpectedly in places I hadn't thought they'd be.

I often see -stitching on a tapestry- in older romances, especially Regency and early Mills & Boon.
And I have a whole lot of cozies with quilting/sewing themes (like Arlene Sachitano's series).
Then there's the Elm Creek series (Chiaverini) that are more like Hallmark movies.

Here's a short list: https://www.heatherhandmade.com/fiction-books-about-sewing/
and just putting in "books with sewing fiction" into Google brought up quite a few I have now added to my tbr pile. :D

>6 genesisdiem: Oh, no! What a terrible fate to have more books with sewing in them on your TBR pile! ;)

There are some spots in the Outlander series (I'm not sure which books) where Jamie and Young Ian talk about knitting, and being taught to knit when they were children.

I have been reading the Circle of Ceridwen series and the women talk a lot about embroidering their clothing, and their burial shrouds.

>8 al.vick: In the very first book, Jamie is flummoxed that Claire can't knit. She's stunned that he can.

I read The Friday night knitting club this year -- neither cozy nor mystery; but all knitting!

I would add a favorite of mine The Idea of Perfection by Australian author Kate Greenville. The female protagonist, Harley Savage, is art conservator and makes art quilts in her spare time. Best scene: where the awkward guy, Douglas Cheeseman, saves from a fire her latest masterpiece.

>10 avaland: He sounds like the perfect hero!

>10 avaland: - Although I've read other books of hers, I haven't gotten to this one yet. Sounds like something I'd like.

ETA: Looks like I already put it on the list with your name as a book bullet.

>11 PawsforThought:, >12 dudes22: It's an easy and fun read, and I loved what the book said aboit illustrated about over rating perfection.

I just started a Harlequin '90s Treasury book called 'Me? Marry You?' (Herter).

It's just ok writing and it reads as if it might have been part of a series... But the premise is that this older gentlemen has a heart attack and takes up needlepoint to help lower stress. He learns to make wedding pillows and his wife says there's some "needlepoint voodoo" going on because each time he wants to matchmake for his sons, he makes a pillow with the son and the woman's name... and they end up together... in this book the son is paired up with the owner of the sewing shop.

Sounds a little campy but it's good fluff to pass the time. I just wish the writing style was a little more polished.

I'm reading N or M? at the moment and Tuppence Beresford is spending a lot of time knitting a balaclava and pretending to be worse at it than she really is (and simultaneously spying on the other people in the boarding house she's staying in).

It's actually making me consider knitting a balaclava - we've had some rather cold days recently. Maybe a sort of shoulder-warmer/hood combo?

>15 PawsforThought: funny coincidence: my daughter finished knitting a balaclava when she was here over Thanksgiving. It's cute and, she reports, quite warm. Hers is the classic kind that covers your neck and head, and she wears it under the hood on her coat.

I love stories about the period between the World Wars, especially about the women of the era. Set in the 1930's, A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier tells the story of Violet, a "surplus woman" (what a terrible term) who lost her fiance in WWI. She eventually strikes out on her own and falls in with a society of broderers who are embroidering kneeler covers for Winchester Cathedral. Unexpected friendships and a doomed romance ensue, of course. In between the detail about the embroidery is incredible. Perhaps a bit unrealistic about how even the women who had never embroidered before took right to making these magnificent pieces, but totally enjoyable nonetheless. A warm, lovely story.

>17 shearon: That sounds lovely. I've read and liked a few books by Tracy Chevalier but haven't heard of this one.

>17 shearon: - This was recommended to me a couple of years ago but I haven't gotten around t reading it yet. Good to hear another recommendation.

Not strictly needlearts, but at least yarn.

I’m reading Through the Looking-Glass and on the very first page, Alice is described as trying to wind up a ball of worsted (yarn) but being sabotaged by one of her kittens.

>21 thornton37814: Barney always helps me cross stitch! Cats and fibers!

Another one from Through the Looking-Glass - Alice is making her way across the giant chess board landscape and comes across a shop with a goat proprietor who is knitting using FOURTEEN pairs of needles. Whew!

>22 PawsforThought: - I've seen that pattern 🤣

While not themed around a particular fiber art, in Jenn McKinlay's Library Lover's cozy mystery series, the main character/sleuth is the director of a small New England public library and she runs a "crafternoon" group where they do a variety of different crafts while sharing nibbles (everything from knitting to paper crafts and beyond). There's at least one pattern/instruction guide and a recipe at the back of every book. And as a library worker, I can verify the librarian-ing details are accurate too. :)

>24 MickyFine: I love the term “crafternoon”! Going to use that from now on.

I am nearly to the end of Patricia Wentworth's Miss Silver mystery series from the early 20th century. Miss Silver is a former governess turned "enquiry agent" and she knits up a storm in every book I've read so far — usually baby clothes for the children of sundry nieces and nephews. Lots of coatees and booties and other double-voweled garments. I wish I was that prolific!

Ooh, as a fellow librarian I'll have to check out a mystery series where the librarian-ing is actually accurate!

I read Poppy’s Babies (Brambly Hedge) and Poppy, mother of new triplets, and her friend Lady Woodmouse are sewing gowns for the babies’ naming ceremony as well as a quilt for each of them.

>3 thornton37814: In the book, And Then You Dye by Monica Ferris, she has a character in the book by the name of Ruth Ladwig; Ruth is really a person and taught me how to use natural dyes at the Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul.

>29 mnleona: That's interesting. Betsy's shop sounds so delightful. We used to have a wonderful shop here in town, but the owner retired and could not find anyone else to purchase it. (She needed to care for a husband who was sick.) We have two other shops within an hour or so. The one in Pigeon Forge caters to tourists mostly so they only handle a few designers, pre-cut fabrics, and fibers. I like the one in Johnson City a lot more although it's a little further drive. They have a great selection of patterns, fibers, and everything else. I love the owner and the other woman who usually handles all my needs. They cut your fabric to order and surge the sides of it. During the pandemic, I've just picked up the phone, called them, and they've shipped it at whatever the package costs. I did sneak in an in-person visit during one of the down times. I had a pretty big fiber order the other day because I was replacing fibers in a kit I'd purchased on vacation. The minute I tried threading a needle, the fibers in the kit would break. I just called and got the DMC replacements for them all. I can't wait to visit in person again.

One of my favorites featuring needlework is The Tenth Gift. This is historical fiction with (warning to those who dislike this trope) two timelines. One is 17th century, the other contemporary. I read this in 2009 according to
my review and still think about it fondly.

And another one ---sorry two timelines again.
The Girl Who Wrote in Silk

>32 beebeereads: I *loved* this book.

If you want to go old school, there is Madame Defarge in a Tale of Two Cities, knitting away and recording the names of those executed during the revolution.

Knitting Under the Influence by Claire LaZebnik is a fairly light read about three friends who knit together and share the ups and downs of life, love, and friendship.

Of course, now that I am trying to think of books with fiber arts woven (ha!) into the stories, they escape me.

>33 minervasbooks: I remember seeing the movie with Ronald Colman and her knitting.