Knitting Pearls: Writers Writing About Knitting

by Ann Hood (Editor)

Overview

The rhythm, ritual, and pleasure of knitting are celebrated in this new collection for lovers of both knitting and literature.

In Knitting Pearls, two dozen writers write about the transformative and healing powers of knitting. Lily King remembers the year her family lived in Italy, and a knitted hat that helped her daughter adjust to her new home. Laura Lippman explores how converting to Judaism changed not only Christmas but also her mother’s gift of a knitted stocking. Jodi Picoult remembers her grandmother and how through knitting she felt that everlasting love. And Bill Roorbach remembers his freshman year in college when knitting soothed his broken heart and helped him fall in love again. Other contributors include Steve Almond, Ann Leary, Christina Baker Kline, Lee Woodruff, and knitting rock stars Jared Flood of Brooklyn Tweed and the Yarn Whisperer, Clara Parks. With knitting patterns from renowned stores such as Purl Soho, Hill Country Weavers, and Churchmouse Yarns, Knitting Pearls is by turns delightful and heartbreaking, joyous and wise. These personal stories by award-winning writers celebrate the moments of loss and love intertwined in the rhythm, ritual, and pleasure of knitting.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393246087
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	11/09/2015
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	8.40(w) x 5.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Ann Hood is the author of a dozen books of memoir and fiction, including the best-selling novels The Book That Matters Most and The Knitting Circle, and editor of the anthologies Knitting Yarns and Knitting Pearls. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island, and New York.

Table of Contents

Introduction Ann Hood 11

Pattern: Classic Cuffed Hat Purl Soho New York, NY 17

Clothes for the Living Steve Almond 21

Knitting Took Me Halfway Round the World Anne Bartlett 26

Unraveling Cynthia Chinelly 36

Casting Off a Spell Melissa Coleman 41

Big Maroon Sweater Michael Collier 47

Pattern: Paintbrush Lace Cowl Hill Country Weavers Austin, TX 60

The Unravelers Stephanie Mannatt Danler 65

Handmade at Home Jared Flood 76

Wool Nick Fljnn 83

Why, Yes-I Can Knit My Way Out of a Wet Paper Bag… Diana Gabaldon 91

The Red Vest Debra Gwartney 99

Pattern: Cheery Seed Stitch Tea Cozy Churchmouse Yarns & Teas Bainbridge Island, WA 109

What Happened in Scotland Jane Hamilton 113

My Mother-in-Law, Her Knitting, and Me Cathi Hanauer 120

The Italian Hat Lily King 131

The Museum of the Lady with Only One Neck Perri Klass 142

How We Spend Our Days Christina Baker Kline 156

Pattern: Chimes Cowl Loop Philadelphia, PA 161

On Knitting Ann Leary 163

The Dinosaur Sweater Caroline Leavitt 169

The Thirty-First Stocking Laura Lippman 178

Positive Capability Maile Meloy 186

Knit Your Bit Stewart O'Nan 192

Pattern: Stonehaven Stole and Scarf The Yarnery Saint Paul, MN 196

An Open Letter to All My Unfinished Projects Clara Parkes 198

Why I Don't Knit Jodi Picoult 203

Creation Myth Robin Romm 210

Sarah with an H Bill Roorbach 218

Pattern: Rivulet Cowl Knit Purl Portland, OR 229

Just This Dani Shapiro 231

Ema's Lessons Samantha van Leer 235

The Santa Stocking Lee Woodruff 240

The Art of Losing Ann Hood 247

Contributors' Notes 253

About Our Knitting Stores 261

Editorial Reviews

08/17/2015
Novelist and knitting enthusiast Hood’s charming follow-up to Knitting Yarns: Writers on Knitting will make even the most reluctant knitter look anew at those skeins of yarn. Each of the 12 writers included in the collection provides particular insight into the needle- craft, along with reflections on how knitting is related to inner life. In “Handmade at Home,” knitwear designer Jared Flood reflects that “we handmake our clothing... for the stories they’ll tell. For the quiet legacies they inevitably create when passed on, linking one generation with the next.” Novelist Bill Roorbach’s “Sarah with an H” recalls his time as a lonely college student who joined a knitting group to meet girls—with very mixed results. In plucky prose, novelist Lily King recounts a family stint in Italy in “The Italian Hat.” Her daughter initially struggled to adapt to life in the quaint town of San Casciano, until she discovered the needle arts required by her Italian school and found a cross-cultural confidence nobody knew she possessed. Sprinkled throughout the book are a variety of knitting patterns from U.S. yarn stores, giving a unifying aspect to the book and implying that regard- less of politics, geography, or lifestyle, anyone can reap the rewards of this timeless craft. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

2015-08-17
Writers share their thoughts on knitting in this meditative essay collection edited by Hood (An Italian Wife, 2014, etc.), a follow-up to the editor's previous Knitting Yarns: Writers on Knitting (2013). "With its calm, methodical progress, it's a promise, in the midst of war and chaos and loss, that, somewhere, an orderly world still exists," writes novelist Stewart O'Nan in his contribution to the collection. Twenty-seven writers, including Lily King, Laura Lippman, and Jodi Picoult, share their stories of knitting among the wars, chaos, and losses of their own lives. Steve Almond writes about the connection between death and crocheting, Diana Gabaldon shares how an early 4-H Club rejection led her to take up knitting, and pediatrician and writer Perri Klass examines all the clothing she knit for her late mother. Nostalgia permeates almost every essay in the book. Whether knitting allows them to remember grandmothers, mothers, old boyfriends, ex-husbands, or their younger selves, the writers have memories knitted into all their scarves, hats, sweaters, and other items. Although a few of the essays are lightly comedic, most deal with loss, death, regret, and similar heavy subjects, which makes for a surprisingly emotional reading experience. As one might expect from a group of writers, connections between the processes of knitting and writing abound. In the hands of such talented writers, this collection is both heartbreaking and life-affirming. Other contributors include Bill Roorbach, Lee Woodruff, Christina Baker Kline, Clara Parkes (author of The Yarn Whisperer: Reflections on a Life in Knitting, 2013), and Jared Flood, owner of the yarn manufacturer and design house Brooklyn Tweed. The book also includes knitting patterns. A sad and sweet look at knitting that will appeal to crafters and writers alike.

Kirkus Reviews

"This collection (patterns included!) helps explain why knitting is so often the life sport of the literary set. . . . [It] includes a top-flight list of contributors including Maile Meloy, Dani Shapiro, Diana Gabaldon, Jane Hamilton and fiber ‘rock star’ Jared Flood."

Minneapolis Star Tribune