Yarn Harlot

S'funny. Sometimes you think you know how a thing will go.



Recently, Jellyknits lent me this book, Free Range Knitter, by Stephanie Pearl-McFee, a.k.a. The Yarn Harlot. (Thanks J!)

I've been reading Stephanie's blog for 4 years or so now, and I've read some of her earlier books, so I thought I knew what I'd be getting. Humorous writing, even hilarious writing, on knitting slants that are either new to me or freshly expressed.

And so it proved to be. Funny, witty, apt - pretty much as expected.

Talented, insightful, well written and entertaining - I wasn't a bit surprised.

Let's be clear. That's not faint praise folks. That's genuine, sincere, heartfelt praise. It was a joy and a pleasure to read and it made me happy. My only quibble (given that my leisure time is all of 15 minutes a day) is that it's not possible to knit and read it at the same time, with the hardback spine an' small pages an' all. It's only fair that the publishers consider the possibilities of a future audio book for knitting fans who can actually knit at the same time. But I digress. (Not for the 1st time.)

Fair enough.

And then I came upon an essay entitled Knitting Self Esteem which COMPLETELY blew my mind. It deals with the bombardment of negative messages that we receive about ourselves from the world around us (which doesn't value knitting at all as a worthwhile activity), and worse, actually from ourselves - and its core point is that our knitting is both a shield and a proof against those messages.

'Knitting doesn't think you need to lose ten pounds, knitting doesn't think you're getting older. Knitting doesn't give a cr*p if you get fired or divorced. The only thing that matters in knitting is knitting.'

Stephanie Pearl-McFee, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you.

'I am a good knitter, if a terrible everything else, and this is a great sock.'

Seriously. You can't know how much.

Thank you.
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